Freedamn! 2

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June 2016

Issue 2

The University of New York Tirana Students’ Magazine

June 2016 Editorial ....3 Unusual Diplomats....4

Guest articles: Fation Brati .... 8 Alba Brojka .... 16 Marina Halili .... 23

Let’s go... 14 You’re in, EUROut... 21

Unpredictable leaders...5 Who to blame for what?...6

My education...9

From the bedrocks of tradition ... 10 *The content of this magazine represents only the opinions and works of students of The University of New York Tirana

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June 2016

Why bother reading this magazine...?

Well is it me or you are really going to read only this first inner page of the magazine? Think about that for a second... Would you be interested to read each article thoroughly, or you are going to skim the magazine until a picture attracts you and forces you to read the article around it? You probably think that we are writing because someone from University told us that we should work on a magazine. It is not that actually, as we volunteered to work on it, and it was all about making something new in UNYT. We aim to drag your attention away from any rumor and to satisfy your needs for good talks around the recreation areas in campus (obviously talking about the cafe), as long as it is educational, inspirational and cultural. The staff is part of you, so anything in this magazine comes from the students to the students. So do bother and take a look at what we have written.

It might satisfy you, and if it doesn’t contact us.... That means that we have got something wrong from the daily school life.

Well firstly I hadn’t thought that one day I would have been part of a magazine and write articles of political, social or economic situations, so I feel obligated to inform you, my friends that I do not have specific or large knowledge regarding my writings. But my colleagues and I have researched and discussed every source of information and then have put it into our own words, which I would like to highlight that are partly objective and subjective. Our purpose is not to impose you reading the newspaper, but to offer you sufficient information with regard to national and international news with a pinch of our own perspective. I agree that you can very well express that our own point of view might not be yours, but we believe that the university’s social groups share almost the same beliefs and perspectives regarding social, political or economic issues. Hope you enjoy reading our first number and deliver nice comments and thoughts!

To get your attention with foolish things, is not this magazine’s intention. First of all this is the UNYT Magazine so everyone should at last have a look at the first number published. The magazine is made of student’s opinions and not professional opinions so unprofessionalism will be present in almost every page. None, who’s working on this magazine is a journalist. The magazine comes from the audience to talk about issues related to the audience. The magazine espiers to be partly satirical.

Not only will you be updated to the latest news around politics, economics, and culture nationally and internationally, but you will as well be entertained by its attractive format. Being a satirical magazine the stinging and entertaining doses will not be missing. Importantly the information will come to you from a student’s point of view. Therefore, chances for you to meet a topic which is both on your interest and preference/ taste, are higher. The magazine will make you feel more part of students’ life keeping you in touch with issues, whether them be concerns or opinions. Nonetheless, you will have to read it if you want to oppose it.

We are very proud to inform that the first issue of the UNYT magazine is finally is out. It has been a long road which led to this moment and a lot of work has been put into this project. The magazine is a product of a bunch of students who wanted to create a platform in which the UNYT students can express themselves. This means two things. Firstly, we don’t pretend to be journalists but we try our best to be professional. Secondly, anyone who feels that he or she has something to say and needs the magazine as a tool to do it, we would be very happy to help. We hope that you enjoy the first edition with hopes that will we receive the feedback needed in order to keep this project going. In the name of the staff of this magazine we wish you happy reading.

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June 2016

Editorial

Just like Clark Kent, forced to wear a suit to hide his superhero outfit. They are not humans. They can have many personalities and they choose to show them depending of their convenience. That is all about superpowers. Nowadays, call power whatever you want but super you become with training and a good coach.

You have to learn to let go of your human personality from time to time so that you can master your inhuman powers. Take a look at the coach and you will realize that you are in the right track if you follow his instructions.

They practice day and night so that managing various personalities becomes normal. Mama knows best, but a superhero is predestined. They generally follow the society’s rules and laws they live in but when being in the conditions of using the superpowers, always for the right purpose these rules and laws become an obstacle.

Sometimes people too if you will. Just like the superhero of Metropolis, this $uperman is forced to lie often in order not to reveal his identity. People are curious and suspicious all the time but his superpowers help him stay calm and manage people’s doubts. The most common superpower this $uperman uses is snubbing. That seems to have a strange reaction on most people. When he uses this ability on people surprisingly that seems to clear any doubt on his identity. Just like Clark Kent. And just like Clark Kent, green means kryptonite.

Probably not all the time because they do not want people to get too suspicious so they go green from time to time, often the Washington kind of green. Kryptonite makes him powerless so he is determined to destroy it and that won’t be difficult since not much is left in the metropolis this $uperman has fallen. The not to be blamed people, under the snubbed effect, have chosen to keep the $uperman and wipe out the kryptonite.

People trust Clark Kent kind of guys without knowing that there is a $uperman under their suit.

June 2016

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Unusual Diplomats

“You should all be ashamed!!!”, tough words coming from a diplomat. It seems that our greatest allies have lost their patience with us and with our boring political games. Even The Donald saga in the US is not funny anymore when things get serious. Their language has become harsher recently and has gone to a point that our political class is not used to. Not even during the regime. Not from foreigners. Not publicly. Not standing in front of them. Advices from foreign representatives have always been appreciated but not beyond jurisdiction. Recently things have surprisingly changed. The US ambassador, Mr. Lu, takes his role very seriously as the most important diplomat in Albania but otherwise of former ambassadors he has made the choice of learning Albanian. Probably, knowing the language, gave him an advantage compared to the others, whose message in English, led to various misinterpretations.

Now they hear him clearly; that clearly to make them “Blush” and apparently even rush. Maybe his competences are being overcome but apparently we need to compensate our incompetence. He has obviously realized that talking diplomatic language being that in English or Albanian leads to confusion among political actors. Therefore he has decided to be explicit by using the Albanian temper that comes with the language. Feeling like having the support of at least the applicants for the US DV-Lottery, he urges our politicians into accomplishing their obligations towards us and the community of the European Union. He even warned them, by suggesting that they will feel the peoples’ fury if they do not reach an agreement on crucial integration issues. That was a successful warning since all stated to raise their hands the day after but Mr. Lu cheated on this one. Maybe

it was not on purpose but with those statements made, shame was all over the place, either way. The type of shame you cannot escape from and admitted by most. We can only guess if Mr. Ambassador will be obligated to deepen his Albanian dictionary or not, but suddenly he has become the protagonist in our politics. Nothing is more relevant compared to what the Ambassador of another country, has to say in today’s Albanian political arena. He is seen as the voice of a true opposition by the general opinion and as the prosecutor by all the institutions. Mr. Lu has the luxury of losing patience with our politicians while we are forced to make a choice between them and after almost all of his recent coming outs, important names have resigned or ended up in jail. Untouchable political and political depending characters might be dealing with a new curse, the “Lu Curse”. With the same determination, the Head of the EU Delegation, Mrs. Vlahutin, was clear in making us realize that this is the last chance to open negotiations with the aspired community and time wasting justifications will not be accepted anymore. Obviously we have delegated our sovereignty to our allies but clearly because our political class has hit the bottom line.

Like in previous similar situations we expect them to change the hair not the habit.

June 2016

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Unpredictable leaders, predictable society!

Policies. The word we have all heard and used during this year. Newspapers, breaking news, talk shows or any kind of media discuss topics about how the government should change or improve its policies. It happens all around the world, truly but the issue is not whether the policy-making process of a government must be changed, because that’s normal. Every state has its own drawbacks and benefits on its policies, but the thing is that both Europe and United States of America are looking forward for radical leaders and profound policies, too. The first event came up last year when the most developed countries of Europe like Greece, Italy or France were facing the greatest changes by voting for untraditional and radical leaders, who had obviously major differences on their state policies. But, I am not in the right position to discuss whether these policies would actually better or worse the respective country situation, since I am inexperienced and still a student.

Although, we are not professional journalists, so I guess my perception about how Alexis Tsipras risked Greece’s euro future, how National Front with Marine Le Pen topped on the first round of national voting or lastly how Donald Trump is currently competing with Hilary Clinton and has clearly got ahead from other republican candidates is concerning the public opinion.

Getting rid of Euro, deportations or building walls are the latest policies which the greatest countries of Europe and United States of America are making.

The situation has become unpredictable, because the current leaders are unpredictable. They are not anymore representatives of democracy, liberalism or capitalism. They are representing communists, white supremacists and racists. Can you imagine a society where a leader imposes policies about deporting immigrants or about blaming every Middle East citizen as part of a terrorist attack? Can you go back to a society where Marxism is the leading ideology of your government or where the president makes speeches with strong racist tones? Of course, not. I believe me and many of you would not tolerate to vote for a leader or government like the ones who are running currently on the respective states elections.

It would be such a pity to be governed by these individuals, who make us see the world as they want.

They make us see the immigrants as cruel individuals,

who will destroy our economy and national security or how Hispanics and colored individuals should be kicked out of the borders, because they threat our lives and again the economy. At first, some of you may actually think that way, but then you will realize that we have grown and lived in a society with immigrants from different parts of the globe and we have not seen any danger from them until now. And also, we live in a multicultural society where we make friends or fall in love with someone of different color, religion or whatever, but have all these features stopped us from doing so? I strongly believe that they have not.

Europe and United States of America can have unpredictable leaders running on their national elections just like it is happening these few months, but they will never our will on choosing them as head of states. Our society cannot live with backwards and racist policies. We have come to understand that everybody deserves equal rights regardless of gender, color or religion. Acceptance and appreciation of the human kind run in our brains and veins. So good luck with elections, guys!

June 2016

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Who to blame for what?

From the previous data leak of the legal firm Mossack Fonseca some embarrassing names for the public included the likes of British PM ( I mention him first because he’s being the favorite shooting target dummy for the public opinion), we continue with Lionel Messi, Jackie Chan, different world leaders like the Saudi Arabia king etc. There is a debate here in Albania too whether our Prime Minister’s name has been mentioned in the so called Panama Papers?

There are also some good chances that if your name is in the next four pages from the name Panama in some article, people will look at you in despise for tax evasion and money laundering or who knows maybe here in our country some future wannabe young entrepreneurs will admire you for being that smart and claiming your given right by our society’s common sense to clean wash your dirty money in 90*C until they become white in some exotic island while smoking a $2000 Cuban cigar. It sounds cool to me too, but it is just not the case.

These tax heavens have been used for some time now and some of these jurisdictions are colonies and countries of some of the big players, the U.K and the US instead of being some island in the middle of the ocean not pointed on Google maps.

So the matter is more complicated and there are some legitimate reasons for owning an offshore fund or for criticizing it which have not been considered before everybody have doomed the name Panama by connecting it directly with villainous people.

To fairly point some fingers we first have to make sure we understand the mechanisms behind these structures by making some in-depth analysis and below we will see what really are the drives which make people consider using offshore financing to accomplish their financial goals and at the end you will be shown step by step how to create your own offshore empire.

In a globalized economy we are virtually free to move capital in Australia, Virgin Islands, Germany, etc. As we know every business is created to satisfy a need and so do the Offshore Banks whose assets are estimated at $10Tn. One of the legitimate situations which drove to the creation of these structures is the need of the people to protect their life and their wealth in crisis situations like in the Middle East

or for example when living in a corrupted country where your wealth means being targeted by criminals which know everything about you because the state structures which you pay taxes for, sell information about you to the highest bidder (hope it does not sound familiar). It does facilitate investment in these countries though.

So in simple terms the investors gather money in an offshore bank, invest somewhere and then get profits without being double taxed or showing their identities because they are supposed to pay income taxes when their profits are declared in their own countries.

What I described up here seems legit but guns also are used for protecting, assaulting and both. Some of the problems these financial structures mixed up with low regulatory jurisdictions are that they give space to investments by corrupt money, drug money and other kinds of illicit activities.

This increasing trend of using shell companies to purchase for example luxury apartments is driving up the demand for this good and in an artificial way the prices are being driven up also. This means that the prices of real estate in our example are increasing disproportionally to our wages and who knows we may end up paying some rent to these guys later on because we won’t be able to buy a house in some nice spot even if we earn good.

Continues to the other page......

June 2016 *For those who still have some stamina to swim with a sack of money until reaching the Panama shore* How to create your own Offshore Empire The general public has little information about how these structures operate but anyone can create an offshore found with little ease as I will describe below: The firm from which the data was leaked in the so called “Panama Papers” is Mossack Fonseca which offers trust and legal services. To employ such a large company would need large wealth to back it up. So let analyze some other firm which is better suited for lesser players: You can search your internet browser for “offshore company formations”. Immediately you get to see countless websites to choose from.

“CFS formations” is the one we will be analyzing. You can find companies to purchase on this website from Cyprus, Seychelles, Panama and more which have some of the lowest reporting standards for companies in the world.

There are many options to choose from and apart from buying shares in companies you can even hire nominal shareholders, directors, secretaries and bank accounts.

- So at first you start by choosing an “X Company” from the listing and put it into the basket.

And then for less than $1000 per year you can hire a nominee director which will just appear on papers.

This nominee director has signed to confirm that they do not have any active part in the company or own anything even though they appear to own your assets.

- You then continue to buy one or more shell companies. In our case this “Y Shell Company” will be acquired our “X Company”. It is a typical way people use to hide ownership from their assets.

- After filling your basket you make the payments by credit cards via servers, cheque, bank transfers or they can even setup a prepaid account.

They send to you by mail the bill and you put your photocopy of passport to ensure you are a real person.

Later on you continue to fill just a little of paperwork and it’s done.

- At a later time you get the documents by mail which does not refer to your real name. It is then revealed that the nominee director is a “Z Company”.

PAGE 7 This complex structure ensures that without serious legal battles against you they can just find the name and location of “Y shell Company”; therefore they need a court case to determine its ownership.

Assuming they win the case they will be rewarded with the name of the owner which will be “X Company”.

Another serious litigation is needed to find the owner of the “X Company” and assuming they win again they would learn that it is owned by another entity which is “Z Company”.

By being nearly invisible using this system we can in principle buy million dollars worth of cars, mansions and private jets without anyone knowing.

At least in papers we are secure but it still exists the possibility of connecting us to our assets if we are frequently seen using them, but who goes that far to pursue one in who knows how many several millions or at least hundreds thousands offshore pirates whose individual assets are insignificant compared to $10Tn of estimated offshore assets which is more than the GDP of China.

As we can understand the matter is far more complicated. What the data leak really showed is that there is no white or black approach to this issue, just grey. Clients asking for these services may be asking for protection or for illicit purposes and this is made possible by lawful means. The obvious blame can fall on low transparency standards in some countries and here comes the difficulty on where to point our fingers. As Mr. Fonseca said, “It’s like if you buy a car and sell it to a dealership and it sells it to a woman who kills someone — the factory isn’t responsible”.

The problem can be anywhere on this chain so you better starting looking out before judging Jackie Chan.

What officials can do for now on is monitoring closer the shell companies used to make purchasing and create some flexible transparency rules (they have tried routinely to do this) because in a globalized economy anyone can buy anywhere but the situations in which Investors find themselves are different.

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June 2016

A history of the offshore tax heavens

First and foremost, let us make clear one fact by the beginning of this independent research, that offshore companies are legal and function under many different jurisdictions which by their turn apply different taxation burdens to the domestic level.

This sole fact makes an offshore company very appealing to any future investor who would wish to expand his or her business towards a broader, more open market which can operate world wide and most importantly functions under the tax regulations and obligations preferred by every individual. Moreover, the offshore company provide the possibility to their members to register and open a company under their name, add shareholders, receive loans and any other bank transaction in behalf of the natural owner.

In a very short review of how offshore companies work and conduct business with banks and/or other companies, it is easily noticed how difficult it is for the tax authorities to investigate and trace any individuals for tax avoidance or unlawful transaction without having sufficient information or without being sufficiently suspicious enough for any given individual who may be conducting such commercial activities. This reassuring measure has made it able for many individual business to hide big amounts of money, allocate and “park” them “offshore” thus, tax them less than in domestic levels, avoid audits and tax obligations causing this way huge damages to the state budget and create unlawful wealth which may be subject and deriving from public investments of state authorities towards privet companies whose sole shareholder is the state, at least in principle.

To further understand the function and flexibility of such Offshore companies we can examine a case which took place within the Albanian territory and is directly related to a consensual contract between the state and a privet company. The company in name is called “ GFI Technologies”, it is registered and existing through the Panama offices of Mossack Fonseca as a company located and functioning in the Albanian territory, this company is created by an Albanian citizen (Ismail Mulleti, later on changed to Ismail Mulati. This can happen after the registration of the company, at any given time that the members decide to do so) and an Israeli lawyer (Assaf Halkin).

However, under the Albanian records, none of these two persons are owners or direct shareholders of the Company allocated in Albania, by the name GFI technologies. On the contrary the actual owner of the com-

pany is “Petrolium Consulting Partners A.G” and as sole partner of 0.7% of the shares, is a Canadian company named “Global Fluids International” which is responsible for winning the competition of the consensual contract on “Tracing the Source and Quality of Fossil Fuels” around the country. This Canadian company held about about 200 million euros in assets for this project and where all sold to the partners of the owning company (“PCP”), again through an offshore account in Sweden, which results to have its headcounters at the Anguilla island causing once again confusion to the domestic tax authorities about the origin of all these companies and their legal owners along with the transactions that such owners conduct.

At this point it can be speculated or reasonably suspected that the means of conducting such activity has been conducted willingly in such way as to avoid transparency, which leads us to the questioning of lawfulness and rightfulness of these transactions.

Meaning that, any person of average intelligence can conclude that in cases of such contracts, where the State is also partner and sole shareholder, all actions and transactions must be transparent and open for the public interest. However, in our case the opposite has happened thus leading to the rising of speculations, suspicions and reasonable “conspiracy theories” by everyday people, journalists and independent researchers.

Living in the 21st century, it normal and reasonable to assume that when it comes to valuable assets and investments of the State with Privet entities, all terms and conditions, along with the names, dates and partners who are involved to such business activities must be transparent and easily inspected at any request deriving from interested persons or state authorities who protect both the consumers and a fair competition in the market. By: Fation Brati

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June 2016

My education

What is the meaning of education? If you take a g limpse at a simple dictionary, you will find this interpretation: “Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general or specific knowledge and skills while developing the powers of reasoning and judgement, by eventually preparing oneself intellectually for mature life.”

As I read the above interpretation, I think about my country, Albania, and I wonder if I want

to laugh or cry, as soon as I realize how far this interpretation is from our Albanian reality/education.

But then, again, I reconsider; my patriotic feelings convince me that we cannot have deviated so much and consequently, I start looking for information in the Web.

At first, I find some positive things; the literacy rate, for example, of the total population (9 or older) is about 99% . Then, my patriotism boosts furthermore when I find a UNICEF report about Albanian education system, claiming that it has made noteworthy progress over the past 20 years. And it has, indeed, taking into account the terrible situation that this country went through, during the 90’s.

However, my satisfaction doesn’t last long! I’m curious to find how our education system is considered in the world and I enter the “Center on International Education Benchmarking”. I notice an education system ranking table and I end up surprised (or not?) realizing that the Albanian education system

is ranked at number 63 out of 76 education systems around the world. Moreover, I go a step further and I look for our Universities rankings. I sadly find that our best University is placed at number 5,804 out of 24,000 institutions around the world, where, by the way, many other Albanian universities were very close to 24,000! Let’s be honest, something is not going on well and there is a problem.

One problem derives from our society. The thing is that we don’t really care about the essence and the quality of our education. The majority here, aims to acquire a “fancy” degree, usually in law or in medicine, for the sake of mommy and daddy who, when asked by aunties, Fatime and Alda, uncles, Berti and Sali, and of course our beloved neighbors, are forced to give a description of the successful story of their kid. In many cases, education in Albania is not fueled by dreams but by these above mentality.

Yet, we cannot only accuse this mentality of our society, here in Albania. The whole politico-economic structure of this country treats education as rubbish.

And it’s not that we don’t have talented and brilliant people, it is that Albania does not process and get advantage of these “diamonds”! The governments of this country have repeatedly neglected, over the years, the meaning and quality of education creating an incompetent system, as well.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the city of Elbasan and I attended a lecture in its University, “Alexander Xhuvani”. It is where I realized the incompetency of our education system. I didn’t expect Harvard but neither did I expect this “Alexander Xhuvani”. And no, my University is not the best in the world but it’s not that a mess! This kind of education has nothing to do with the process of acquiring knowledge and developing reasoning. This was a process of multiplication by zero! Instructors who did not care, students who were not there.

I’m not critisizing. I’m just complaining about our education, our future because only through proper education we can dream of a better life! And I’d prefer to dream of this better life in my home and not far from it. But the thing is that I’m just complaining but nobody is listening...

June 2016

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From the Bedrocks of Tradition

What kind of music do you listen? Is it POP, Rock, RAP, Hip – Hop, Country or maybe Jazz? Or do you rather prefer Tallava music, Turbofolk, Greek, Romanian or some kind of “Traditional” Albanian music? Whatever it is I am quite sure that no one or at least extremely few of you listen to traditional Albanian music in forms of Polyphony, Kaba and Northern music. However I do not blame you that we are so little in contact with our traditional music.

It is an issue that grows beyond the personal music preferences of any of us. It is much larger than that, but we urge that contact with such tradition should increase or a crucial part of the national identity will be put in serious risk of further existence as spiritual heritage. You will read in the following paragraphs about Iso-polyphony that for the sake of being strongly bond to it and for the importance it represents in national culture and tradition, I chose Iso-polyphony in order to treat you with a dose of tradition.

Polyphony is the kind of music where more than three human voices sing whereas Iso-polyphony is called this way because of ISO which represents the traditional group that sings the characteristic melody.

It is sung in Southwestern and Southern Albania in the regions of Gjirokastra, Saranda, Himara and Labëria which includes Vlora, Mallakstra, Tepelena and Kurveleshi. Iso-polyphony was originally sung by shepherds by only one voice, since 5th century AD. Later it developed to a more popular music gathering men in such choirs that today make the only instrument of playing this music, because indeed it is only men and women voices that create the original music. The music became more spread and specialized after 16th century and if you think that it is simple, you are quite wrong. There are five different roles and melodies one person can make during one song and each of them has its own rules of singing, varying from one region to another. The lyrics of the songs are mostly in dialect but they weigh a lot in terms of authenticity and poetic language. You would be surprised to realize the real meaning of some lyrics in Iso-polyphnoy.

This kind of music is a treasure that Albanian tradition holds alongside many others but as it is unique everyone should know more of it. UNESCO has added Iso-polyphony in the brief World’s Spiritual

Heritage List and this is a huge appraisal by the International Cultural Community. Lots of foreigners know about this special kind of polyphony and they come from all around the world to have a close view to it and even to try and learn of it. Germans were the first to document and record Iso- polyphony in 1927 and they keep coming back to hear more and to feed their souls with its wit. But what do all Albanians know about it… In the regions I mentioned earlier it is well-spread and listened and little boys learn to sing it since childhood, but the rest of Albanians know so little of it. Everyone knows it is unique and they sing it in the South, but that is it. No clue about what it stands for or how and why you should listen to it.

The problem is deeper and I am not going to make a discussion out of it, but instead I want to invite you to pay a close attention to this music. Iso-polyphony might not be familiar to most of you that are from other parts of Albania but anyway it is universal and can be enjoyed once you understand the logic behind all the singing.

It is when you sit in shades, under trees in Southern mountains, or when you drive down the turns of Albanian Riviera and best when you are alone with the sea waves in the Ionian shore, that you can enjoy best Iso-polyphony. To let yourself merge with the mood these songs offer and to allow your soul feed with the music, is how one can best understand the Southern Polyphony. Well, this is how I keep listening to Iso-polyphony and it is totally subjective what it sounds or feels like. However if you want to focus to the real worth of listening to this unique music, bear in mind that not a lot of Albanians know and like this music, and it would definitely make you special after you listen to it; you will feel a better Albanian. In the end of the day, the lyrics from one of these songs state clearly what knowing more about Iso-polyphony and music overall means: Iso gur mbi gur Nis e mban dhe vala, Ç’e thotë kënga, kurrë Nuk e thotë dot fjala.

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June 2016

Development as a Weapon Against Humanity

The development of a society can mean different things to different people. Some see development in the sense of producing more goods and lowering the cost and time of everyday activities.

Others though, including me, see the development of a society in its ability to respect human rights and preserve its dignity on the journey for meaning. In order to make my point more clear, I am going to give you the example of the Nenets.

They are a small community of around 55,000 people who live in Siberia and their primary profession is reindeer-herding. Nenets are nomadic and they cover thousands of kilometers every year in order to find pastures for their animals. Their belief system is a shamanistic and animistic one which consists in great respect toward the earth and all living beings.

The language they speak is on the Samoyedic branch

of the Uralic language family. It is unique but nowadays it is spoken mostly by the older individuals since the younger ones and those who live in the European part prefer speaking Russian. This last part is in my opinion the beginning of a problem. There have been many attempts to assimilate this community starting from the colonization period, to the communist era up to today’s capitalistic economy.

During the communist period, Stalin tried to integrate these people into the Soviet economy by asking them for reindeer products. Even though they were under a dictatorship, they continued living the same way respecting their identity and traditions. Nowadays there is a new threat to this community, gas and oil companies. With the increasing demand for these natural resources, a great chunk of Siberia is being used to build drills and factories.

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The Nenets culture is now under serious danger of extinction.

I wrote this article because in my opinion these issues pose some philosophical and moral questions. The Nenets are not alone in this world, there are a lot of other small communities scattered around the world which face extinction. Economic interests by big companies are stimulating ideas that these groups of people need “development”. They are supposedly acting as an obstacle to the economy. For example, Amazonian wood and Siberian oil are being left alone when they could potentially serve the world in terms of consumer goods. I feel bad about how people believe these words. In my opinion there are no civilized and uncivilized societies since you cannot agree on the criteria’s.

June 2016

The Nenets and many other societies are being crushed with the justification of “establishing” development to these people but to me it seems like an ugly reminiscence of the colonial period. Sometimes I feel good that they live in temperatures less than 50 degrees Celsius since more contact would mean more assimilation. We should all think on how we are becoming so similar to each-other in this period of immense globalism. We shouldn’t forget to appreciate what makes us different and respect those who stay true to genuinely good traditions and morals. Let’s protect these people since they are one of the few elements which we can use in order to be reminded of who we really are as humans and what we want to achieve in our societies.

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June 2016

Kosovo

They say good things do not come along alone. And so this time we have good news from Kosovo.

The Football Federation of Kosovo was admitted as member association of UEFA at the organization’s Congress. This acceptation in UEFA will not only provide the participation of Kosovo in the international football competitions, but also the departure of the team and players from the isolation.

UEFA’s decision was quickly followed with the membership of Football Federation of Kosovo in FIFA. A decision and a recommendation which happened a few days later brought joy for the isolated citizens of Kosovo. Of course, this brought joy even for politician since this is a good case to shift the attention of the people from real life’s problems, to a news which will bring benefits (moral and monetary) only for footballers. Just like in Albania, the governance is very willing to join the party, but not so ready to contribute on sports, which we have to say, it is a way of showing a countries development or growth.

The European Commission recommended the visas liberalization for Kosovo (that would be too much for Russia). It is not totally declared but it is in its final phase. This step is bringing hope to the Kosovan for free movement to the Western Europe countries, even though many of them already live abroad.

And not like simple immigrants but as citizens of those countries .It should be carefully seen how from

the Commission was said that it has fulfilled “all the guider’s requirements”. There are still two more to be accomplished. After it convinced the Commission’s experts, now Kosovo will have to convince the member countries, some of which are skeptical. They want more witness of an existing fight over corruption and organized crime. The EU as well. There are countries which want continuous evidence of Kosovo fighting against extremism and religious radicalism, which want even more evidence over accepting and reintegrating the ones who came back from war. They want more facts that prove that the visas liberalization will not be misused.

And that would be all. UEFA membership and free movement cannot solve the substantial problems of Kosovo. Yet, it will be a powerful step towards the departure of that isolation in which Kosovo has been captivated for years. Hopefully new doors will appear in the horizon.

June 2016

PAGE 14

Let’s go…

This sector’s purpose is to be the UNYT Student’s trip advisor. Fortunately our university apart from the international students has a very heterogeneous community of Albanians, Albanian students coming not only from the cities of the Republic but also from Kosovo, Greece and FYROM. This kind of diversity gives us all the chance to learn more about each other, but why not expand our borders. Maybe some of us have already visited most of the cities of Albania, especially the ones who had the chance to take a class with the naturalist professor, but some haven’t. This article will give some advises on places to visit and we encourage every student to write to the magazine about your suggestions.

Shkodra

The 2500 years old city of Shkoder is just 1½ hours drive from Tirana heading northwest. If the sight of the Castle of Rozafa is visible it means you are approaching Shkodra. The legendary and ancient castle should be your first place to visit. The old city used to be beneath it before it expanded to the north. Thousands of tourists visit every year the Castel of Rozafa. Not to miss.

After you have made your way down from the hill of the castle, you should notice some new one storey shops. Now they have nothing special but once they used to be part of the old Pazar. For hundreds of years the Pazar was a very important location for trade in the region.

As you drive into the city you will notice an increase of the number of bicycles in the streets.

This is the city of bicycles in Albania and bicycles practically own the streets. You should be careful because people on bicycles here ride careless pre-

suming that you know the rule. It is a beautiful relationship the one people here have with their bicycles though. You can rent one if you like to enjoy the city like its citizens do.

Among the museums and that you can visit in Shkoder, the National Museum of Photography “Marubi” which is now another asset this city gives to Albania and to the region, is arousing curiosity for its uniqueness. This museum used to be the first photo studio of Albania with a great importance in the Balkans founded by the Italian architect, painter and sculptor Pietro Marubi. His 180.000 photos has been recognized as a World Heritage by UNESCO. Enjoy a coffee in the “Kole Idromeno” street afterwards.

June 2016

Through churches and mosques, lakes and rivers, maybe you should consider spending the night there. There are many hotels in the city where you can spend a pleasant night over. Shkodra is very small geographically but very big culturally so it is recommended to be visited by foot or bicycle if you want to breath its beauty.

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PAGE 16

June 2016

The Copenhagen Criteria: A critic and kind recommendation to our SU

I am about to leave this university, yes it is true.

Its students, its professors, its staff and its walls have seen and embraced me more than my family for four years, and though I feel empty. I regret lacking the great student life that we all see in the pictures of the American universities; I regret not having the memories which I am supposed to, considering my investment here, in economic terms, as well as moral terms.

I am going to Brussels and I am going to have the student life I was lacking here, but this is not something I am proud of. I am a Political Science and International Relation student, and I am taught to study, to criticize and act! I choose to Act! Now I am playing the role of the international actor that exercises some pressure on the national actors in order for the latter to act and improve. Yes, the complex of inferiority accompanies us again, as Albanians, as students from Albania. Yes, the corruption and selfishness has prepared us, the students of the University of New York in Tirana, to be good public administration officers and Chief of Departments in our beloved state institutions. I choose to act and to speak when most of us choose to remain silent, when the greater of us has no civil consciousness. The Student Union is a mediator between the students and the staff; it is the balance and the Voice, the Voice that in a very shameful way is used in the slogans during elections, but which is the one missing during their term.

The Copenhagen Criteria is a political concept, established by EU after its greater enlargement in the Eastern European countries, applied for the Western Balkans to be fully prepared when they join the Union.

They show us that we are not ready yet, that we still need to work to meet the standards that we promote here and there, and I find them very relevant to our Student Union-s.

Political criteria: stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities” Here we go! The SU is supposed to be a democratic body, a mediator as I previously stated. First and most importantly it should be transparent. I invite you to recall if you ever were presented to any Statute or Constitution that regulates the SU or the relations between different parties in the school. Well, I don’t think that the majority of you can. And you know which is the best part of it? That even though we have one, the SU is not responsible to

enforce it (Article 1(iii.) of the UNYT Constitution).

Ironic, isn’t it. You want to know more about this phantom Constitution? You know whom to address?

Me neither! What can we do about the transparency issue? Well I guess a lot of things. It is not as difficult as at the state level after all. Make the Statute available for the Students. Open a Website, it doesn’t cost much, the SU has a considerable budget. We need to be informed what you are doing, how and when. Well not me, I am leaving, but you, you need to be informed. Publish the main conclusions of your monthly meetings (according to the Constitution the SU is supposed to have monthly meetings, Article V, Section I (IV)) so we know what plans you have for the upcoming months and how do you evaluate the one that is gone. That is the reason we do have a Secretary in the Executive body and a Foreign Affairs Representative, I suppose. On the other hand, a major issue related to transparency is that we don’t know to whom they are accountable to. We don’t know what the interdependent relations among different bodies are, at least I don’t know and nobody ever explained to me. And yes you might even say, stupid Alba, you just want to show off and complain. Well I choose to ask for accountability, and I am entitled to ask for that whenever I want, I have the right to remain passive and ask you for the damn accountability the very last day of your mandate, in addition to point at you for your failures such as the one of the lack of information among students. To whom are you accountable to, despite the students? We do not know. Is there any other body that keeps an eye at the SU? Hmm, the answer is at the Constitution, but you have no idea about that right? Well there is an Article about a General Assembly that gets together for important issues.

There is a Finance Board as well, and I feel like I am writing an article like those “Did you know-s” in periodicals.

Elections! Let us not forget about elections.

In every four years, our beloved country turns into a circus. Flags, posters, concerts, “agoras” everywhere!

And the days that follow after the elections are as chaotic as the previous ones. Lucky us, that in our university the only days resembling to the national chaos during elections is the circus part. Well, did you know that each candidate to be considered as

June 2016 one should compile 30 signatures from the undergraduate students? Did any of those that were acting in such positions asked for your signature? I am sure that the answer of most of you will be no. Again, we also have Article VII, Section I Elections, that from a legal point of view is too vague and loose, creating the right space for possible abuses and the right lack of transparency for the students. Here you go: “Student Union elections will be administered by an election committee; One of the Election’s committee members shall be a representative of the University administration; Each candidate for President and Vice-President shall have the right to provide at least one name for selection to this committee; The member of the election committee representing the University, shall be the Head of this committee” Consider here that the Constitution and these Articles haven’t been amended since 2008, as far as I am concerned.

Rule of Law and Human Rights? Are you kidding me? As a student I spent money for four/five/ six years and still, I should pay for my own graduation ceremony. I invest, my parents also invested and I still don’t have a basic thing such as a coffee machine downstairs at the entrance of the library. No, I should interrupt my studies and go have some coffee at a private bar inside my university. Oh, the Student Union also takes care of me being in a good shape as by constantly eating pizzas and sandwiches, so I don’t risk of getting obese from healthy food. Where is my American dream campus? I want to sit down in my university cafeteria, take my homemade food and eat healthy as I need proper food to remain focused and efficient during my studies. I want to come down to the cafeteria and buy suitable cooking with a reasonable price, but hell no! I am not lucky enough. What about a Student’s corner with cozy furniture, nice lightning and some space that feels like home. No, I don’t want to go all around in the coffee-bars! I want to sit in my own school, have nice conversations, socialize, play guitar, take a nap, play chess, read, listen to music etc. But how can I exercise all these rights if I don’t have the facilities to do so? Once again we need the mediator.

Economic criteria: a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces” Oh my favorite part! Fight against corruption, fight against organized crime, improving competitiveness in the market, all this bullshit! Did you know that last year’s budget was 7-8 thousand Euros? ….Right, you can’t believe that, because all you can remember were some random parties and movie nights. Well this is an informal reply, because when I asked formal-

PAGE 17 ly about the budget I was almost burned as witch in the middle ages. Yes as witch because I am a female and apparently I was digging to deep and “hurting someone’s feelings”. It is not mandatory to use all the budget that is given to the SU, and of course it also depends on the objectives set by the University, but you have the budget and you can use it to improve student’s life! Let it be among us, I couldn’t dare to ask about how much was spent this year, I don’t want to take the risk of not taking my diploma because I was speaking against the “party”…..uhh I already have the Law Faculty diploma from the University of Tirana, nahh nevermind. So yes going back to transparency, we are supposed to have a Finance Board (Article IX of the non-amended Constitution). The Finance Board shall be composed by: the President of the Union, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, and the Head of the council and a Senior Treasurer who shall not be a student and shall be appointed by the President or Rector of the University. Please enlighten me and tell me that we do have one! Again, PLEASE be reminded that any of the positions is to serve the students and the university not to your personal interest be it material or not material.

As for the competitiveness, hah! I don’t want to elaborate more on that, as the last article in Albanian in FreeDamn said enough. But why don’t we have the power to propose projects as students, as SU and organize events? Why aren’t we capable of being approached by other NGO-s or companies to have common activities? As Article IX(xii) says: “The Student Union funds will be raised from Student Union member’s contributions, University funds and other external funds.” Just by thinking that we have so MANY things to improve, makes me wonder about the money taken by my fee for four years that my parents invested for me, and I feel upset. It is like I betrayed them. Because I feel the abuse and I didn’t speak until now. But as a Three Days Grace song says, it is never too late. Why can’t we have facilitators approaching us? Why don’t we have agreements with student service providers, like centers for foreign languages, art courses etc. Why don’t we organize Model European Union or Model United Nations? (they are simulation game, please Google it for further information) It is beneficial not only to IR students but to everybody. Just recently at THessisMUN I met the French delegation from Ecole Politechnique de Paris. And I feel bad that all of them were trained, were motivated and funded by their university. Continues to the other page....

June 2016

PAGE 18 Why don’t we have Erasmus students coming to our school? Questions, questions… this is what happens when you are an IR student, you just ask too much.

Administrative and institutional capacity to effectively implement the acquis* and ability to take on the obligations of membership” Just a few words on that, Please, Please, Please! Draw a Code of Ethical Dressing. It is a school not a fashion parade.

I know that we all have our set of rights, but it is an educational institution and it should be respected as such.

To conclude, this is not an attack. This is not “postpartum” trauma because I am leaving. All these are remarks. Remember freedom of speech, Article 10 ECHR, this is the right I am exercising. Even Trump has the right to speak and express his opinions as J.K Rowling said. I know that this is a very good university, but I want to see it be improved and it cannot happen if we don’t take the courage and criticize. Advice to the new SU: Take a position, focus on an issue and lobby for it. Make it your achievement, I know you cannot achieve all of what I mentioned, but please work for any of them. This is how you will be remembered. “Choose to act!”, Goran Persson, ex-Prime-Minister of Sweden.

By : Alba Brojka

-Do you have an independent research you want to publish?

- Are you a young writer that wants to promote his work?

- Is there any topic that you want your Students’ Magazine to treat? - Or you just want to give your thought or suggestion to our work so far?

In any of the above cases, and in other you might find reasonable, please contact us in our email: freedamn@unyt.edu.al We would be proud to help students bring their voice to their magazine!

PAGE 19

June 2016

Kujt t’i djegi le ta mbajë

Verën e kaluar, si shumë të tjerë në moshën time, vendosa të hyja në kursin e patentës. Me kalimin e kohës, i fitova testet dhe vjen momenti që të lë shenjat e gishtërinjve dhe të tjera të dhëna në vendin përkatës. Aty shoh një fytyrë të njohur, një djalë që e kisha patur më para në një klasë. Mu desh ca kohë ta kuptoja që ishte ai për faktin se po më paraqitej një imazh grotesk përpara. E pashë të eksitohej nga i gjithë ai kaos dhe të fliste me të gjithë cfarë ishin të pranishën. ‘Hapeni pak rrugën se po kalojnë burrat!’; ‘Ti goca aty ik bëj nai pun shpie!’; ‘A mnjef ti mu se kush jam?’ Deri këtu kam prezantuar atë që un do quaja lacin tipik. Arsyeja pse po përdor këtë personazh është se më para nuk e kam parë kurrë të flasë. Bënte gjithmonë levizjen tipike e të ulurit në fund me një fletore bosh dhe një stilolaps, e më pas të rrinte në celular duke shfryrë për tre orë. Ky rast më frymëzoi të mendoja më thellë mbi fenomenin e “lacave” dhe më dha idenë që ti konsideroj si subkulturë më vete.

Do e trajtoj këtë temë duke ndërlidhur shtatë elementet bazë të kulturës me tiparet konkrete të këtij “komuniteti”.

1.

Organizimi Social: Konsiston në mbledhjet e zakonshme në lloto për shkak se nuk je i detyruar të marrësh dicka për të pirë plus faktin që je gjithë kohës i bombarduar me rezultate ndeshjesh. Është si një teatër pa lekë.

2.

Zakonet dhe Traditat: Ky seksion është I vështirë për tu mbuluar për faktin që ka pafund gjëra për tu përmendur. Midis të tjerave, preferojnë byrekun, këpucët e kuqe dhe të rrinë ne facebook gjatë kafes.

3.

Feja: Siç e dimë, në Shqipëri përkatësia fetare nuk përfillet tepër në marrëdhëniet sociale mes individëve. Pavarësisht këtij fakti, cunat do shkojnë tre të marta rresht në kishë të Laçit. I vetmi problem është që duhet të mendojnë dy muaj para për të siguruar një makinë që zakonisht qëllon një golf 4 I kushëririt.

4.

Gjuha: Gjuha nuk është aq e përcaktuar për sa kohë nuk ka rëndësi prejardhja në të qënit lac.

Ajo më tipikja është dialekti I Shqipërisë së Mesme, por që ai verior mban vëndin e parë për autoritet dhe respekt. Më tej ka dhe korçare dhe beratas që zoti u ka mohuar të drejtën për të qënë të frikshëm vecç prej mënyrës si flasin.

5.

Arti dhe Literatura: Rrepi është dashuria konstante e lacave. Dy detyrimet e tyre ndaj muzikës janë së pari të njohin emrat bazë të artistëve ndërkombëtarë dhe së dyti të zgjedhin një nga 739 grupet rivale në mënyrë që të kuptojnë kë duhet të rrafin nga lagjja përballë e kë jo.

6.

Format e Qeverisjes: Për këtë pjesë dua të diskutoj pak si funksion hierarkia në këtë komunitet.

Te gjithë nisin duke u tallur, me përjashtim të atyre të cilët kanë babin ose vëllain të rëndësishëm. Që nga ky moment e tutje fillon një betejë për të kapur goca, për të shkuar party, për tu zën me më të fortët etj. Janë këto forma të cilat funksionojnë si motorri i një laci dhe që cojnë në degradimin e mëtejshëm të këtij grupi.

7.

Sistemet Ekonomike: Çunat kan të ardhura bazë njëmilekshat që marrin nga prindërit të cilat më pas përfundojnë shumicën e kohës në lloto.

Nëqoftëse njëri nga çunat kap, atëhere ai do qerase gjithë lagjen. Ekzistojnë edhe raste emergjente kur ndonjëri do të dalë me një gocë dhe çunat kan detyrim moral ti japin ndonjë 10-mileksh borxh. Ai 10-mileksh nuk para kthehet përvec rasteve të rralla kur ndonjëri kap ndonjë lek në skedinë. Pervec tyre janë dhe ata që u jep babi lekë dhe për të cilët ky paragraf nuk vlen fare.

Qëllimi im me këtë shkrim nuk është të tall lacat, vetëm të bëj pak humor me këtë fenomen.

Unë personalisht rri me laca dhe në disa pika do ta konsideroja edhe veten lac. Arsyeja pse vendosa ta shkruaj këtë artikull është sepse më vjen neveri kur i shikoj këta njerëz të bëhen kopje të një modeli të shpifur “suksesi”. I konsideroj të gjithë njerëz me potencial të cilët sakrifikojnë dinjitetin e tyre për njëfarë vetpëlqimi artificial. Nuk është më “cool” të ulesh në kafe dhe tu thuash të tjerëve sa ke mësuar ose sa i vështirë është provimi. Njerëzit sot kanë frikë të ngrenë dorën në mësim sepse nënkupton deri diku një tradhëti të heshtur ndaj rregullave të këtij komuniteti. Janë shembuj të tillë që tregojnë ecjen mbrapsht të mendësisë të një pjese të madhe të rinisë tonë.

June 2016

PAGE 20

Openminded

LGBT communities tend to be a significant indicator of democracy and emancipation of the civilization nowadays, regarding the long hatred and discrimination this kind of group has faced for years.

So I have decided to dedicate an article to this community, by trying to inform the society about the evolution of homosexuality concept till the present days and about the crucial role the most developed countries of the world are playing on their future. .

Homosexuality had never been phenomena until the sixties, when the first cases emerged. However, history suggests the presence of Human homosexuality since 3000 B.C. Of course, nowadays we have read and watched many documentaries about this type of sexual orientation and how it has been present since the first years of human existence. Yet, homosexuality became a real issue as I said and obviously the first impact in the society of the phenomena was tremendously malignant. People had little to no knowledge about this kind of sexual orientation and as it has always happened, they felt threatened from the homosexuals. The threat then resulted in hatred, discrimination and even murders. And the rest of the story, you all know it.

But on this article, I don’t prefer to talk too much about the dark part rather than for the other one. Simultaneously with the high discrimination and hatred the LGBT community faced during the eighties, there was also hope and acceptance of this group by countries like Netherlands, Denmark and Norway which were the first states to allow samesex marriages or cohabitation. Then, the process of knowledge and scientific studies regarding this kind of sexual orientation eventually opened the way to the emancipation and acceptance of the LGBT community by the societies of developing and developed countries of the world.

In order for you to understand who LGBT individuals are, I will describe it in a very simplistic manner, which I believe will help you see them as natural human beings. Homosexuals, lesbians and transgender individuals are born from a woman, breastfeed by them, go to kindergarten, primary school, elementary one, high school and get graduated from university and start a job. They contribute with their work in the society and they give their best

to try and adjust to the reality of our world. Everything seems fine, right?! Well, actually it is guys. Sexual orientation does not define an individual and you cannot define someone by his or her sexual characteristic. What people do in their spare time and in their home is none of our business. Firstly, if you actively discriminate LGBT, you go against the International law by breaking the fundamental Human Rights.

Secondly and lastly, you do not live anymore in the sixties or “middle ages” when people didn’t have any knowledge about homosexuality and they felt menaced by homosexuals. We live in the twenty-first century and I can’t believe we still feel threatened or scared from LGBT community members rather than being normal with them.

I would like to end up this article with the latest achievement of LGBT community all around the world, which I guess every one of you, have heard.

On June 26 2015 same-sex marriages finally became legal in United States of America by the decision of Supreme Court, which marked a crucial milestone on the LGBT community history and gave faith and hope to all LGBT community members, who have been living until that day with the fear of being hated and discriminated. Brighter days have come since that day and we should try not to ruin people’s mojos just because of our prejudice.

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June 2016

You’re in, EUROut

We cannot wait to see our National Football Team play its first matches in European Championship! It is an excitement that we have been waiting for so long and our celebration is legit. It is an investment that Albania and Albanian fans all over the world have done to see their favorite team amongst the best teams in the World. As always thrilled and euphoric, we are claiming victory already. But is this a good thing? Are we praising an achievement that we should have taken earlier? I guess that we are expecting to erupt in a gigantic world-class level football team after the EURO 2016… That is just not going to happen. This Championship is just a way towards future achievements. You are in, you are out. Between those times let us think about the way we leave EUROs so that we can move ahead.

A true national football fan must have seen the last friendly matches that the National has played.

Most certainly he/she might have come up to the conclusion that enthusiasm and good physical shape cannot fill a recently created gap in defense and the ineffective attack. Actually these problems seem to have started fading and a great deal of the merit goes to our great coach Giovanni De Biasi.

A very good work is being done with the National Football Team. It is the best example to take for what every other team sports in Albania need to progress.

Discipline, serious work, motivation, passion and patience are the key ingredients of success in sport and definitely what has brought our team to EURO 2016 in France. But some things in Albania are just not in the hands of those who just love and invest love in sports, and even other areas.

This Championship is the evidence and the reward of a serious earlier investment in National Football. But this particular tournament is just a onetime thing. During the tournament of course the team is expected to do good and high hopes for its presence are always present. But has anyone thought how is the way getting out of this Championship? Is there any difference if we get out in the worst way

and we get out proud? To me and most fans, it should not be any difference. After the Championship finishes for our National Football team the problems that existed will still be there. The still non-competitive junior National Teams of football will need motivation and work. The ever corrupted semi-professional and amateur, men and women football will still need serious care. Our Superliga teams will during time need control and investment. I am just naming the most frequent problems that football faces but you must keep in mind the situation of other sports in Albania. These are what I refer to when I use the title “You’re in EUROut”. The same focus that the National Football team gets when it enters a serious Tournament, the same focus must the problems regarding sports overall have, before and after the National team enters this tournament. Wouldn’t we be more involved in sports and more proud for our sportspersons, if achievements like this happened in other sports as well? I remind you that in August the Olympic Games are being held in Rio and Albania’s other sports aren’t quite having the good time football is having.

At any case, I still don’t want to spoil the enthusiasm for the upcoming EURO experience that all of us are waiting. Myself I am an enthusiast fan and cannot wait to see our heroes play.

I am quite certain that our National Team will get out of the Championship with its head and pride up, thing that will make all of us happy. Let’s hope a good example will be built to continue the bright way we have started in sports. Do not miss any of our boys’ games people! Our National team needs our support.

Meanwhile let’s proudly chant the slogans we have chosen to use in this competition, one of the fans and one of the Federation: “O sa mirë me qenë Shqiptar” and “Ti Shqipëri më jep nder!”.

June 2016

PAGE 22

A new major for London

It’s been a while since in the political news chronicles of United Kingdom is not only talked about drafts or monetary and social policies. Referendum for the exit of Scotland from the UK, Brexit…but who would think this trilogy would be completed with the local elections.

The same routine, every-four-year elections but with a new major this time, not pretty common in fact.

No one can say he/she wasn’t surprised from Londoners this time. The stately citizens with bitter humor trusted their city, the walls of which who know what multiyear secrets withhold to Sadiq Khan, a British Pakistani lawyer. His election as Mayor of London made him the city’s first ethnic minority mayor, and the first Muslim to become mayor of a major Western capital.

And it is precisely because of that, that things are a lot more electrified. Mr Khan seems very determined and sure in his plans, while there are people, important ones as the far right candidate Paul Golding, leader of Britain First who turn their back during the major’s first speech as one. And who also believe that Islam should be banned in the UK. It is a point which will definitely harden Mr. Khan’s work during his mandate. In his position it is far easier to make him feel excluded. Meanwhile, winning against the Conservative candidate, billionaire Zac Goldsmith, is a proof that the democratic elections in UK are truly such and that the system itself is effective.

But when you think of it in its whole, there is one question which everyone want the answer of: why did Londoners choose Sadiq Khan? Are they probably fed up with billionaires’ promises which surprisingly somehow never manage to become true? Or is it maybe that they wanted someone of Labour Party this time, the candidate of which happened to be Mr. Khan?

I can only say one thing though. That the four next years will be interesting for London and for us as well. Meanwhile, we can only send our congratulations to Mr. Khan.

PAGE 23

June 2016

Committed to your Voice Students!

Have you met UNYT students? Basically, have you met yourselves? You, who smell like students, and dress like students, and for most of the time act like students! You, whose brains have automatically been programmed to conform; does this sound like yourself?

Perhaps, that’s us to the general public, but the fifth to the twelfth of March proved those outsiders wrong. As the election period officially began, both camps, “Committed to You,” as well as, “Your Voice, Your Choice,” had already found common grounds. The main motto both groups apportioned was that of sharing views and evoking groupthink, along with group-action; for the sole purpose of awaking the UNYT community. Individuals have fought diligently for free speech and the right to vote, but that’s all so last century. What we came to realize is that, as the two above mentioned rights have already began to be taken for granted, today’s students want the right to be comfortable. This joint effort brought together Mario Kukeli, Fation Brati, Prokop Vangjeli, Deivi Hysa, and Goldi Halili as the official five representatives of the new Student Union. This group will need no trigger warnings as they want to keep all views, even the ones that don’t chime in perfectly with the general students’ outlook. Perhaps they might not be added to a platform, but one innovation remains permanent, that of involving students’ ideas, voice and opinions in a a healthy structured House of Representatives, and Realdo Silaj is foreseen to be its head. Our unis-sphere won’t shun anyone out and both campaigns were crucially all involving, training both equality and diversity.

As John Stuart Mill said, if we don’t allow our opinion to be “fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed,” then that opinion will be ‘held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.” It’s not about just getting core academic education; it’s most importantly about re-educating one another with shared bilateral relations. Do help your Student Union commit to you by raising your voice, as your choice has already been made!

By: Marina Goldi Halili

Under the same umberella!

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© FreeDAMN! Contact : freedamn@unyt.edu.al

June 2016