THE ALBANIANS AND EUROPE
THE ALBANIANS AND EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: 1. What is the idea of Europe today? Are we dealing with a single idea, or do different, even contradictory Europes exist today, and as goals? Who are the Albanians? What is Europe to them, and what are they to Europe? How do we imagine Europe now? Have we overcome the division of the start of this century, when some thought that the Albanians should orient themselves by the Ka'bah, and others pinned their hopes on the West? What will the recent Albanian mass migration to Europe bring? What does it mean to be European today? What should we accept, and what reject? 2. There is talk of an irreparable historical misfortune, a failure by the Albanians to seize a moment of history. For two thousand years and more, the Illyrians and Albanians sought their identity, their freedom, their true face, and their right to be equal to other peoples on the globe. "This is our home. These are the graves of our forefathers. Here are our title deeds. This is where you hear Albanian speech and song. Look at the mountain ranges of our age-old resistance. How often must we come down from these mountains before we are given the rights of civilisation?"[...] Perpjekja 5, December 1995

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