FLASH
Shkruar nga Dijana Toska
Once upon a time, a hoxha defended the public school with his life in the face of the demand to open a madrasa. Today, ironically, it is the academics themselves who are introducing madrasa into educational institutions, even though we are a secular state with clear laws on the separation of religion from education...
The secret services, aided by devout Albanian collaborators, are increasingly destroying our national, educational, cultural and religious identity.
This is not a new phenomenon, rather it is a continuation of old policies aimed at diminishing national consciousness and distancing the people from their original roots.
A glorious story from which we have much to learn took place in the 1950s and has been passed down from generation to generation in the men's halls of Kosovo.
A high school had been opened in Gjakova, which had aroused great interest among parents in educating their children, precisely at a time when every house was being raided to find any book from Albania or any foreign literature. There were many cases when the UDB, insidiously introduced a book into a house, as a pretext to declare the young and intellectuals of the time enemies of the state.
As educated shoots began to flourish everywhere, the services informed Aleksandar Rankovic, the founder of the UDB of Yugoslavia and also the Minister of Internal Affairs, of the growing danger posed by the education of Albanian youth. Rankovic ordered his collaborators in Kosovo to talk to the religious leaders to have this school closed.
After researching, the UDB people turned to Hoxha Hasan Efendi, the most authoritative religious figure in Gjakova. They went to the mosque and in the course of the conversation told him that, "the state has decided for your general good, to close the gymnasium and as compensation to open a madrasa, where young Albanians can continue their education without any problems." Hoxha, with the wisdom that characterized him, agreed to listen to them, but asked them to come to the mosque the next day, so that he could present their request to the congregation.
The next day, the hoxha, in the presence of the udbash, informed the congregation and, without yet asking their opinion for fear that someone might agree, said to them in a clear voice:
"Brother, I have this job on my menu at night and our menu tells us, we don't need a madrasa right now. This month we can burn all of Gjakova, but we will defend this school with our troops, because tomorrow, the children who come out of this school will have an even better Gjakova."
This powerful stance, based on Hoxha Hasan Efendi's vision and love for the nation, survived time, while Rankovic's UDB killed over 70,000 Albanians without trial, imprisoned thousands more, and deported over 250,000 others to Turkey.
I don't know if the decoration that Enver Hoxha awarded Rankovic in 1945 in Tirana is still in force? But I know for sure that today, that black history is being repeated in new and more sophisticated forms.
Today, various services, old and new, with old and new collaborators, are jeopardizing the foundations of our identity.
On the eve of local elections, we need awareness more than ever.
We need to elect mayors who have a vision for building collective life and developing education.
We need knowledgeable and courageous clerics, like Hoxha Hasan Efendi, who educate and guide the congregation in the spirit of traditional faith in God and love for the homeland.
We need policies that stem from national thought, not tools of foreign policies that uproot our roots.
We need the Voice of the Intellectual to raise awareness and fight for more imams like Hasan Efendi, so that we can protect the fate of the nation from the hands of secret services and dark influences.
Once, a hoxha defended the public school with his life in the face of a demand to open a madrasa.
Today, ironically, it is the academics themselves who are introducing the madrasa into educational institutions, even though we are a secular state with clear laws on the separation of religion from education.
Political leaders must not allow temples of knowledge and citizenship to become laboratories of ideological or religious experimentation.
Political leaders have an obligation to protect the secular spirit of the state and the autonomy of our educational institutions, as a guarantee for a healthy and free future for generations to come.
Political leaders have a responsibility to protect education from control, religion from instrumentalization, and the nation from division. This is not only a legal and constitutional obligation, it is a national and human duty.
Today, more than ever, we need leadership with vision, integrity, and historical awareness, which we unfortunately lack.
Lini një Përgjigje