Today, on the 38th anniversary of her death, we remember the dissident woman Musine Kokalari. She was among the first intellectuals, writers, and political activists who sacrificed comfort for the sake of the struggle for democracy, as a woman who refused to submit to the harsh and patriarchal regime. As the founder of the Social Democratic Party, her activism and dissent cost her 16 years of imprisonment and 22 years of internment under Enver Hoxha’s regime.
The activism of Musine Kokalari today serves to remind civil society and political consciousness of a rapid and deep progressive maturity, with logical consistency and moral integrity.
Musine Kokalari is a work and a life that speaks. That reminds us of responsibility, dedication, and determination.
Moreover, her political thought expands the meaning of politics in society. It gives an additional dimension to democracy—not as a dictate of numbers, but as a collective joint effort. Not as the victory of a part, but as a space for all. Not as a majority that rules, but as a responsibility toward the minority, toward the oppressed and the humiliated, toward those whom we otherwise neglect. For Musine, this was the meaning of politics: to give a voice to those who have none, to speak for those who are unheard.
Musine’s last words were:
“I came to know democratic culture, I experienced the tragedy of great revolutionary upheavals. I faced a special trial. I endured 16 years of prison and 22 years of internment with struggles back and forth. I experienced the work of a worker with individual quotas, I experienced collective quota labor in agriculture and construction. I knew the solitude I chose, the chance society in prison, and all the changes that follow this unending earthquake to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat. Sometimes I tell myself that I gained nothing by staying alive. For 38 years, I have not known what family means”.
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