Forsaken Albania

By Artan lame
Albania, 1937, 1942, 1984. All dictatorships and authoritarian States have a particular obsession towards the female part of society: they try to get them mobilised. This occurs mainly in those States that try to forecefully galvinise their peoples into some kind of action. In general this runs counter to the traditional or consolidated values of the family. To be able to impose such powerful movements, you must also be in a position to quash any conservative resistance by the society which is being imposed upon. Viewed from this angle, the mobilisation of the female part of society, is an effort on the part of the powers that be, to tone down the resistence by the active part of society, which, traditionally has been male. Firmly following this path, this kind of State will not stop until the extreme imposition of the female is reached, as a mobilised force, in an almost military formation. Here, a distinction should be drawn with contemporary societies of today, where the concept of “equal opportunities” is a consequence of society’s gradual development, although, even in our time too, this concept is frequently used merely to impose an articifical rapprochment with society in the West.
The first photograph dates back to the year 1937 and is of a group of young girls, participating in the parade marking 25th anniversary of Albania’s independence. They are all wearing the outfit designed for the occasion, a uniform that is almost military and the only thing that is missing is a pistol in their belts. They used the drums to maintain the rythm during the march.
The second photograph dates back to 1942 and is of a group of young girls during a ceremony in Durres. During the time of the Italian invasion, the organization of women and girls was done in compliance with Italian models of the time, with the exception of the insignia and the white caps. The girls are dressed in black skirts and white blouses, and wear round Mussolini badges pinned to their ties. Their white caps bear the insignia of the Organization, “Youth of the Albanian Lictor,” and they have pinned similar badges on their shirt fronts. The standard bearers hold the flags of the organization aloft on which you can read the inscription, “The Youth of the Albanian Lictor/ Female detachment/ Durres.
In the third photograph which dates back to 1984, the times are different, the ideology has changed, but not the way in which the females are mobilised. This young girl belongs to the Organization of the Pioneers and she wears its uniform. This shot was taken at the parade of the 40th anniversary of Liberation. She is dressed in almost the exact same attire that her predecessors wore forty years earlier, except that the black tie has been replaced with the red pioneers’ scarf, the communist symbol, while the drums of the ceremony are still present.
Although these three photographs are divided by decades, they really look as though they were taken on the same day; perhaps providing evidence of the principle-opposites attract. I have no idea what lives these young Albanian women and girls led, apart from the girl in the last photograph. She is married to me.