"Children of the Dictatorship" screening in Durres
On 16 June 2017, IDMC organized a meeting with the students of Aleksander Moisiu University in Durres. In this meeting the "Children of the Dictatorship" documentary was screened and the students had the opportunity to engage in a discussion with a contemporary witness of the dictatorship era. This time, IDMC's guest was Simon Mirakaj, at the same time a character of the documentary.
The activity was greeted by the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences and Law, Andon Kume, who encouraged the students to deepen their knowledge about the past of their country. Meanwhile Matilda Karcanaj, IDMC project coordinator introduced students to the work of IDMC and its mission. Ms. Karcanaj told the students:
"Dealing with a topic such as the dictatorship, despite it needs the revision of the history textbooks, faces another challenge itself as a topic when discussing it with young people. For many young people it is not an attractive topic, therefore we try to raise awareness of the young people and invite them to reflect through creative multimedia projects."
She invited them to be attentive to the call of the "Ask Your Grandparents 2" competition, which will be opened in September.
Under the moderation of the journalist Ben Andoni, after the documentary screening, the activity was followed with a panel discussion with Simon Mirakaj, contemporary witness of the dictatorship era and Elda Zotaj, head of the the Political Sciences and Law department at Aleksander Mosiu University. Mr. Mirakaj said:
"Dictatorships are imposed; they are against the freedom, while the people are born free and must live free."
Mrs. Zotaj urged students to become aware because:
"People cannot move forward, without healing the wounds of the past. Tyranny does not know time, tyranny can knock at anytime, therefore we should be ready to say no."
While Mr. Andoni brought students a comparative approach to dealing with the past in Albania and other European countries. To make students understand how far Albania is in the process, he told them that "other European countries have begun earlier the process of dealing with the past and they still face problems".
After the screening of the IDMC documentary "Children of the Dictatorship", students found themselves in a dualization. They said that they had once watched the movies produced by the dictatorship and now they were feeling sorry that they were influenced by them.
About the Guests
- Simon Mirakaj was born in was born in 1945. He passed 44 years of his life deported for political reasons, since he was 2 weeks old. Mr. Mirakaj is one of the four characters of the IDMC documentary "Children of the Dictatorship".
- Andon Kume is Dean of the Political Sciences and Law Faculty at Alekander Moisiu University, Durres.
- Elda Zotaj is Head of the Political Sciences and Law Department at Alekander Moisiu University, Durres.
- Ben Andoni is a journalist for "Gazeta Shqiptare", "Milosao" cultural magazine. Besides English, he translates from Serbo-Croatian language to Albanian.