This title may seem strange, especially when written by a catholic priest, who has been working for years, and is still working together with all the catholic Church, the Albanian people of Kosova, Macedonia and Montenegro, to definitevely eradicate the damned phenomenon of revenge.

This phenomenon is often "isolated" from the social and cultural background, and consequently understood in a rather intuitive way I daresay, without taking into account the global conception of Albanian culture, family and society. Thus, one risks to misunderstand this phenomenon, interpreting it only from the point of view of the past, or considering it as an innate aggressivity, "hot blood", "personal and family justice", or even as the expression of primitivism...

Revenge is a sui generis phenomenon and expresses a culture and a mentality -not only past but also present- of a people who never had the possibility to decide.

Revenge clearly expresses the lack of a social organization of rights and duties, of a global legislation, and is therefore a form of self-defence, a "sacred duty" of a family, flag, tribe or society. If the individual did not behave like the others, he would be isolated, rejected or killed by his own society.

Father Giuseppe Valentini, a famous scholar of the Albanian culture, writes: "It would be, here, unproportionate to prove how the so-called Albanian revenge, or retaliation, is not an act of hatred, but an act of justice remitted to each family for lack of a real public authority that be active and competent in this field"(3).

When there are no legislative bodies able to protect people from unfair relations, the instinct and the natural need for defence and self-defence even through revenge arise, and this is handed down to posterity as a "sacred obbligation".

Revenge is a customary law of defence against the aggression and destruction coming from someone else, first of all the Turks. Then, it easily degenerated and was used by dominators to strike the Albanians, to create several conflicts and divisions, thus dominating and destroying them. In social psychology, the phenomenon of decence against the strongest, the aggressor, is known under two aspects:

1. The identification with the aggressor, that gives the sense of power and makes feel equal to that power, that is source of danger and threat. It is a psychological process, where one "avoids" to acknowledge publically his own impotence and the aggressor's strength in his unconscious.

2. Resignation and the acceptance of the fact, that weighs and burns one's pride, sense of strength, dignity and need for freedom.

Albanian people seem to have chosen mostly the first solution, the identification with the aggressor, in order to be able to somehow survive and solve many internal and external conflicts.

Revenge in the history has the following characteristics:

1. It is a collective and social phenomenon, therefore it is committed on behalf of the community, where the community is stronger than the individual.

2. It is committed against those who are guilty of a murder and have to be punished. It is never personal; it does not concern the only killer, but the entire family, community, village, flag, tribe...

3. Revenge has often a sacred character: the blood that can never be lost, downtrodden, destroyed, is sacred.

4. Revenge is not limited in time nor in space, it is always underway until it is committed.

5. People were convinced they were forced to commit it, because not doing it was a public shame; it almost meant not to respect the killed person, or the will of leaving this task to others.

I remember that some years ago if someone was killed, people used to go to condole with the family of the killed person, or as they say in Albanian to "heal the head", and after drinking coffee they would say the following words to the head of the family with much conviction, almost like a wish: "May God favour you and help you in revenge!".

And, if revenge was really committed, again people would go to the family to congratulate for the deed and say the following words: "You have done your duty! You are our pride!".

Father Giuseppe Valentini describes and brings revenge out as follows:

1. Almost forgetfulness of a political authority running criminal juridiction in the territory of Kanun*** ...

2. The need, as a matter of fact, for providing for the security of one's honour, safety and property on one's own.

3. Sense of responsibility for the keeping of society, tribe, flag, village, family, from the danger of unpunished and rampant criminality (4).

Yet, the possibility of reconciliation is envisaged. For the reconciliation Federico Patetta writes: "It is practiced everywhere there is the principle of blood revenge: the family of the killed person can reconcile with the family of the killer. Albanian customs point out in detail all the formalities by which reconciliation must be prepared, celebrated and concluded. One can arrive to reconciliation thanks to the work af a mediator of blood, who having obtained the intention, is compensed with 500 plates by the family of the killer. Reconciliation may occur (and it is maybe imposed) on the occasion of the general pacification, that is made by Chiefs, a representative of Gjomarkaj and the people representation. In any case, guarantors of revenge or guarantors of blood are necessary..."(5).

Therefore, both revenge and pardon as well as reconciliation are not a pesonal decision but rather a collective decision; the same is true also for the responsibility for the act.

After this brief exposition of the Albanian mentality and culture towards revenge, we can state:

- To people revenge was the only way to manage to live in the social and cultural environment; a duty, of course often very difficult, but honorable at the same time.

- Reconciliation and pardon too have this social character, because it is society, or Chiefs, or the people who decide it. Therefore the individual, the family have no longer the duty of revenging the blood; on the contrary, reconciliation becomes a possibility to affirm oneself, to be with the Chiefs, with the tribe, with the people. With reconciliation, the reasons for further conflicts cease, and this is no longer considered as the "shameful" behaviour of a weak and fearful person (6).

In the evaluation of the phenomenon of revenge there have been different and opposite opinions: to some, revenge was a typical characteristic of the Albanian society, a value or a virtue of very high degree, understandable within the historical, social and cultural framework of the Albanian people. To others, especially to "strangers", it is a very seriuos crime, a continuous danger, a phenomenon to be fighted against and to be eliminated as soon as possible.

*Lush Gjergji is an Albanian catholic priest of Kosova. He is graduated in Psychology at the University of Rome. Famous journalist and writer, he has been being editor in chief of the religious and cultural magazine "Drita" (The Light) for many years. Among his people he is the advocate of the ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and of nonviolent actions.

**This text, written directly in Italian by its author, was revised by E. Ragusa who made just some indispensable change for the clearness of the content and added the notes marked with asterisks. The text is taken from V. Salvoldi-L. Giergji op.cit., p. 31-36.

***It refers to Lek Dukagjini's Kanun, for which see note 1 of the introduction

(3) G. Valentini, The Family in the Albanian Traditional Law, Poliglotta Vaticana 1945, p. 178.

(4) G. Valentini, ibid. 178.

(5) G. Valentini, ibid. Introduction of F. Patetta, pp. 39-
40.

(6) M. Zurl, ibid. pp. 222-223.

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