Page 34 - AACL 25th anniversary

Anniversary Celebration of5 Albanian American Civic League
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CHANGING HISTORY FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS...
1984 1987 Joe DioGuardi, a Certified Public Accountant and
Is Elected to the Introduce an Expanded DioGuardi prevails against the State Department in getting November The First Albanian American June DioGuardi and Dole a Congressional Hearing on his Resolution, which for the first U.S. Congress Version of a Resolution for time openly exposes the barbaric and egregious abuse of human rights by Serbs against the defenseless Albanians of
Kosova. a efforts in the House, reintroduces an expanded version of the June
1987
Republican, is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives DioGuardi, after resuming his intense, personal lobbying
First Major Albanian Rally in Front of the United Nations
by a very slim margin in a Congressional District that had been 1986 Resolution for
controlled by the Democratic Party for more than fifty years. (H.Con.Res. 162)—this time with fifty-seven Congressmen. He was born in the Bronx, New York, of an Albanian father and Senator Dole accommodates Joe by reintroducing the same an Italian mother, and he had no prior political experience.
Thereafter, the Albanian community lobbied Joe about Kosova, openly disdains the Albanian people of Yugoslavia , he calls
reminding him of his connection by bloodline to the Kosovar for their suppression and total control as “enemies of the
Albanians in Kosova
1988
1984
Resolution in the Senate (S.Con.Res. 150).
Their Real Albanian Roots DioGuardi leads a massive demonstration by Albanians from
justice for
Albanians in
Kosova
September The DioGuardis Discover July around America in New York City in front of the United
Milosevic Comes to Power Nations and in Washington in front of the White House and the Capitol to make the U.S. press and public more aware
At Joe DioGuardi’s 45th birthday celebration, his Albanian roots Slobodan Milosevic, a Serbian banker, deceives his personal
are discovered when Kosovar Albanians who had supported and political mentor in Yugoslavia and seizes control of the September DioGuardi and Congress-
1986 DioGuardi works with his friend and colleague Congressman
Albanians. state.” He also tries to promote his agenda in Washington
June from California and Chairman of the Congressional Human American colleagues, Henry Kissinger (former Secretary of
The First Resolution for
and against DioGuardi by enlisting the support of his former Tom Lantos, a prominent Jewish American Congressman
Albanian Rights Is State), Larry Eagleburger (former Ambassador to Rights Caucus, to arrange a high-level meeting with State Introduced in the U.S. Yugoslavia), Brent Scowcroft and John Scanlon (former State Department officials and the Ambassador from Yugoslavia
of the desperate plight of Albanians in Yugoslavia, especially in Kosova.
1988
his election to Congress, overheard his father, Joe, Sr., then Communist Party and the Presidency of Yugoslavia. An
man Lantos Confront the U.S. State Department
aged seventy-two, speaking in Albanian to his younger sister. ardent nationalist, who unlike his predecessor, Marshal Tito,
to confront a flawed and failing U.S. foreign policy in the After much lobbying by Albanian Americans from around the Congresswoman Helen Bentley, a Serbian American and Balkans. The meeting, spearheaded by Lantos, an ardent
Congress
Department officials in
Yugoslavia), Maryland
United States, who adopted Joe DioGuardi as their Albanian ardent Serbian nationalist supported by the Greek lobby, supporter of Albanian human rights, is a great success and including Senator Paul Sarbanes, also from Bentley’s home Milosevic recalls his ambassador to the United States in a
American Congressman, and after much research by Joe’s State, and Congressman Jim Moody, who openly dealt with show of contempt.
staff, the first resolution (H.Con.Res. 358) to protect Albanian 1987
and supported Serbs in Congress.
November DioGuardi Narrowly
human rights in the former Yugoslavia is introduced by Joe in October
the U.S. House of Representatives. The next day, Joe’s friend, The U.S. State Department
Senator Bob Dole, introduces the same resolution in the U.S. Exposes Its Pro-
Senate (S.Con.Res. 150). Caught by surprise, Serbian officials Yugoslavia, Anti-Albanian
enlist their Russian and Greek sponsors to use their lobbies Policy
in Washington to attack DioGuardi as a provocateur and to get In a bitterly fought election campaign against former NY
1988
their friends in the State Department to kill the resolution. The State Department, under much pressure from the Greek Secretary of State and multimillionaire liberal Democrat Nita The battle lines for Albanian human rights and freedom are lobby and the former colleagues and friends of Milosevic, Lowey, DioGuardi loses his seat in Congress the way he won drawn openly in Washington for the first time, and DioGuardi, who worked hard behind the scenes to promote Serbian it—by a very slim margin. The loss is a great surprise to all, surprised and stung by the vehement opposition to his dominance in Yugoslavia and to disparage DioGuardi and but was due to many factors, including Vice President Bush’s seeminglyinnocuousResolutionforbasichumanrights,meets the Albanian case for human rights, sends a letter to poorPresidentialelectionresultsinNewYork(GovernorMike the challenge by personally lobbying over one hundred Congressman Dante Fascell, then Chairman of the House Dukakis won New York State in 1988), the work of the Greek Congressman in the following twelve months to gain their International Relations Committee. The letter denounces the lobby on behalf of Lowey, and illegally unreported money
1986 1987
support.
1989
November DioGuardi Is Reelected to November First Congressional
Civic League Is Formed
DioGuardi Resolution as an affront to U.S. friend and ally used at the last minute to smear DioGuardi, for which Lowey Yugoslavia, and blames the Albanians of Kosova for crimes was fined $3,500 by the FEC two years later.
January The Albanian American
Authorized Undaunted by his loss, DioGuardi announces that he will run Using his friendship and powers of persuasion with the again for Congress after redistricting in 1991, and proceeds Democratic Chairman, Dante Fascell (D-FL), and the to form the Albanian American Civic League to continue to Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, Gus lobby the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration on be- Yatron (D-PA), half of the Albanians in Yugoslavia, especially in Kosova.
against the Serbian people there
Loses His Third Election
Congress
Hearing on Kosova
With elections every two years in the House of Representatives, DioGuardi, known by some as the accidental congressman, works hard to win a second term against the well-known political figure, Bella Abzug, who brought national attention to the race.
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Saluting Albanian Religious Tolerance in an Age of Intolerance