THE FUTURE IS HERE
During these weeks, every time I have traveled for work or spoken with friends in meetings and on the phone from different parts of the world, I have felt proud of the praise I have heard for Albania. The coverage of the weeks-long protests by reputable international media has portrayed our country as a society with civic awareness and a sense of solidarity.
Të lidhura
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There is perhaps no better image than the one created without financial cost, but through the living energy of a community that rises in defense of its own country.
Events in Albania are bringing to the surface deep concerns that require serious reflection and meaningful steps regarding the country’s democratic and development model.
First, most of the protesters belong to the generation of the transition that began in 1990 and has still not ended. They were not shaped under the fear of communism, nor under the idea of an external enemy. For this reason, divisive language has the opposite effect. In our region, only Albania and Serbia have still not moved beyond the generation of leaders who symbolize the transition, although for entirely different reasons. Unlike the Serbs, Albanians are clear that their country belongs to the European family.
For the children of the transition, the model of normal life is not communist Albania. Nor is it the Albania of kiosks and pyramid schemes. Nor the Albania of concrete, which produces dependent ties among political power, profit and architectural fantasy, but not social well-being. On the contrary, for them the right Albania is one of equal opportunity and of narrowing the unbearable gap between expectations and reality. It is an Albania where democracy is neither negotiated nor distorted.
Second, throughout these weeks the country is experiencing a collective emotional release that is not mediated by parties, leaders or institutions. Citizens are not only rising up against arrogance, the extreme personalization of power and the harmful alliance among politics, oligarchy, organized crime and the media. They are also experiencing a sense of solidarity, dignity and awareness of the public interest.
One of the most important products of this protest, however diverse it may be, remains social catharsis. At the same time, new ground is also being built for a more credible democratic practice, one that can turn the energy of the squares into political reality.
Third, Albania has never enjoyed so much sympathy in the international arena. During the war in Kosovo, attention toward our country was linked mainly to the generosity of Albanians in sheltering their sisters and brothers from Kosovo. Today, that attention has another reason: citizens are seeking to break away from a political and economic model that has suffocated competition and meritocracy. It is a model built on the backs of past generations and those yet to come: taking the contribution of the former, while destroying the inheritance of the latter.
Fourth, the daily coverage of the protests in Albania by the most prestigious international media outlets, focusing on the real causes of citizens’ anger and on the mobilization of our diaspora as never before, is the best investment in our image as a people and in the road toward the European Union.
Our path toward the EU has been obstructed precisely by the wounds against which people are protesting today: widespread corruption, organized crime, politicized institutions and the oligarchic capture of public assets. What is happening now is the strongest counterproof ever seen. Albanians are demanding that European standards be put into practice. They are fighting persistently for democracy, freedom, equality, justice and sustainable economic and social development. They are doing what responsible citizens do in every European democracy: projecting change from the bottom up, toward a new model for a new Albania.
Last but not least, the spirit of protest cannot be extinguished, because by now it is bigger than the anger expressed in Albania’s streets or in the digital space. Denying this reality only increases the cost of a change that is inevitable. Albania has gone through great trials by remaining united. This moment calls for more patriotism, responsibility, ethics, ideas, concentration of forces and courage.
By: Ditmir Bushati
