Lubonja: The protest is a civic revolt against exclusion; the goal remains Rama’s departure and a technical government

Fatos Lubonja described the protest, now in its 30th day, as a movement that should be interpreted on several levels and whose essence, according to him, is a civic uprising against a system that has left citizens out of decision-making.

Speaking on the “Lunch Program” on News24 with Ola Bruko, the analyst said the protest brings together people with different political views or perspectives on development, but what unites them is a sense of violated dignity and exclusion from the processes where decisions are made.

According to Lubonja, this exclusion does not remain only on a symbolic level, but has produced concrete consequences for citizens. He cited the property issue and coastal development as examples, saying people are having their land taken away and are being pushed out from the shores of the Adriatic and Ionian seas.

He also said that this is a human mass that is learning democracy, while noting that the protest has managed to raise public awareness both inside the country and abroad, which he considered an achievement of this movement.

Lubonja stressed that the political program of the protest is the resignation of the current government and a transition to a technical government. According to him, achieving this objective requires persistence from the protesters in order to continue maintaining their stance.

“This protest can be seen on several levels. The basic one is this: an uprising against a system in which the citizen has felt excluded. All those people who have different views on development are united by offended dignity because of exclusion from decision-making. This has excluded them from real things as well, it is stealing their land and driving them away from the shores of the Adriatic and Ionian. This is a human mass that is learning democracy. Raising awareness inside and outside the country has been successful. The political program of this movement is the resignation of this government, leading to a technical government. This requires people’s persistence to stay there. When I spoke about international awareness, it seems they want to bring a narco-state into Europe for their own purposes. This is unacceptable for Albanians as well. This is a disaster for Europe itself too. They have understood it and these things are coming out in the press. Why are they waiting for us to be massacred in the streets? We have the police, the state, the justice system. Therefore, we are not under Enver Hoxha’s regime. If this is called a revolution, it creates an overthrow, an earthquake in the institutions. It will create chaos. From chaos, order is born,” Lubonja said.