Spiropali calls on Rama for a political solution to the protest: Face the citizens and restore trust

Socialist Party MP Elisa Spiropali has responded to the protest that has been taking place in Tirana for four days. In a lengthy letter published on her Facebook page and addressed to Prime Minister Edi Rama, she calls on him to intervene with a political solution.

“Ed, imagine yourself among the protesters, in a crowd of people who have taken to the streets because they feel unheard, unrepresented, disappointed and exhausted. Think of yourself not as a prime minister watching the protest from afar through screens, but as a young person among the citizens, hearing their calls and feeling their fear. Above all, understand that this anger did not begin today.

It all began with the railings put up to separate people from their space, citizens from their city, and the protest from the institution. At first glance, it might have seemed like a dispute over a public space, over trees, concrete or the way a decision was made. But those railings quickly became a symbol of a government that creates barriers between itself and its citizens.

From the railings came anger, and then confrontation. Today Tirana is in flames, a sight that pains anyone who loves Albania. This must be viewed clearly, not simply as a series of events, but as a political message.

When citizens can no longer find a door to knock on, they take to the streets. When even their voices in the streets go unheard, anger grows. And when those in power interpret every criticism as a conspiracy, every protest as a threat and every opponent as an enemy, society begins to communicate through violence.

Violence cannot be a path to political change, just as the systemic violence produced by bad decisions cannot be accepted. The crisis will not be resolved by statements issued from offices, by keeping people at a distance or by political excuses. It requires listening directly, acknowledging the problems, taking political responsibility and making decisions that deliver results.

People do not revolt only over what they lack. They also revolt when they feel that no one is listening. A government that does not listen to people, however strong it may seem, begins to weaken because it strikes at the deepest human feeling: dignity.

If you ask what must be done now, the answer is clear: give this situation a political solution, without taboos, restrictions or fear. Face the citizens. Do not rely solely on your majority, the institutions or the number of seats you hold. Accept that trust is earned through responsibility and action.

The young people taking part in the protest are not asking only for calm. They want justice, dignity, transparency and guarantees. Their voices cannot be taken into account only when the streets fill up and their anger becomes impossible to ignore.

This time, the protesters have not come out only because of the railings. They oppose the way decisions are made for them, without their presence or their voice. They are protesting against an administration where employment is often tied to murky considerations rather than merit. They are protesting because their lives can be changed by arbitrary decisions, while they have nowhere to demand accountability.

They have also come out against an economy where connections to those in power count for more than work, and where favoritism takes the place of competition. They are protesting for a justice system that often moves slowly, against a political system that asks for their votes but brings less and less change, while the winners boast and the losers disappear from view. They have come out to defend the vulnerable and oppose the trampling of political morality.

Their demands are many, but they are being ignored. Violence cannot be a political solution, but putting out the fire is not enough to address the crisis either. What is happening is a crisis of trust, a weakening of legitimacy and a warning that the way the country is governed must change.

The protest should not be seen only as a threat to those in power. It can be an opportunity to understand what is happening to the country and to the people you govern. If you aim to protect what has been built, you must be the first to open the way for change.

Governments are not always brought down by their opponents. They are often weakened by an inability to understand the times. History has punished those who believed a parliamentary majority could replace the trust of citizens.

The 82 seats are not a license to avoid accountability. They carry a responsibility to govern for the citizens who did not vote for us as well.

People are not asking for privileges. They want a state that is not harsh only on the weak, branches of government that are separate and accountable, an administration that is not used as a means of pressure, and employment that does not depend on connections. They want favors not to be handed out through preferential relationships, and justice not to arrive only after the damage has been done. They want action against monopolies and a life that is affordable and humane.

The citizen who loses a job or is denied a promotion for refusing to enter into a deal is not a statistic. The business that closes because it has no connections to those in power is not simply a loser in the market. The family that waits years for justice is not just a case file, while the working family that cannot afford to live is not an exception.

All these people gradually lose the belief that the state belongs to them too. A privileged caste cannot be defended in the name of governing. Nor can those with unchecked power who use it to trample people, property, businesses and principles. Legal responsibility does not replace political responsibility.

Corruption is not fought through SPAK or the prosecution service alone. It is fought by building an economic and institutional model in which competition is fair and success does not depend on connections to those in power.

A state is judged not only by the roads it builds, but also by the justice it guarantees. Growth figures are not enough; what matters is how ordinary citizens live. Nor is the number of investments enough if people cannot live with dignity, compete and build their lives in freedom.

Institutions need a moral renewal. People and their dignity must be at the center of politics, not the interests of those who wield unlimited and unjustified power.

Institutions stand not only because of buildings and laws, but also because citizens trust them. When the law is enforced only against the weak, it no longer represents justice, but organized fear. When an institution protects only the powerful, it is no longer the state, but a wall erected against the citizen.

The protest calls for a political answer, not just a police response. It calls for a genuine national dialogue on fundamental reforms, on a consensual electoral system that ensures real representation, on separating the party from the state, and on freeing institutions from political use.

You cannot demand calm by silencing young people, no matter how loudly they voice their anger. Real calm is not the absence of noise, but the presence of justice. A society is not at peace simply because it does not protest; it is at peace when citizens believe they can bring about change without confrontation.

MPs cannot depend solely on closed lists and the need for political survival. There must be more competition and freedom, and less control over people’s lives. An MP must answer to the citizen, not just the party leader. Otherwise, parliament becomes a counting room where votes are tallied while voices are silenced.

The Socialist Party, too, must have the courage to change through genuine internal elections, merit, self-correction, accountability and by opening the way for a new generation of leaders.

The Socialist Party’s structures must convene and make decisions. The process of change must be led, rather than reinforcing the myth that anyone is irreplaceable. It is time for a culture centered on the individual to give way to a culture centered on institutions.

A party that cannot change from within is sooner or later forced to change from without. Change imposed by the streets is always more painful than change considered and undertaken in time.

What is needed is not people loyal to the party at any cost, but a party loyal to Albania.

Both a change in political leadership and new elections must be part of the democratic discussion. They should not be considered a threat if they take place with guarantees of free competition and participation by all. Elections should serve to restore trust, not deepen the country’s division into hostile camps.

Democracy does not belong to the winner. It is a responsibility for those who win and a safeguard for those who lose.

When elections are treated only as a way to gain power, they become an empty ritual and a pointless exercise. When they are seen as a means of giving citizens a voice, they become the foundation of the state and a guarantee of development.

Democratic paths must be opened everywhere so that streets are not blocked by barricades. It is time for change, and this must be felt as a great responsibility.

It is not enough to say the country is moving forward when a large share of its citizens feel forgotten. It is not enough to talk about modernization if young people do not see themselves as part of the future. Nor is a numerical victory in an election enough when people’s trust is lost.

From the railings to the flames visible today in central Tirana, the message is clear: people do not want to live in a country where those in power treat them as numbers, as votes to be collected or as crowds to be managed. They want to be seen as citizens and individuals with the right to object and demand accountability.

Politics must be there when people expect answers. The answer citizens expect from you is not another speech, but a decision.

That decision must be not to defend power at any cost, not to call those who seek justice enemies, and not to mistake silence for peace or obedience for loyalty.

Albania must come before everything else, not the party or power. At this moment, winning an election is not enough. Trust must be restored, and Albania must win.

Society must not be defeated, but uplifted.

“You, the former idealist, the intellectual who mocked banality and whom many on the right viewed favorably in 2013, can do it.

These words come from someone who values you and believes that the good within you is incomparably greater than everything else.

Elisa”