What Shkurti never imagined was that plans to build a mega-resort on Sazan — one of two luxury complexes on Albania’s southern coast backed by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner — would spark a revolt, an uprising that has shaken the Balkan state in a surge of disgust over the perceived excesses of “a rotten oligarchic class,” just as it hopes to conclude EU accession talks.

“Am I outraged? Of course I am,” said the cartographer as the outline of the uninhabited rock came into view from a speedboat heading toward its shores. “Sazan is our only island. It is a little paradise that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Albanians. For some rich couple to come, develop it, and then deny us access would be a crime.”

Since the fall of communism more than three decades ago, Albania has not been gripped by such collective fury. At 32, Shkurti, whose family emigrated to the US when she was 11, is typical of the tens of thousands of people, both inside and outside the country, who have taken to the streets in what has become known as the “flamingo revolution” because of the threat the proposed resorts pose to wildlife and the delicate ecosystems in these areas.

“This government no longer represents us,” she said. “It has chosen to represent oligarch investors like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. These protests will not stop, even if they are no longer exclusively about them.”

Every day, she said, friends from Albania’s diaspora were flying in to join the rallies. At the largest gatherings so far, thousands of people assembled in Tirana over the weekend, many of them traveling from the US and other parts of Europe to add their voices to the wave of dissent.

In a country with almost no tradition of civic unrest, the protests — leaderless and non-partisan — have caught officials in Tirana and the EU by surprise. Increasingly, demonstrators are targeting a political establishment blamed for the country’s chaotic transition from repressive Stalinist rule. Fears of a crisis are growing.

Amid daily calls for his resignation, Prime Minister Edi Rama has chosen to respond with nervousness, humor, and barely concealed anger. But the veteran Socialist, previously praised in Brussels for his visionary policies and an artist with a cheerful streak in more peaceful times, has also refused to back down. Elected to a fourth term last year on a promise to bring the once-isolated country into the EU, he has described the 1.4 billion euro investment as vital if Albania is to become the Mediterranean’s “most attractive high-end tourist destination.”

“You have to ask where all this is going,” said Afrim Krasniqi, director of the Albanian Institute for Political Studies, who does not rule out the possibility that demonstrators could adopt “more radical” protest measures. “Apparently, the government will not believe that all these people in the streets are against it. This lack of dialogue, this lack of empathy, this refusal to want to find a solution, is dangerous.”

Three weeks have passed since the first protests erupted after bulldozers began clearing swathes of forest and ancient dunes to make way for construction in a protected conservation area across the water from Sazan.

The Pishë Poro-Nartë reserve, home to one of Europe’s last wild rivers, includes much of the Zvërnec peninsula, whose sandy shores protect an inland lagoon that is a major migration route for hundreds of rare birds and more than 70 endangered species.

Tensions escalated here — the first site planned for development — when opponents confronted private security contractors who had hastily erected a fence to keep the public out. In the chaos that followed, as demonstrators tried to climb the barrier, a local landowner was filmed being dragged by guards, his handcuffed body scraping across the rocky ground as horrified witnesses looked on. Police officers controversially chose not to intervene.

In a podcast released the next day, Ivanka Trump spoke enthusiastically about the real estate venture and “this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other” that she and her husband, as lead investors in the project, intended to transform. “It is massive in scale,” she said of the plans to develop Sazan, a former Soviet-era military installation whose green landscape of wild figs and flowers is dotted with abandoned buildings once used by personnel and their families. “Not only the island, but we also have 8 kilometers of coastline opposite it,” the US president’s daughter said excitedly, referring to the shoreline visible from the scenes of violence this month.

“People got very angry,” said Kostantin Xhaho, an environmentalist based in Vlorë. “After all, Sazan is a historic monument. I have friends who grew up in those buildings, and both the island and Zvërnec are important habitats for flamingos, monk seals, and sea turtles. This idea of building a 10,000-room resort on the peninsula triggered what I think you would call an explosion.”

The prospect of what critics condemned as “the worst kind of global elite” plundering natural reserves in a country that remains one of Europe’s poorest quickly turned into deep anger over destruction that highlighted other inequalities as well.

The development was granted preliminary approval after the Albanian parliament changed strict laws protecting environmentally sensitive areas — although there is no evidence that Kushner played any role in the change. Indicative of the perceived lack of transparency surrounding the project, opponents claim the investors remain a mystery, their identities hidden behind a multilayered shell company in the Netherlands. Ongoing court cases over property disputes in Zvërnec have also played a role in the public anger.

“What we want is a new Albania,” said Justina Prenga, 24, who recently traveled from the northern city of Shkodër to join protesters in the capital, where cries of “Rama ik” (Rama resign) are heard every night outside the shuttered 1930s building housing the prime minister’s office. “We are Generation Z and we are saying ‘enough is enough’; our country is not for sale.”

She said the protests had gone “far beyond” the Kushners, even though her friends did not know “whether to laugh or cry” when they heard Trump’s “Christopher Columbus-style” account on the podcast of discovering Sazan. “We want this project stopped, but really, it is about everything that is wrong with Albania. Sali Berisha should also resign. He made our country what it is today, so he too should go to prison,” she said of the main opposition leader, a former president and prime minister who was once barred from entering the UK because of his alleged links to crime and corruption.

Wrapped in a giant red-and-black Albanian flag, Lizander Saraci agreed. A risk manager at a private bank, he is typical of an older generation that has also joined the movement.

“More than 30 years have passed and our hospitals are still terrible, our education system is terrible, there are no jobs, and everyone is leaving,” said the father of two, who often attends rallies with his children. “The demonstrations are large because people are tired of this injustice. They are tired of all the corruption. One of our slogans is ‘stop the dictatorship of dirty money’ because we have learned from experience that similar projects benefit only a wealthy few.”

Last week, the European Parliament also weighed in. In a resolution, MEPs backed the protesters, calling on the government to halt further construction in protected areas. Some criticized the “predatory capitalists” who had exploited legislation allowing strategic investors to fast-track similar projects — a law Brussels has called unfair and has long asked Tirana to repeal. EU officials say that without an agreement on environmental laws, accession negotiations cannot be concluded. “We expect Albania, a year and a half away from this goal … to have aligned with these [EU] standards,” Silvio Gonzato, the EU ambassador to Albania, told the Guardian.

Again, Rama held his ground in response to the EU parliament’s vote, vowing to continue the development of Zvërnec “based on an environmental impact assessment in line with European Union standards.”

He has repeatedly called what is Albania’s largest-ever investment “a blessing” that will not only provide badly needed jobs but “ultimately result in approximately 25% more trees and green spaces.”

Last year, the country of 3 million people attracted about 12 million tourists, many of them drawn as much by its natural beauty as by its affordable prices. “This is also about direction,” Shkurti said. “Do we really want this kind of development when, clearly, the infrastructure can barely cope?”

But Rama has his supporters. Albert Pushka, owner of a newly opened fish restaurant outside Vlorë, is so enthusiastic that he has named the venture Ivanka. Asked about the development, Walter Dimraj, 48, gave a Trump-like thumbs-up and said: “Albania must grow. It must seize this chance. If we do not do it, the Greeks will.”

Elpiniqi Merkuri, a psychologist who heads Vlorë’s municipal council, is convinced the resort will help boost confidence at a time when the older generation still “cannot find the courage” to speak about the brutality of the past. “People tend to feel calmer and more optimistic when they see development, new opportunities, and well-designed environments,” she said, as cows and sheep wandered around the area where construction workers had recently begun work.

Standing near the salt fields overlooking the lagoon, Ledi Selgjekaj wishes she could agree. The young ornithologist has been coming here for the past five years, rising at dawn to monitor the behavior and breeding patterns of shorebirds.

“At that time, construction had just begun on the new international airport of Vlorë,” she said, looking through binoculars across the marshes toward its tower. “And then we began seeing ecological corridors being disrupted and jackals and other predators targeting wildlife in the lagoon.”

Flamingos and their egg-filled nests were particularly affected, she said. “The airport, once it starts operating, will be a catastrophe. If these resorts go ahead, it will be unbelievable.” / The Guardian

The post We Want a New Albania / The Guardian Echoes the Civic Revolt Against Rama: Citizens’ Uprising Has Shaken the Country, Demonstrators Without Political Parties! “Elites” Accused of Corruption appeared first on Albeu.com.