During the gathering, chants were heard such as “No person is greater than Albania,” “Edi Rama, come out onto the boulevard, the homeland is ours, not a private business,” and “New Albania.”

Foreign tourists have also joined this protest.

As they marched toward the Prime Minister’s Office, the protesters continued chanting: “Edi Rama, you traitor, do not bargain with Albania.”

The post The 29th Protest Against Edi Rama, Calls on the Boulevard: “New Albania,” “The Homeland Is Ours, Not a Private Business” appeared first on Albeu.com.

Gjatë tubimit janë dëgjuar thirrje si “Asnjë njeri nuk është më i madh se Shqipëria”, “Edi Rama dil në bulevard, Atdheu është i yni jo biznes privat” dhe “Shqipëri e Re”.

Kësaj proteste i janë bashkuar edhe turistë të huaj.

Ndërsa marshonin drejt Kryeministrisë, protestuesit vijuan me thirrjet: “Edi Rama o tradhtar, me Shqipërinë mos bëj Pazar”.

The post Protesta e 29-të kundër Edi Ramës, thirrje në bulevard: “Shqipëri e Re”, “Atdheu është i yni, jo biznes privat” appeared first on Albeu.com.

“The Bënja Baths between revelry and the ruin of Albanian nature”

The images shared a day earlier, showing people singing, dancing and celebrating atop the ruins of Albanian nature in the Langarica Canyon, brought to mind the film “The Fall of Rome.”

In one of the most powerful scenes of that 1960s cinematic masterpiece, the citizens of Rome dance drunk with joy while the barbarian hordes are already at the city gates. The ending is known: Rome is sacked, civilization collapses, and Europe enters what history knows as the Dark Ages.

Today, the Langarica Canyon and the thermal waters of Bënja are a living example of how we Albanians, as a nation, are heading toward a Dark Age in the protection of natural heritage. Bënja is a reflection of how a visionless government, aggressive toward nature and blind to heritage, can destroy the essence of a country called Albania.

I first went to Bënja around 1987, with the Partizani basketball team. From that time on, returning there became a ritual, a pilgrimage to one of Mother Nature’s masterpieces. The landscape was untouched. Green meadows, shady trees, Mato Gruda’s water mill, and a cobbled road built during the Ottoman period led you toward the mouth of the canyon. There stood the elegant stone bridge, a masterpiece of local architecture. Beneath it, the natural pools, surrounded by river-smoothed stones, gathered the healing waters. It was a landscape that brought to mind Japanese shrines, where nature and the human spirit coexist in silence. Anyone who saw Bënja in those years was left breathless. Years later, I also had the good fortune to explore more than ten still unstudied caves, where traces of human life go back as far as the Early Paleolithic. An archaeological, scientific and tourist treasure, almost unknown.

The damage to the area began when the medieval cobbled road was covered with asphalt. It was the first blow to the site’s historical memory.

The second blow came two years ago. The Albanian Development Fund, with financing of more than two million euros from the World Bank, launched an intervention that not only destroyed the natural character of the area, but turned Bënja into a symbol of a development philosophy that confuses concrete with development. Excavators entered the bed of the Langarica. The river’s ecosystem was altered. Centuries-old stones were removed and turned into retaining walls. The natural pools were replaced with concrete basins, alien to tradition and unsuitable even for the thermal springs themselves. The Ottoman bridge did not escape either. Its smooth stones, which had carried hundreds of caravans, were replaced with slabs, creating a restoration that respects neither history nor the basic principles of conservation. Across this landscape rose a giant parking lot, several alpine-style buildings and, of course, a restaurant. As if every public project in Albania is somehow fated to end with a restaurant. But the greatest damage is not aesthetic. It is economic. Anyone who knows rural tourism understands well that after spending more than two million euros, the economic impact for the local community will be almost negligible.

This area has been designed to become a camper van parking lot. Anyone involved in tourism knows that camper tourists spend little. They usually travel with their own food, use very few local services, and do not create a sustainable economy for residents. The numbers may rise, but the community’s well-being will not.

Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away lies the medieval village of Bënja. The monumental houses made of tuff stone are collapsing. The village’s medieval church is falling into ruin. The school was closed long ago and has turned into a pile of stones. And this is where the question arises. What if those two million euros had been invested in reviving this village? What if the houses were restored and turned into guesthouses? What if local families were supported with gardens, livestock and produce that would supply these guesthouses? What if the church were restored and opened to visitors? What if, through this benevolent work of the government, emigrant families returned and, with them, the voices of children to the village school? What if Bënja became a center of mountain tourism, with well-maintained trails and local guides? What if the ten caves of Langarica were studied by international universities, bringing students, professors and scientific expeditions that would stay for weeks in the village’s guesthouses? What if they were followed by cultural tourists, the kind who seek authenticity and not asphalt? That would be development, not only for tourism, but also as an example for other areas.

These are two completely different visions for Albania. One sees nature as a space where concrete must be poured. The other sees it as a heritage that must be preserved, because authenticity is precisely the greatest wealth we have. Let the reader judge for himself.

Therefore, Mr. Prime Minister, Bënja is not a debate about thermal waters. It is a debate about the way we understand civilization. A people that begins to celebrate the destruction of its own natural beauty is not yet ruined. But it has begun to grow accustomed to ruin. And this is the most dangerous stage of any barbarism. Those citizens dancing in your colorful photographs do not know that music over ruins is the last hymn of a civilization.

The post Auron Tare harshly criticizes Edi Rama: The interventions at the “Bënja Baths” are a reflection of how a visionless government, blind to nature and heritage, destroys the essence of a country called Albania appeared first on Albeu.com.

According to Rama, claims speaking of the destruction or concrete overdevelopment of Bënja have been fueled by manipulations spread on social media.

He underlined that this is an area where, according to him, there are neither property issues nor interventions that harm nature, but only a public regeneration project aimed at improving infrastructure and increasing access for tourists.

“For the past 24 hours, another digital ‘rocket’ has been launched, which the algorithm has exploded into hundreds of thousands of likes and curses, over the destruction, concrete overdevelopment and drying up of the Bënja Thermal Baths.

Using the same method and with the ‘help’ of the same foreign hands that gave the algorithm the ‘doping’ for an unprecedented rush in spreading alarm about the flamingos, the organizers of this unrest, which aims to bring down the government and turn Albania backward, by manipulating people who have sincere concerns, are seeking to turn Bënja into a new casus belli.

Whoever wants the truth can find it in this video, TODAY, from the Bënja Baths, where there are no flamingos, no buying and selling, no owners and no property conflicts, but simply a public regeneration and Urban Renaissance project, serving the thousands and thousands of visitors and tourists who go there every year,” Rama wrote.

The post Rama speaks about the Bënja Thermal Baths: Digital disinformation is circulating about concrete overdevelopment and drying up appeared first on Albeu.com.

Sipas Ramës, pretendimet që flasin për shkatërrim apo betonizim të Bënjës janë ushqyer nga manipulime të shpërndara në rrjetet sociale.

Ai nënvizon se bëhet fjalë për një zonë ku, sipas tij, nuk ekzistojnë as probleme pronësie dhe as ndërhyrje që cenojnë natyrën, por vetëm një projekt publik rigjenerimi, i orientuar drejt përmirësimit të infrastrukturës dhe rritjes së aksesit për turistët.

“Prej 24 orësh është lëshuar një tjetër “raketë” digjitale, që algoritmi e ka shpërthyer në qindra mijëra lajke e mallkime, për shkatërrimin, betonizimin dhe tharjen e Banjove Termale të Bënjës

Me të njëjtën metodë dhe me “ndihmën” e të njëjtave duar të huaja, që i dhanë algoritmit “dopingun” për një turravrap të paparë në përhapjen e alarmit për flamingot, organizatorët e kësaj trazire që synon të rrëzojë qeverinë e të kthejë mbrapa Shqipërinë, duke manipuluar njerëzit që kanë shqetësime të sinqerta, kërkojnë ta kthejnë Bënjën në një casus belli të ri

Kush do të vërtetën e ka në këtë video, SOT, nga Banjot e Bënjës, ku s’ka flamingo, s’ka shitblerje, s’ka pronarë e as konflikte pronësie, po ka thjesht një projekt publik rigjenerimi e Rilindjeje Urbane, në funksion të mijëra e mijëra vizitorëve e turistëve që shkojnë aty çdo vit”, shkruan Rama.

The post Rama flet për Banjat Termale të Bënjës: Po qarkullon dezinformim digjital për betonizim dhe tharje appeared first on Albeu.com.

In a post on Facebook, Rama announced that he awarded the French president the Gold Medal of Public Gratitude, as recognition for his continued support in promoting Albania on the international stage.

“It was a pleasure and a privilege to welcome the President of France, François Hollande. As a sign of gratitude for his friendship, support and contribution to strengthening relations between Albania and France, I had the honor of awarding him the Gold Medal of Public Gratitude.

Recognition also for his continued support in promoting Albania on the international stage, for encouraging our European journey, and for his belief that our country has an increasingly important role in a united Europe,” Rama writes.

The post Rama welcomes François Hollande at the Prime Minister’s Office and presents him with the Gold Medal of Public Gratitude appeared first on Albeu.com.

Në një postim në “Facebook”, Rama bëri të ditur se i akordoi presidentit francez Medaljen e Artë të Mirënjohjes Publike, si një vlerësim për mbështetjen e tij të vazhdueshme në promovimin e Shqipërisë në arenën ndërkombëtare.

“Kënaqësi dhe privilegj të mirëprisja Presidentin e Francës, François Hollande. Në shenjë mirënjohjeje për miqësinë, mbështetjen dhe kontributin e tij në forcimin e marrëdhënieve mes Shqipërisë dhe Francës, pata nderin t’i akordoj Medaljen e Artë të Mirënjohjes Publike

Vlerësim edhe për mbështetjen e tij të vazhdueshme në promovimin e Shqipërisë në arenën ndërkombëtare, për inkurajimin e rrugëtimit tonë europian dhe për besimin se vendi ynë ka një rol gjithnjë e më të rëndësishëm në një Evropë të bashkuar”, shkruan Rama.

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Huduti had been present at the citizens’ protests in Tirana. On the same Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted to her, describing her as a beneficiary rather than a protester.

Among other things, Rama wrote that they spread to young protesters the poison of a toxic hatred for Albania. He also published two photos of her, stressing that she seeks revenge against America for her slain brother, whom he described as the butcher of the Tehran regime.

He also underlined that in the other photo she appears alongside former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he called the ayatollahs’ chief servant.

The post Rama declares Kosovo protester Ikballe Huduti undesirable appeared first on Albeu.com.

Huduti ka qenë e pranishme në protestat qytetare në Tiranë. Po këtë të enjte, kryeministri Edi Rama reagoi për të, duke e cilësuar si përfituese dhe jo si protestuese.

Ndër të tjera, Rama shkruan se ata u shpërndajnë të rinjve protestues helmin e një urrejtjeje ndotëse për Shqipërinë. Ai publikoi edhe dy foto të saj, duke theksuar se ajo kërkon hakmarrje ndaj Amerikës për vëllanë e vrarë, të cilin e cilësoi si kasapin e regjimit të Teheranit.

Ai nënvizoi gjithashtu se në foton tjetër ajo shfaqet përkrah ish-presidentit të Iranit, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, të cilin e quajti kryeshërbëtor të ajatollahëve.

The post Rama e shpall të padëshiruar Ikballe Hudutin, protestuesen nga Kosova appeared first on Albeu.com.

According to Rama, they turned the protest into an “island of reptiles,” adding that, in his view, they are passing on to the young participants the poison of a toxic hatred for Albania.

The prime minister also shared two photographs, writing that one of them shows a person seeking revenge against America for her slain brother, whom he describes as the butcher of the Tehran regime. He adds that the other person in the photo is the chief servant of the ayatollahs.

“Do not deal with the protesters… No, never with the protesters, but certainly with the profiteers.

All kinds of profiteers, Albanians with neither faith nor principle, souls corrupted by base motives, fake patriots, fake activists, fake believers, whom foreign money, the country’s swamp, or both together have brought onto the stage of masks on the boulevard, turned the protest that began for nature into an island of reptiles crawling among the remaining young women and men, licking and stinging them at the same time and spreading in every direction the poison of a toxic hatred for Albania.

Look at the two photos yourselves. It is the same character who came with the caravan of the fake “diaspora,” who in the name of Allah preaches hatred, calls for an uprising against the government of Albania, seeks revenge against America for her slain brother, the butcher of the Tehran regime, the infamous general Kasem Sulejmani. And yes, the character beside her is Ahmedinegjadi himself, the notorious chief servant of the ayatollahs of darkness,” Rama wrote.

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