For more than a month, thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tirana, protesting against their government, in the biggest wave of social unrest in Albania since the fall of communism more than three decades ago.
What started as a protest to protect the nature reserve and the more than 2.500 plant and animal species that live in it, grew into "flamingo revolution", a movement that questions the very direction in which the country is moving.
Albanian citizens are outraged that the multi-billion dollar luxury construction projects they support Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, threaten one of the last untouched natural areas on the Adriatic - Zvernec, its lagoon and the nearby island of Sazan.
They are particularly angered by the lack of transparency regarding these projects. The government claims that the agreements have not yet been finalized, but footage of bulldozers on beaches has sparked mass protests.
Demonstrators are now demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Eddie Rama, who only won his fourth term last year, even though the turnout in the elections was only 45 percent. Rama claims that "there is absolutely no possibility that the investment will be stopped as long as I am in power."
The leader of the Socialist Party has been actively attracting foreign investors and capital for years, claiming that it is necessary for one of the poorest European countries to achieve economic progress.
Photo: AP Photo/Hameraldi AgolliProtests in Albania as part of the so-called "flamingo revolution"
"Bulldozer Democracy"
Albanians welcome investments, but this does not mean that they want to sell their natural and national heritage - especially if the terms of those deals are not clearly presented to the public. Rama has often been portrayed as a leader ushering his country into the modern age, while his critics in Albania itself speak of a "bulldozer democracy" that looks more attractive from afar than from the inside. writes in the Guardian editorial.
Rama blames the anti-Trump mood for the negative reactions. Voters across Europe have become sensitive to any suggestion that their leaders might sacrifice national interests for fear of Donald Trump's wrath.
However, this movement is much more an expression of disillusionment with both Rama's government and conservative opposition leader Sali Berisha - the former president and prime minister of Albania, who was banned from entering the United States during the Joe Biden administration due to allegations of corruption.
The construction project in Zvernec was made possible by amendments to the law from 2024, which allowed construction in protected nature reserves for the construction of five-star luxury complexes. For many citizens, this is the most obvious evidence that the interests of ordinary people are being sacrificed for the benefit of the super-rich.
"More than 30 years have passed, and our hospitals are still terrible, our education system is disastrous, there are not enough jobs and everyone is leaving... We have learned from experience that such projects always only benefit a few rich elite," an elderly participant in the protest told the Guardian.
Photo: AP Photo/Hameraldi AgolliProtests in Albania as part of the so-called "flamingo revolution"
Albanians are looking for something better from politics
Albanians demand that politics offer them something better. In those protests, one can recognize the echoes of long-term demonstrations in Serbia against clientelism and the lack of responsibility of the authorities.
It is particularly striking that in a country known for its high rate of emigration, a large number of young and educated people returned from abroad to participate in the protests. Albanians who previously believed that they had no future in their country are now trying to shape it themselves.
Members of the European Parliament requested an immediate suspension of construction in ecologically sensitive areas and warned that the tourist complex project calls into question Albania's plans to join the European Union. That should be a serious warning to Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has promised that Albania will become a member of the EU by 2030.
However, above all, it should listen to its own citizens. This is not just a fight to preserve a precious part of nature, as important as that is. It is about the question of whether the country can find a better development path than the model of short-term economic growth that benefits only a few through non-transparent agreements.
Source: The Guardian
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