Without wanting to offend those who have just started their vacation, we must take stock and see who have been the kings of this summer, in which the imminent autumn already threatens with a slight drop in temperatures. By going outside the usual categories, we will not pay attention to either Shakira and her Dai-Dai, the anthem of the World Cup that Spain won, or Aitana's Superstar (wow, we insist again on Ferrán Torres' goal that marked with fire on July 19). Because the animal of the summer in tourist Albania has been the graceful flamingo, which has been parading its pink feathers through the streets of the country for three months now in the form of a revolution. The protests over the construction projects of one of Donald Trump's two sons-in-law, the famous Jared Kushner, have just completed their 90 uninterrupted days, although they have lost some steam. But neither the summer break nor the pressure from Prime Minister Edi Rama have managed to paralyze them.
"The influx has decreased, but it is possible that they will grow again when the summer holidays end and institutional activity resumes," explains journalist Zana Cimili, from the AP agency who is covering this movement.
Kushner, through the company Infinity Partners and its partners, plans to build large complexes in coastal areas of high ecological value, mainly in the area of Nartë-Zvërnec (place of passage of the symbolic flamingos) and the island of Sazan. The latter, a former Cold War enclave that Albanians and their tourists were already enjoying, but that Ivanka Trump claimed she had discovered, "with her bare feet", after arriving with her husband - a regular at peace negotiations by order of her father-in-law - on a boat.
In a podcast that lit the fuse, the eldest daughter of the US president said that the land "is incredibly virgin and unique" and that they were working "with the most brilliant architects in the world to not alter the topography, respecting the native vegetation and maintaining the wild spirit of the island while we build villas integrated into the rock." What began as environmental protests soon turned into a socio-political movement in Tirana and the demand for the resignation of Rama, who has been in power for 13 years.
"There have been no signs that the Government has changed its position," continues the AP reporter. "Prime Minister Rama continues to defend the project, calling it the country's largest foreign investment and arguing that it will boost Albania's tourism and economy," explains Zana Cimili.
"The Government seems to be betting mainly on attrition: avoiding directly addressing the main political demands of the protesters, defending the projects as legitimate investments and trusting that a leaderless movement will end up losing strength. However, the fact that the protests have lasted so long is already significant in itself," highlights journalist, analyst and television presenter Lufti Dervishi.
As a curious fact, many days, the American Steve H. Hanke, professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University and who was an advisor to the then Albanian Government after the fall of communism in 1991, uploads a tweet on his CORRUPT GOVERNMENT of Prime Minister Rama and against the luxury resort project of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. THE FLEMINGO REVOLUTION HAS STRENGTH. IT'S TIME FOR PRIME MINISTER RAMA TO PACK.
Citizens Channel is a digital citizen journalism medium that broadcasts a streaming of the protests every night on its YouTube channel. Lorin Kadiu is responsible for it and recalls that "it is the longest and most intense demonstration since the change of regime in 1991." He relates that the confrontations with the Police and the arrests stopped when Parliament closed its activities in August, because the concentrations there had already ceased.
"The atmosphere is mostly peaceful in terms of direct police or institutional pressure," he explains, although, "at the same time, another protest is taking place on the internet, where activists and groups denounce constant cyberattacks and forced removals of content critical of the Government that supports the flamenco revolution." Regarding the influx, he says, like Cimili, that the numbers are expected to increase in September: "There are daily actions in the street, including the painting of messages with giant letters on the boulevard and the march through the streets of Tirana that takes place every afternoon."
Dervishi believes that "the most immediate pressure could increasingly move from the streets to legal and institutional avenues. There are already investigations (by SPAK, the special prosecutor's office) into land acquisition linked to the Zvërnec development, while the European Parliament has called for a moratorium on new permits and urban planning interventions in protected areas until Albanian legislation is aligned with European Union standards." Albania is, after Montenegro, the favorite to enter the EU.
