"Prime Minister Edi Rama should have resigned several times by now due to countless scandals, from the incinerators and Balluku, to Ahmetaj and Aruba. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party should have expelled its leader in time, to pave the way for democracy."
This is what analyst Fatos Lubonja commented today, invited to the News24 television studio. He analyzed the current political situation in the country, the Territorial Reform, the protest and its longevity, the future of Albania and suggestions on how this revolt should continue.
Lubonja believes that Rama has seized power to avoid facing justice, building a criminal regime.
"If we were in a democratic country, the prime minister should have resigned several times and his party should have expelled him for all the scandals he has committed. We mention Balluk, Ahmetaj, the incinerators, Aruba and others. But this is the problem, we are not a democratic country, we are a criminal regime where one crime is covered with another crime because you do not want to go to justice and seize institutions one by one, seize the Police, seize Justice and so on," he said.
The analyst advised that the protest continue the resistance and grow, becoming even more powerful after the summer months until Rama's downfall, bringing other layers closer, such as citizens who have concerns about the Territorial Reform.
"In these circumstances, the protest must also change, it must enter another phase. As a thing that grows, a collective body that grows in age and learns from experience. To learn to build a new strategy for a regime. What is the ratio of forces, how many people do you have and so on. My opinion is that what is required now after the spontaneity of the people is a more persistent and more tiring work, to add people to the boulevard especially after this summer, with all groups of people represented, as you saw with what it did with the Territorial Reform with 15 municipalities as there are. All these dissatisfactions must be entered into the great river of protest, more powerful, more diversified actions, to increase the number and awareness of the danger that is happening to Albania", he further argued.
Lubonja criticized the prime minister's discourse on depopulating the country and filling it with foreign immigrants, which poses the risk of losing identity and language.
"There are other problems that could be included in the protest, we have depopulation and the news that this will bring 100 thousand people to populate here with immigrants. That the oligarchs don't give a damn, they say to enrich their wallets and pockets. And these people say what I need, these people leave, they bring Bangladeshis, Indians and others. I'm not racist whatever I may be, but it is the disappearance of Albania. In primary schools there are a third less and in secondary schools half less. It is the disappearance of identity and language and Albania will become a crossroads tomorrow, because this one has no empathy. This should make Albanians aware and should gather everyone there. 1 million have left, why are people leaving, because they think it can't be done here anymore. But now it is happening that those who are there are saying enough is enough, we can't allow it anymore and the protest has taken the direction of expelling these people from power", he said.
The analyst explained that this protest has multiple movements within it, representing different classes and opinions, but it is not yet a political movement.
According to him, the protest should focus on growth and the main goal is to overthrow the prime minister. It could then mature into one or several political parties.
"A movement has many parts inside, I can't say party, but a party has a focus, while a movement has many parts, ideas and opinions, it is something broader until this one is thrown out of the prime ministership and something starts to be built and takes on a different structure, moves to another phase, that is, it moves into political formations. I see it as a long term thing, because it takes patience. But as Machiavelli says, you have to see things from the beginning, like the work of a tumor, to catch the evil first, and now it takes a long time, it takes patience," the analyst argued.
Lubonja said that if they had told him at the beginning that the protest would last over two months, he would have lost his bet. But the resistance shown shows that there is still hope.
He also expects justice to take action, further deepening of the investigations.
"The Albanians' resistance for 64 days in the square was unexpected, no one thought it would happen, if I had bet at the beginning that it would last this long, I would have surely lost that bet, but I didn't expect it and here it is. These are the unpredictable things that you can't predict, for example, SPAK is not acting but it may act tomorrow, we don't know ," he said. /Panorama
