The following article was published in Il Fatto Quotidiano, in the edition of August 24, 2026, by Dario Morgante. Its most interesting point is that the article is not simply a chronicle of the Flotilla. It places the issue of Sazan and Narta in a much broader framework: the opposition to the concreting and tourist development of the Albanian coast, directly linking it to Jared Kushner's project.
"Flamingo Intifada!", some activists shout at the end of the Global Sumud Flotilla press conference, in the port of Vlora, on August 21.
Behind the activists, anchored a few meters from the shore, are the three boats that arrived a few hours earlier, after crossing the Adriatic overnight. They are the same vessels used in the last mission to Gaza.
“We didn’t start from Puglia by chance,” explains Tony La Piccirella, one of the leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla. “This summer we started a fight against the concrete construction of the coast,” he says. “Concrete construction and desertification, especially in the south, lead to what we define as ‘theft of land in favor of an elite.’”
He cites the case of Ostuni, where there are large real estate and tourism interests linked to private investors. According to La Piccirella, the same dynamic is being repeated in Sazan, the Albanian island that was at the center of the mission.
A major tourism project is planned there involving Jared Kushner, the billionaire entrepreneur and son-in-law of Donald Trump.
"He is not a neutral actor," argues La Piccirella, recalling the controversial "Riviera Gaza" project that bears Kushner's signature.
"We want to unite these struggles on both sides of the Adriatic," he says, supporting Flamingo Revolution and their demand for a "radical change in the management of environmental wealth and beyond."
“DA ALMENO due mesi” – for at least two months
Every day, young Albanians take to the streets and squares of the country to save the Narta lagoon from the project related to the Zvërnec area.
The name of the protest, which has brought thousands of Albanians to the square every day for more than eighty days, comes precisely from the flamingos of the Narta lagoon, near Zvërnec.
The protest originated as opposition to tourism projects in the area, but gradually expanded and turned into a collective opposition to the government.
On the morning of August 22, the Flotilla's itinerary took the three ships back to where it all began: they arrived by sea, while the rest of the delegation reached Zvërnec by land.
Initially, a symbolic sit-in took place, then an assembly and finally a trip to Tirana to join the large civic protest.
“ HYPERTOURISM – a theft of land in favor of an elite”
Beyond civic movements, more conservative and nationalist components are also participating in the protest.
Dozens of banners against George Soros, the object of propaganda by the Albanian right-wing, were displayed at the protests, which in the days before the Flotilla's arrival had also made other accusations.
"Hypertourism: a theft of land in favor of an elite," reads one of the banners.
“ Mediterranean ”
Part of the Italian-Albanian delegation is connected to the Mediterranean, which in Albanian means "the sea between lands".
"We are here to unite the fight for both shores, as well as to recognize the stories of migrants from the Albanian diaspora," they explain.
"The parents of Otranto came to Italy in 1997. Today, their children take the opposite path to give protagonism to these stories and to continue the dream of a better future of our parents," they say.
They refuse to allow protected areas to become "laboratories for the interests of private investors."
A protest with a diverse composition
The local political context in which the mission takes place is, however, far from homogeneous.
Flamingo Revolution brings together progressive and environmentalist groups, civic movements, but also more conservative and nationalist components.
The anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian component of the Flotilla, in fact, does not align with the positions of some Albanian protesters.
Even the Rama government reacted negatively to the arrival of the activists.
At the port of Vlora, the delegation was welcomed by the director of the National Tourism Agency, Jola Hysaj, who offered them a visit to Sazan and official information on the project, minimizing the importance of their symbolic action.
-
Using Jola Hysa's graces as a puppet of Rama
August 23, 11:01
Hysaj then published a video on social media, also reshared by Edi Rama, who described the delegation as "revolutionaries of lies", accusing them of "running away from the truth and confusing the world with their nonsense".
