Back To Nowhere

Twenty years in democracy this tiny Balkan country has much more to learn, especially from its own experience, but also more from the established democracies, the Developed World.
What Albanians are still to learn from their present experience is the need to ask for, look for and hold every one accountable for their daily needs. Democracy would be likely more developed in this country if people would be more willing to hold protests, complain or do any other democratic move for their daily needs, water and electricity, infrastructure, fighting corruption and abuses of the public authorities and the like.
Sure, lacking the proper democratic experience we need to listen to the international community, to their advise and counselling. But we should also be really thinking hard on our own and drag out the proper conclusions. We should take into account the fact that western democracies expect Albania to grow up. That simply means democracy develops here first, at home, in the country, through our leaders and our people.
We have many similar problems to those of former communist countries. Failing to curb corruption, for instance, is a staple item on all sorts of reports on Albania’s progress towards a consolidated, well-functioning democracy. Yet, the last thing remotely resembling a protest in Albania a couple of weeks ago were a crowd of jobless homophobes in a small town expressing their anger and indignation towards the first public homosexual in Albania.
Before that, a few months ago, the Socialist Party managed to fill a few squares with party militants and people too senseless, or jobless, or afraid of becoming jobless to refuse to put on a show for a cause – free and fair elections and the primary legitimacy of democratic institutions – that cannot be championed by an accomplice in what continues to be called the electoral crime of June 2009. In a race to show popular support in the country, the Democratic Party also responded with the same kind of composition of squares.
All of these people, whether of leftwing or rightwing political convictions (the difference between which has long been blurred in Albania) have suffered the electricity cuts and the water shortages not too long ago. Only a couple of years ago in fact, people in Tirana were shown on TV rushing towards water tubes around the city with plastic bottles. Needless to say, none of us has forgotten the terrible noise of generators during power cuts. The hours-long ones seem far now, but shorter ones continue. The author of this article just resumed writing that after a short power cut in one of the main areas of the capital. Such basics of human living do not seem to get anyone to the streets. Not to mention then the lack of decent healthcare, education, employment programs, access to justice, etc – all issues that truly cut into the quality of their lives.
Sure no one would refer at this time (when the country has also become a NATO member and looks forward to become a EU member in the future) to violence to solve a political deadlock. The Albanian people exercised their democratic right to vote in June 2009. That vote has remained debatable as the opposition Socialist Party sustains that the elections were not free and fair and demands a parliamentary investigation and the opening of certain ballot boxes. The governing Democratic Party, on the other hand, adamantly refuses to fulfil their demands.
In the meantime, Albanians cannot quite decide who is right in this debate, perhaps because no one is entirely right. But, a few things are clear to many. The Electoral Code that governed the past elections was drafted almost entirely by the two main parties. With all their faults, the past elections were undoubtedly the best elections we have had so far. The Socialist chairman did not convince Albanians that his reason not to let go of the Municipality of Tirana for the general elections was fear of losing it all. The Socialist leader also failed to present Albanians with the long-announced comprehensive and tailor-made programme to govern Albania away from its problems in education, health, agriculture, justice, etc. And the Socialists were also part to some of the manipulations and flaws observed during the last elections. Among others, flaws were reported as committed by both the SP and DP as regards manipulation of broadcasting of campaigns, use of public resources to fund campaigns, use of children in campaigns, use of adults to fill up squares, etc. The DP has certainly on its back all sorts of criticisms regarding the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organised crime, health and education, the state of the economy, agriculture, social services, etc.
After so many months, following all of the oscillations between what seemed as deteriorating and ameliorating phases of this political crisis, after a short-lived period of rapprochement, we are truly back to nowhere. The Democrats are not yielding to what the SP presents as non-negotiable demands. The Socialists do not back down either. And as no compromise has been found, the SP has announced it will go back to protests. Disempowered and unable to exert organised democratic pressure to make the political class responsive to our needs, we simply fall back to nowhere, feeling naturally alienated to news of a struggle of our political class so far from our own.