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Editorial: Tirana’s populist and nationalist exercises

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6 mins read
9 years ago
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By Albert Rakipi It is everywhere — in the news portals and television. It is also on the Prime Minister’s own personal digital television station on Facebook — ERTV. Let’s call it the “the special show.” It involves government members, parliament members, local authorities, the mayor and the staff too. There some young people too for good measure and in the full style of the Chinese cultural revolution. This week it happened in Lushnja, cleaning up a park, but it could really be in other places too. The Minister of Economy and Finances appeared with a grass mower, while the…

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Story Highlights

  • The populist-nationalist methods of Tirana are becoming more frequent, especially in November. “I don’t want to be working in Tirana in November,” a Western, high-ranking diplomat living in Tirana says, “because I have to file long reports, with explanations for all these activities you call populist-nationalist methods.” My advice was simple: Please, show your bosses in the West the government’s cleaning show in Lushnja and come up with an abstract: What results does that show in actually cleaning up Albania?

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