In absence of values

By EBI SPAHIU
It is only been a few months since I came back to live in Albania. The Albania I grew up in was the one plagued by the pains of political transitions from a dictatorship into a democracy very few of us understood what it meant. My parents were part of the street riots that ultimately overthrew the last remaining grips of the communist regime and in their eyes hopes were high. Now in 2014 the stakes are higher, the world we live in is more complex and the challenges are more than just a few. But at the moment, among many failures from the country’s political camps, Albania’s political leadership is especially failing to promote the values for this nation’s future to be identified with.
As repeatedly stated by Prime Minister Edi Rama, our government’s goal is European Union integrationء goal which should be embraced given Albania’s historical identity and political inclinations towards the Westנbut no priorities and values are transmitted by this government of how this path will take us there. There is a bigger question I have yet to hear anyone from Albania’s political elite and media to ask: What does a European future mean today in 2014 versus the ’90s when Western Europe seemed a far away fantasy in which we felt we did not belong to.
Despite this government’s efforts to promote the idea of “Rilindje” (Renaissance, being the election catch phrase of Rama’s coalition), a Rama leadership has failed to promote the idea of responsible citizenship that each individual has for reaching the European future we so strive to have. Rather, the focus seems to be on prompting the painful legal sanctions against anyone that stops it from being so, by targeting illegal construction sights, energy thieves and bad drivers, among many others. Although these reforms are beyond necessary in starting to induce fear on the repercussions of the law against chaotic systems developed over the years, this approach is not addressing the larger questions that still hurt Albania’s political transparency and the real needs of the economy. Even though Rama’s election campaign promised lower taxes for the middle class, local media report an increase of about 112 million euros off the pockets of Albania’s taxpayers for 2015, in addition to other increases in energy prices. For a strong economy to work, you need jobs. For jobs to be created, you need customers. This administration claims to be fighting corruption and energy crimes, without addressing one of the most fundamental issues that has driven many to steal or close a blind eye on energy crimes: low wages and dire poverty throughout the country.
While shady deals benefiting the rich elites are still being shadowed, the poor and unprotected are still being failed by the justice system. Last week’s events when the son of an MP killed in cold blood four people at a nightclub in the heart of the capital, manifested another dangerous phenomenon that has surrounded Albania’s political reality for decades, but which now is too big to ignore: crime being inflicted in politics through direct family ties. The case of Kostandin Xhuvani is not an isolated case when the son or daughter of a powerful political leader has escaped scrutiny from the justice system. I do not have to go very far in confirming this claim since the PM himself, during his speech after 4 people were left dead by the hands of Luiza Xhuvani’s son (now a former MP after immediate resignation) listed the many other instances when the sons and daughters of previous political leaders were involved in numerous crimes. Unfortunately his speech did not address the gravity of this phenomenon, rather focused on the grandeur of his administration in tackling similar crimes through legal means.
In the meantime, the right wing opposition party is still absent from parliament as well as unclear on the strategy to regain its lost voice. Basha’s Democratic Party is suddenly taking on the mandate of an NGO by collecting citizens’ legal complaints after their properties were destroyed and sending off a selected number of “coordinators” to lead information campaigns and retouch base with the realities of people outside of Tirana’s bubble. Although I personally applaud the thinking behind these initiatives, I still firmly believe that political nuances will hurt their outcomes as well as the level of communication needed during fieldwork. Advocacy and informational campaigns should strive to be distanced from political nuances, a mandate which should belong to civil society, think tanks and independent media. As the last election showed and as even Basha himself has admitted, the DP has lost its credibility as a strong political force. But at the moment DP is failing at raising their voice where they are paid by the taxpayers to be: in parliament.
Despite all this, I am hopeful for where Albania is heading and the identity that we need to create for ourselves. As a nation we value religious harmony, strive to strengthen democracy and look towards the West as a model for the future. However, I would also like to see an Albania that learns to rise above instead of the one that gets quick fixes of adrenaline through nationalism, as we have seen happening since the football match in Belgrade. We can point fingers all we want to the outside world, but the first step to solving any problem is admitting of having one. And we have many to admit at home.
The Albania I left, the Albania I stopped living in was the one in which Rama was still experimenting his popularity on. He came with the iron fist of cleaning up Tirana and gained even more points because of his straight forward nature and cool charisma. But the stakes are higher now and the kiosks Rama took out of Tirana’s street parks are manifested today everywhere else in our economy, including hydropower businesses, private universities, private hospitals, pharmacies, bars/restaurants, boutiques, etc, etc. But not one of these businesses, even though they are creating short-term jobs, are responding to the needs of the customers. Albania needs quality schools, quality hospitals, trustworthy police and an independent judiciary. The rest follows if these pillars are taken care of. This current economy is simply based on immediate needs suffocating the fabrics in which our society should be based on. Sure, a lot of these failures are to be blamed on the previous government and the 25 years of the painful transitions Albania went through, but we can not continue looking behind our shoulders and fearing the past, as this government’s top leadership suggests. If anything, that’s simply self-destructive. But in the absence of true values, history has shown that pointing fingers and inducing fear is the easier way to go.
*Ebi Spahiu is a civil society activist and a Tirana Times contributor.