National pride movements could shake up political scene
TIRANA, Jan 20 – Albania’s political scene – long dominated by two large parties of the center right and left – could be headed for a shake up by a string of new contenders trying to use national pride to gain clout and address some of the country’s most pressing problems.
Saddled with politicians perceived to place personal interest above those of the nation, economic difficulties and high youth unemployment as well as public perceptions of rampant corruption, many Albanians have lost trust in their traditional politicians, which has made the country fertile ground for a new breed of activist: one using a mix of national pride and populism to hone in a message unity and progress.
Kreshnik Spahiu, the leader of the Red and Black Alliance – the most active among Albanian national pride movements – is the man of the hour. Mr. Spahiu a former judge and activist and spitfire public speaker has been crisscrossing Albania, the region and the world in the past few months working up small groups and large crowds from Tirana and Vlora to Tetovo and Rome, with the alliance’s key message: Albanian national interest should come above all else for Albanians.
That goal has thrust the alliance at the top of the debate in Albania for many major issues. It was the chief advocate in initiatives with limited support like stopping ethnic and religious questions in the census or asking that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and Macedonia be given Albanian passports. Yet other Red and Black Alliance initiatives strike a cord with a much wider segment of Albanian society.
Its latest proposal was to ask for constitutionally-mandated term limits that would make sure political elites in Albania are refreshed regularly, guaranteeing no one can be leader for life at a political party, which has been the standard for most parties in Albania so far נlarge and small.
“We must havelega and constitutional changes.We can not haveeternal mandates. We need term limits for party leaders and mayors. Such limits are constitutional principles, and all heads of institutions should have mandates that end at a certain point,” Spahiu said at a rally this week. “We have political leaders that rule for twodecades.It is timeforan overhaul of thispolicy,aspermanentseats at the top are nothing more than moderndictatorships.”
Critics abound
Those words have not gone well with Albania’s political establishment. The two large Albanian political parties, the Democrats and Socialists, which have dominated the political scene for 20 years, clearly see the movement as a threat.
The Democrats in power are particularly unhappy with Mr. Spahiu, who they had voted to be deputy head of the High Council of Justice, the body that oversees the judiciary system in Albania. Democrat members of parliament now want to sack him, and have started a parliamentary committee to do so, accusing Mr. Spahiu of pursuing political goals while heading a non-political constitutional institution.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha says Mr. Spahiu is simply using the alliance for political gain for himself and others. The prime minister, who can’t afford to have any of his traditional voters move over to the alliance or other parties, accuses Mr. Spahiu of working under the direction of Albanian President Bamir Topi, who is expected to head a new rival party once his mandate ends this summer.
“These institutions are being used to personal political gain, (by Mr. Topi and Mr. Spahiu), which does great damage to their constitutional independence,” Berisha said in a parliamentary group meeting.
Mr. Topi and Mr. Spahiu deny any connection between the president and the Red and Black Alliance, but that hasn’t stopped the prime minister from launching attacks on the alliance, which Mr. Berisha prefers to call “the black face alliance” a word play in Albanian meaning “scoundrel” or “villain.”
But beyond the prime minister, the alliance has many other critics. Analysts worried about extremes characterize it as too nationalistic. Opponents also say the alliance and its leader are using their populist proposals to gain a stronghold on the political scene through extreme positions that appear to offer easy answers to complicated problems, but are step back for Albania’s traditional role of placing regional stability above nationalism.
The regional component
What makes the alliance different is also that it sports a pan-Albanian agenda that expands beyond Albania into Kosovo and Macedonia as well as countries with significant Albanian immigrant populations.
When Vetvendosje protesters clashed with Kosovo police last week at the border with Serbia, there was a couple of hours of tension in the Albania-Kosovo border as busloads of Red and Black Alliance supporters were stopped from crossing to join their Vetvendosje counterparts. A Red and Black Alliance member has also been detained by Macedonian authorities who clearly see Mr. Spahiu’s speeches in front of ethnic Albanian students in Macedonia as a threat to that country’s fragile ethnic cohabitation.
Albania’s new nationalism
It’s not by chance that national pride becomes a strong political factor at this time. Albania is at the eve of marking 100 years of independence. The Red and Black Alliance, which is not even a registered political party – rather an NGO – is riding on the centenary spirit. It has however hinted it could become a political party before the next elections. The frequency of rallies and meeting the alliance holds certainly have an electoral flavor to them, analysts points out.
If it does become a party, it would follow the path laid out by the Justice, Integration and Unity Party, or PDIU through its Albanian acronym, which turned its niche ambitions serving mainly the Cham community into seats in parliament. The Chams are Albanians that were ethnically cleansed out of their homes in northern Greece at the end of World War II after being accused of collaborating with the invading German armies. PDIU now has two deputies in parliament and the party is a member of the ruling coalition. It too relies heavily on using national symbols and themes to rally its supporters, which took the party to parliament for the fist time in the last elections.
European overtones
National pride, long out of fashion in Albania, is increasing and most political parties are increasingly peppering their speeches with references to national symbols and history.
But the rise in Albanian national sentiment does not appear to be eurosceptic in nature. Even in the most ardent nationalists agree the national interests of Albania demand European integration.
