TIRANA, Feb. 14 – On this Valentine’s Day, in addition to the traditional heart decorations in the city’s window shops, the capital also woke up to a meaningful message painted on the city walls by women saying “don’t kill, love” .
The sensibilization campaign aimed towards men who abuse females comes at a critical, and simultaneously ironic, time for Albanian society.
Ironic because, as expressed by women activists themselves, “on Valentine’s Day Albanian women only hear how much they’re loved, they receive gifts, flowers and chocolates.”
Every other day of the year, however, Albanian women hear expressions such as: “who loves you, beats you” , “a woman’s fate is tears” and “a woman is a bag that holds things” .
Critical because approximately every two weeks a woman is murdered by her husband, fiance or boyfriend in Albania. Only a month ago, a young girl was shot in the head in the middle of Tirana for rejecting her former classmate’s romantic advances.
The message the activists wanted to convey through the graffiti was that genuine love doesn’t kill and that crimes of passion are just crimes.
Wishing to change the status quo, women activists hoped that anyone reading those messages understands that who beats you, doesn’t actually love you, promoting the best kind of love Albanian society needs to experience at the moment – self love.
