Luciana Kokaj, Arben Kola, Dritan Goxhaj and the other activists who were identified with the weeks-long protest in Tirana now have a public responsibility: to clarify their role in recent developments. Do they still influence how it is organized? Do they agree with the way it is being conducted? Who makes the decisions, and who calls on participants to act?
Before suspicions are raised, the facts need to be established. It cannot be said in blanket terms that the initiators have disappeared, because on October 12, Arben Kola and Dritan Goxhaj were reported as being detained by police during the protest. That report documents their presence that day, but it does not clarify the role they have in organizing the subsequent gatherings.
Meanwhile, according to a report from October 14, Goxhaj stated that students had taken over leadership of the protest. This is his position and it deserves to be examined, but it is not enough to understand how decisions are made, who the representatives are, and what relationship they have with the earlier initiators.
This is precisely where the central question lies: what has changed in how the protest is organized?
The joining of students with a civic movement is a natural development. A change of representatives may also be natural. But when a protest faces episodes of violence, uncertainty over leadership becomes a serious problem. Citizens who take to the streets to demand their rights need to know who proposes the march, who determines the destination, and who communicates with the authorities.
The initiators have the opportunity to give a simple clarification: Are they still organizers, are they taking part as citizens, or have they withdrawn from decision-making?
Where is Luçiana Kokaj, the leader who raised a public cause with passion and spirit? What about Arben Kola, the elegant leader? And Dritan Goxhaj, the man who guaranteed the protest would not turn violent even when police provoked it?
A protest that demands accountability from power strengthens its own credibility when it is open also about the decisions it makes on behalf of citizens.