A civic protest loses its strength when party leaders try to turn it into a personal campaign. Citizens come out for their own problems, while politicians approach with vote calculations.
This is where the division begins: when shared anger is split into party interests. The leaders of the small parties must understand that dissatisfaction is not their property. Nor does taking part in a protest give them the right to declare themselves its representatives.
A phone raised to record a video is not proof of leadership. The crowd in the background is not a list of supporters, nor a political mandate. When everyone seeks to appear as a leader, citizens’ demands remain outside the frame. Protesters risk becoming the backdrop for the next advertisement. And people walk away when they feel someone is trying to appropriate their outrage. If the protest is shrinking, these leaders should also examine their own responsibility. Support requires respect for the independence of the protesters and for their voice. Whoever wants votes should ask for them openly, with a program and accountability.
Appropriating the protest only feeds the distrust citizens already have toward politics. While the leaders compete for the most beautiful video, the government benefits from the emptier square. Instead of sitting down and thinking about how to bring down Prime Minister Rama through a united front of the entire opposition against the government, some of them are doing the opposition of the opposition! Honestly, though we say it with some reservation, Democratic leader Berisha offered cooperation to the whole anti-Rama spectrum to find candidates for mayor, especially in Tirana, but he was met with attacks from many of the small opposition parties, even more than from the Socialist Party itself! If you are against the government, political differences or firm positions are set aside, because this leaves room for cooperation, if you truly want it. Very reliable sources from the PD told Koha Jone that Berisha was and is ready to support a candidate offered and accepted by the entire opposition spectrum, even if it were Arlind Qori himself, as long as it was a popular and trustworthy name. Indeed, the sources indicate it could be a name from the great civic and student protest. But the PD’s formula was not accepted, and they attacked Berisha instead. Whatever one thinks of the Democratic leader, he has the largest number of votes in the opposition, and without those votes no opposition candidate can win, so it is puzzling how this is being reacted to. If Berisha had declared that the candidate must be from the PD alone, the small parties that dream of being big would have had reason for reservations!
Moreover, we are publishing the reaction of analyst and moderator Çim Peka/editorial team of KOHA JONE/
Protesters against police gas and the sabotage of microphones and party leaders!
By Çim Peka-
The flamingo protest had everything a movement against power could ask for: international attention, media support, momentum on social networks and the anger of citizens beyond party lines. Disappointed socialists, democrats, people without a party. In an Albania shrunk by emigration, that square showed how great the desire for change still was.
Then people who confused the crowd in front of them with their own personal followers took the microphone.
This is where the shrinking began. The protest had united people against Rama; its leaders began dividing them according to their own tastes. Who was allowed to come. Who had to stay quiet. Who was a clean citizen and who became suspicious as soon as they declared a political conviction. Affiliation certificates were handed out from the microphone, while the square lost people.
When 200–300 participants remained, the failure had grown to a size that even the noise of the loudspeakers could not cover.
The civil disobedience of students opened a new opportunity. For two Saturdays, the mobilization and participation of PD supporters helped the protest become massive again. And immediately the old habit returned: attacks on the political forces that had supported it, clashes over protagonism, anxiety that someone else might gain weight in the square.
Democrats are needed on Saturday, when the crowds must be filled. During the week, the microphones declare them a problem. They are asked to bring the numbers but leave their convictions at home.
This is the arrogance of a leadership that depends on the people it despises.
A protest can be independent of parties and at the same time open to the citizens who support them. This requires political security, organizational skill and a common goal. When these are missing, what remains is control of the microphone. It is the smallest power possible, yet some are ready to pay for it by emptying the whole square.
Even the leaders of three small parties must face the same question: what did they add to the protest? How many people did they bring? What path toward a result did they open? A leader’s title is not a contribution. Appearing on the podium is not a strategy.
Rama breathes easy whenever his opponents waste their energy fighting one another. For him, a protest that quarrels over the right to enter the square is a protest that is doing the work of dispersal for him.
The balance sheet is brutal: an extraordinary mobilization ended up waiting for next Saturday, hoping those who were turned away during the week would come back.
They entered the field with a stadium behind them and ended up playing among themselves. Now they demand that nobody touch the ball. Rama can stay calm: the opponents are coming onto the pitch not to beat Rama, but to occupy the field and keep him from reinforcements.