FLASH
Shkruar nga Ben Andoni
Such is our time, what Lea Ypi, a renowned Albanian researcher, calls the "Era of Reason!" and where aroma and smell are no longer just physiological phenomena, but go much further...
The title belongs to a poem by the well-known author Danilo Kish, one of the prominent Balkan writers of modern times, but who unfortunately did not make it to the dawn of the 21st century. At that time, he was distinguished not only for a special voice in literature, but also for opening horizons in the technique of narration and especially the depth of the themes. Education, freedom and awareness helped him in his goal, while health deprived him of greater achievements. Many years after his death (1989), it was Filip David's turn to return the honor, but this time posthumously: "He was terrified of human stupidity as much as of carelessness and dishonesty."
It should be noted that the relationship between scent and politics may seem like something obscure and difficult to connect, but a series of studies, filled with references from literature and philosophy, show many elements related to scent, where questions about freedom and restriction in politics, as well as great social and especially ontological differences, clearly arise. Rousseau described smell as the "sense of imagination". According to him, scents influenced the imagination much more than they were captured by the senses, but they could become very significant if they were included in connection with human passions and emotions. Later studies would be needed to open new horizons in this field. Scents at different times in Albania have not only had to do with the hygienic status of the classes but also the deprivations of development in the isolation of the country, added to a kind of political differentiation, which is where our modest argumentation aims to go. The limitations of so-called luxury items played a role, for a kind of rigidity that our individual had, while the mythologizing of smell (mainly that which came from outside in various forms) somewhat distorted its value. In our case, we will go to the sense of smell that is related to the smell of power and its confusion. Such is our time, what Lea Ypi, a well-known Albanian researcher, calls the “Age of Unreason!” and where smell and smell are no longer just physiological phenomena, but go much further. Smell itself contains, in the ontological sense, elements where man feels difference and separation. Here we move to another plane, the political one. If, according to Aristotle, people can be considered by nature as political animals and actively participate in political life, since they speak through certain symbols and codes, they are also politically involved as olfactory beings (who /perceive), regardless of their nature as citizens.
Politics, from above, conveys this feeling by smelling the interest in power and the forms that spread from it. Are there different consequences from the smell that the individual feels for the phenomenon of corruption, alienation of the individual or even more so of nepotism? It is a different smell, which is related not to the smell, but to what the current Rama government smells to people who are looking for a career and are ready to alienate themselves just to keep a ruthless grip on power. Just as there is a kind of smell of where it can be touched more easily to benefit from the country's wealth and where we have the reaction of people who have lost the smell of how national wealth can be treated properly and enrich the country. The first part cultivates the smell because by getting involved or having the same smell with another group, it is easier to stay in power and benefit from it. The recent scandals of the ANA have marked entire groups that identify with each other and that have the same approach to extorting the country, as on the other hand the scandal with the directors of the Municipality for public money, not to mention entire corruption schemes, where the abstract scent of wealth prevails over everything. And, there remains the second group, who as political individuals are deprived of this kind of scent, because the emotion that this situation produces is unworthy and unperceivable (perceptible) for them.
The same scent of power is conveyed differently. Two well-known scholars, Horkheimer and Adorno, teach us that: “of all the senses, the act of smell, which is withdrawn without objectifying it, most sensuously reveals the desire to lose oneself in identification with the Other”. These considerations are clearly identified with the political issue and provide an explanation of how the scent of power unites, while the idea of 'purification' fades, since it has to do with scents and bodies, which are ever-changing mixtures. In other words, when it comes to smell, 'identity' and 'changeability' are very slippery concepts, the scholars refer (Horkheimer, Adorno 2002: 151).
Given this fact, researchers refer that although: “Social identity can also be conceived as the result of choices that transcend any inheritance, historical and biographical origins tend to characterize the olfactory representation of a person throughout his life. The social hierarchy responds to a spatial metaphor – up/down, – which is also related to the sense of smell” states Elena Mancioppi in “Towards a Sociopolitical Aesthetics of Smell”.
E habitshme sesa teza artikulohen sot për këtë fakt, por nuhatja me të vërtetë hyn në ndërtimin e marrëdhënieve të pushtetit në shoqërinë tonë, si në nivel popullor ashtu edhe në atë institucional. Në këtë vazhdë studiuesit mëtojnë se ka një përputhje me regjimin modern të heshtjes nuhatëse, ku qendra (elita e pushtetit) qeveris nga një lloj pozicioni neutraliteti nuhatës. Më parë pushteti ishte personal, dhe për këtë arsye i mbushur me aromën e atyre që e ushtronin atë; tani është bërë jopersonal dhe abstrakt, dhe për këtë arsye pa erë. Ndaj është më lehtë që të bashkohen në korrupsion grupe të shumta me identitete dhe interesa kulturologjike e sociale të ndryshme. Shpesh na habit konglomerati i njerëzve që marrin pjesë në përbërjet e grupeve që po dalin para SPAK-ut, ku thjesht mungesa e aromës së duhur identifikuese, karakteristikë e asaj kohe, mund të quhet si identifikim në vetvete. Sot mungesa e aromës është shndërruar në identitet, krejt ndryshe kur dikur qenësia e saj e mbante të lidhur shoqërinë (qoftë edhe të stigmatizuar).
Mbase pak larg argumentit tonë, por autorja e sipërpërmendur na sjell një shembull nga një roman ardhur dhe në shqip të Italo Calvinos me titullin “Nëse në një natë dimri një udhëtar”. Në një tavernë të mirëmbajtur nga punëtorët, protagonisti na rrëfen një dialog midis të dehurve: një rojtar i vjetër alkoolik tregon për një vajzë të pasur që vizitonte çdo javë të dashurin e burgosur. Pasi takimi mbaronte, ajo: “dilte me erën e keqe të burgut me rrobat e saj elegante”, ndërsa kostumi i të burgosurit ruante aromën e parfumit të zonjës. “Dhe më mbetet aroma e birrës” – përfundoi rojtari rrëfimin – “Jeta nuk është gjë tjetër veçse shkëmbim aromash“. Jetë por edhe vdekje, apo siç u theksua atë moment nga një varrmihës pranë tij: “Me erën e birrës përpiqem ta largoj erën e vdekjes nga vetja. Dhe vetëm aroma e vdekjes do t’ma largojë erën e birrës nga vetja”.
Në kujtimet e tij, udhëtari, diplomati dhe aventurieri Xhakomo Kazanova kujton një detashment luftëtarësh shqiptarë, të veshur me fustanellat e bardha me një dinjitet gati sublim, por me një erë të padurueshme, por gjithsesi me kurmin historik të tyre. Ata vinin nga ajo pjesë e Epirit e cila quhet Shqipëri, që i përkiste Republikës së Venedikut dhe ishin dalluar në luftën e fundit kundër turqve, shkruan ai, duke evidentuar komandantin e tyre. “Por unë u tërhoqa aq shumë nga ai dhe e pëlqeva që në çastin e parë që e pashë dhe do të isha tepër i lumtur të bisedoja me të, nëse nuk do ti vinte aq shumë era hudhër nga goja. Të tërë shqiptarët i kanë xhepat plot me të dhe e shijojnë po aq sa ne shijojmë kumbullat e sheqerosura”.
If the lower classes, therefore, embody the materiality and immanence of life, the upper ones symbolize disembodiment, detachment from necessities and the development of science, art and knowledge. Where matter is subject to processes of degradation, the spirit is immune. The first rots, releasing a foul odor; the second, being always fresh, is aromatic, expresses itself in a very philosophical vein the author Mancioppi, on which we have relied in this article. A complex argument, but in the frightening mixture of Albanian society, it is already difficult because the aroma is missing, what should have distinguished a society that is slipping too much into carelessness and dishonesty.
Lini një Përgjigje