FLASH
Shkruar nga Ben Andoni
Prime Minister Rama has not escaped the situation, and after great excitement from the opposition over the slap, the slap he received by demanding his resignation, he has turned this situation in his favor, even in a very democratic manner, as if nothing had happened.
Is it worth it to stand up against those in power when they act to the detriment of democracy? Should we protest to achieve change? Why is the public no longer heard? Where are the control mechanisms and why are they no longer functioning? Why do those in power no longer pay attention to us? How can intellectuals influence the thinking of those in power? Why is today's democratic regime no longer listenable? The answer to all of them is negative, because the system remains the same. It oppresses you with the arrogance of power.
The various forms of protests and rebellions in our country, at least in the last 25 years, have resulted in nothing. The public sees that the causes of the protests cannot achieve their goals and, even worse, they see that they can no longer have an impact. No matter what the public and the opposition say, Prime Minister Rama repeats that he bears no responsibility for his subordinates being taken as defendants or others who are in prison! And what's more, everyone is now imitating him.
The last one was a rookie SP MP who denied having any responsibility for his brother (who was recently arrested with a gang) even morally! Today Rama dictates what will affect the structure of the state from the party forums. The leader of the opposition Sali Berisha loses the elections and spends staggering amounts, but still complains, while democracy in the party openly suffers from dysfunction. The blame that is demanded of him by the base is discharged into the ether, or in the sentence: They stole from us and we do not accept the elections and the DP enters and confirms the parliament!!
The latest act of the Constitutional Court has overturned as illegal the decision to dismiss Veliaj as mayor of the capital. The proposal of the Tirana Municipal Council 'caused' the government to decide on his dismissal, while the Presidency immediately concluded with the date of the elections.
In fact, Veliaj's mandate was cut short by the leader's speech at the Socialist Assembly, where no one dared to dare and tell Rama: No, the law does not allow it! Now, in the impasse that the decision has put public opinion, media analysis and especially the interpretations of various lawyers, there is even talk of the de facto physical return of Erion Velija to the head of the country's largest municipality.
Prime Minister Rama has not escaped the situation and after a great jubilation from the opposition for the slap, the slap he received by demanding his resignation, he has turned this situation in his favor, even in a very democratic way, as if nothing had happened: "Any normal person who does not see in the Constitutional Court's position a blind stance against the government to the great detriment of Tirana, but a firm principled stance, cannot help but expect that with the same principle, when judging his detention, the Constitutional Court will return Erion Veliaj to duty, to continue the judicial process in a free state or not?", he said. Who is he asking this rhetorical question to, before asking himself or addressing the people around him and who should have warned him. Didn't his lawyers know that the argument had sufficient probability to be sanctioned? The answer is known: He would not listen to anyone.
Not in this argument, but in its ongoing campaign of complaints, the opposition found itself hit when a few days ago the Central Election Commission published the official figures for the 2025 campaign expenses, led by the Democratic Party!! The DP campaign manager, American Chris LaCivita, received 139 million, 111, 686 lekë or about 1.4 million euros for his consultancy, distributed in four tranches during the year. The New York Times would write: “LaCivita and Manafort portrayed Berisha as the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated by domestic rivals and Democrats, including billionaire George Soros, and the administration of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.… After Berisha’s party lost to the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama, LaCivita bolstered Berisha’s claims that the election was rigged. A recount requested by Berisha’s party did not support those claims.”
Who should ordinary Democrats hold accountable for the money spent, which went more to removing the "non-women" and mentioning the case in some American forums than to the effectiveness of the campaign? How can the future of the DP be changed? The answer lies only with Berisha: "The party belongs to the optimists, whoever has to leave, let him leave," he said a few hours ago to his people who have started to waver. In a way, the only way left is not to give the "strong" an argument, but the fact that Rama and Berisha should not be appeased...
A cynical philosopher like Žižek who speaks a lot to our time explains this kind of situation very bitterly: “It is better to do nothing than to engage in local acts whose ultimate function is to make the system work better. The threat today is not passivity, but pseudo-activity, the desire to ‘be active’, to ‘participate’, to mask the Nothingness of what is happening. People intervene all the time, ‘doing something’; academics participate in meaningless ‘debates’, etc., but the really difficult thing is to withdraw, to avoid it all.
Those in power often prefer 'critical' participation or a critical dialogue to silence, but by engaging us in such a 'dialogue' they ensure that our ominous passivity is broken...". His proposal for this type of confrontation is the so-called "Bartleby Act" which, according to him, is truly violent, since we refuse to be swallowed up by the system and where "the most radical thing is to do nothing". In his book "In Defense of Lost Causes" he finds many arguments for such an idea. The system is killed by indifference and negligence, according to Žižek.
In short, Erjon Veliaj will remain in prison for a while longer, Rama will continue to govern and distance himself from his people who are in prison and before the law, while Berisha will keep his members asleep, because the money he used… was needed for a great cause. His non-wife!!! The more they are harassed, the more they turn this idea in their favor, revealing to us the “democratic right”. Žižek brought this case (phenomenon) with a 19th century allegory of a character by Herman Melville, called Bartleby and which has already taken from him the name “Bartlevian Act” in political philosophy: The character, for everything he did not like and there were many of them, answered quite simply: “I would rather not do it at all”. The concept means passive refusal instead of protest or active resistance.
It is withdrawal from a system rather than a sustained effort to change it from within. The correct argument remains that it is more radical to do nothing than to participate in what Žižek calls “pseudo-activity” or “meaningless debates” that ultimately serve to make the system look better, as is happening in Albania and everywhere in the Balkans. The threat today, according to Žižek, is not passivity, but pseudo-activity, the desire to “be active,” to “participate,” to mask the nothingness of what is really happening.
This comes to mind today, when Rama and Berisha do not change, but after every step they turn every public minus in their favor with propaganda and democratic rhetoric. Apparently this is also our paradox: We love the system that swallows us every day.
Lini një Përgjigje