FLASH
Shkruar nga Dijana Toska
A profound reflection on the tragic transformation of freedom into prison, from dictatorship with shackles to democracy with applause and the silence of a people who accept self-condemnation...
After the war in Kosovo, we invited the prisoners of Dubrava as guests on a television show. They were shocking testimonies, vivid stories of suffering and tragedy that weigh on the soul of an innocent people, once condemned in the name of the people by a system that had criminalized innocence itself.
Today, in a democracy voted with “free” elections, we ourselves elect corrupt leaders and prosecutors, who with their policies and justice, condemn the people who remain silent and imprison their hope. Once, in dictatorship, an admission of guilt was required as proof of the morality of the system. Today, applause is required for injustice, an act that turns into a ceremonial rite of a state that is self-elected to condemn itself.
From prisons with shackles, we have moved to prisons with applause. From dictatorship with walls, to democracy with deception. And so, new prisons are built, once with bricks, then with promises. Life goes on condemned, while the people no longer even ask themselves: is there salvation in denied innocence or in hardened silence?
Once upon a time, a banned book, a written word, a free thought were declared a crime. Today, we vote for deputies with fake doctorates who have never read a book, and we do this as proof of our obedience to a government that does not honor knowledge, but imprisons it so that we will never meet it.
Once, we spoke Albanian in prison to keep the language alive. Today, we are proud to speak foreign languages that others impose on us, to forget who we are. Once, religion was forbidden, and we prayed silently, at home, with the fear that some spy might hear the voice addressed to God. Today, we have taken God out into the streets, but we have turned it into fear, not love.
In our home, the flag was once raised in secret, with tears and pride. Today, the double-headed eagle has become a decoration for selfies and a depraved market for tourism and banality. From a symbol of blood, it has become an emblem stripped of sacrifice.
Once, the UDB imprisoned us in the name of nationalism; today, the appointments of Albanian leaders are again determined by secret files, under the name of “coexistence.” Former President Stevo Pendarovski publicly showed us that we voted for leaders who have given up national rights to power and wealth: in the name of the people.
This is not freedom. It is a spiritual prison. It is the new shackles of a democracy that no longer has dignity and that sells itself for an empty promise. A system that through justice, media and politics, sees freedom as a danger and awareness as a threat.
We are building an identity of a traumatized nation, hiding behind wounds and silence. A nation that, in order to survive, chooses not to live. A people that does not dare to say "enough."
Once upon a time, the UDB, after torturing a prisoner, would invite the forensic doctor to see how long the human body could remain alive under the blow of the state. Today, this blow no longer comes from the state, but from a dead conscience that has struck itself.
If we want to be free, it is not enough to vote. We must dare to ask: what did we vote for? To dare to heal our wounds and heal our history. To return to education, citizenship, awareness, so as not to remain witnesses to our collective self-condemnation.
And one day, with a clear voice, let us ask this people:
What good did the prisons we love so much bring?/ Pamphlet
Lini një Përgjigje