FLASH
Shkruar nga Ben Andoni
Then what should the ordinary Albanian vote for and why should he be engaged in democracy? Why, out of 800,000 safe voters, as Rama specified in the last Congress, does the SP ask congressmen for up to 1 million voters?
The original expression belongs to Herman Melville, when he said that: "Life is stranger than fiction." The master of fiction knew the meaning well and therefore took it as an expression, although his colleague Italo Svevo had adapted it in almost the same way: "I believe that life is much more original than what I am able to invent". This ghost scar was alive in the last hours after the begging Congress of Socialists, which lacks the number. Few people except those closely connected with the organization of the SP can clearly say which congress this was for the Socialists.
Amman, as in every congress of the Left, there was talk of big plans: the Blue Corridor (how many years it has been talked about); the Formula 1 track (There are a dozen eyes, sleeping in Europe); tourism and countless numbers (but this tourist year broke our ribs with the management and not only); integration in Europe in 2030 (apart from Michel who announced it in Tirana, it remains an unattainable goal even for Serbia and Montenegro, while we still haven't opened the Second Intergovernmental Meeting!!!) and many other elements.
In fact, Congress lacked a "simple" element, and this is happening more and more to democracies today, with inertia from the American model of democracy itself, the wounded bogeyman: The promises and projections of today's politicians are made in two to three mandates while democracy limits you to obligations within four years of a mandate. The projection of Rama's socialists must measure well the offer of 2025, which they must make after this level of corruption and this waste of the Albanian public of the best ages, who are leaving to never return. You must be accountable, then, before you project dreams. The European Commission brought us down to earth, when it described in its report 'Albania - Screening 2023' that: Corruption in Albania is widespread in all branches of central and local government and constitutes a serious concern on its way to joining the EU .
The right to property, although sanctioned in the Constitution for a significant part of Albania's citizens, still remains on paper, unrealized in practice. While the official figures were bitter: 7,000 unexamined requests for the return of property to the owners and 4,000 unimplemented decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where the citizens of Albania have taken their property cases, when the local courts with their decisions they have violated the right of ownership. About 500,000 properties are listed as unregistered and 80 percent of the data on registered properties are incorrect (DW, 2024).
Albania, in fact, has marked a slight improvement in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2023, according to the latest Transparency International report. Our country is rated with 37 points from 36 points a year ago, ranking 98th among 180 countries (Monitor, 2024). Although the report states that: "The decision to create a new ministry in charge of the fight against corruption comes with the expectation of effective integrity mechanisms. However, this cannot be achieved unless parliament has stronger autonomy and civil society organizations and the media can perform their oversight role without hindrance from the authorities," the report states.
In short, Albania leaves behind only Serbia, which ranks 104th, with 36 points, not having improved for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, UNICEF's data on the nutritional poverty of children in Albania were alarming. The last publication "Food poverty in early childhood" showed that Albania has 18% of children under 5 years of age severely deprived of food and 29% of children in moderate poverty (Total 47%). UNICEF categorizes as severe nutritional deprivation children who eat two or fewer types of food per day, while moderate poverty those who eat less than 4 types of food. Translated, UNICEF's global comparison showed that Albania had the highest percentage of children living in poverty in Europe and Central Asia, after Tajikistan.
Then what should the ordinary Albanian vote for and why should he be engaged in democracy? Why, out of 800,000 safe voters, as Rama specified in the last Congress, does the SP ask congressmen for up to 1 million voters?
Democracy is identified with a stream of institutional adaptations such as elections, parliament, free media, as well as the division of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and the demand for their strengthening. Unfortunately, these institutions could not create a democratic spirit and could not realize the support of a democratic culture in which there is transparency, respect and recognition of the rights of all citizens. We only talk about extraordinary projections by Rama & Co, but we forget that the ordinary citizen survives and while he should be part of this democratic culture, which only the elected representatives cannot have. Politics remains a fiction, while the truth is quite different.
The MPs, since 2008, are appendages of the leaders of the two main parties and nothing more. Meanwhile, with the transparency offered by Rama (not even those who were appointed to Congress as ministers or those who left) and Berisha on the other hand, this element is missing, just as popular petitions and referendums are missing, which should require accountability from the government, which is completely indifferent. Above all, in a democracy the public must always be in democratic action. After the 2020 US election, when Trump was defeated, Obama thanked voters for voting, volunteering and organizing during the election with the words: “Your efforts made a difference. Enjoy this moment," he continued by saying, "Then stay engaged. I know it can be exhausting.
But for this democracy to endure, it requires our active citizenship and sustained focus on the issues – not just in election season, but all the days in between” (Banerjee, 2024). Is Albanian democracy like that? We mobilize only at election time, since then our voter opinion is almost zero. At least Rama proved it in the Congress for an indifferent part of his deputies, but they do the same in the other opposition camp, where the part of the protagonism of the closed lists has already started. While the activities of the SP and PD make up stories about democracy, anti-corruption results and purity and dignity, the truth is bitter: IMF data show that Albania and Kosovo continue to remain last in Europe in the indicator of income for spirit measured according to purchasing power parity in international dollars. Therefore, after the Congress, Albania with the projections of Formula 1 looks more "original" than the fiction itself. (Homo Albanicus)
Lini një Përgjigje