FLASH
Shkruar nga Roland Lami
When protest speaks to itself and not to the public, it ceases to be a tool for change and becomes a ritual that only confirms what is already believed within the circle...
If we look carefully at what is happening from one protest to the next in the DP, one thing is clear, participation is not increasing, but decreasing. This is not simply a matter of organization or context but an indication that something is not working in the way protest is being used as a political tool.
The "last mile" rhetoric articulated by leader Berisha presupposes a climax, an increase in pressure and mobilization, but when the opposite happens on the ground, this rhetoric remains more of a statement for internal consumption than a political reality for the general public.
Apparently, the protest is not being used as an instrument to convince citizens who are outside the circle of the DP, but to keep those who are inside it connected. So, we no longer have a communication that aims at expansion, but a communication that aims at confirmation. The leadership of the Democratic Party and a group of supporters have apparently decided to speak for themselves or to autosuggest themselves that they are on the right track.
In this context, even the strongest behaviors or clashes with the police take on a different meaning. They are not necessarily oriented to convince the public that the police or, more broadly, the state is repressive, but to provide an argument to the leader that the police and the state are repressive and therefore the protests should not stop until the regime falls.
The MPs are not trying so much to gain the sympathy of undecided citizens by demonstrating to them the degradation of the system by victimizing themselves, as they are trying to prove that they are on the front lines of the "war" in the eyes of the leader and the supporters around them.
This strategy is creating a vicious circle that feeds itself and serves mainly for internal consumption. Tension is provoked, sometimes with reason, sometimes without much reason, the police react, sometimes reasonable, sometimes excessive, and then everything is used to reinforce the internal conviction that we are dealing with a repressive state and a victim opposition. In this way, the motive for “uncompromising war” is constantly reactivated and protest is justified as the only means to achieve change.
The problem is that the general public is not following this logic. Neither the polls nor the concrete participation support this narrative. For many citizens, these scenes do not translate as evidence of repression, but as episodes of a worn-out and often provoked political conflict from which they prefer to stay away. Precisely for this reason, the protest fails to resonate.
Clearly, we have a paradox: the protest continues but does not grow, the message is repeated but does not convince, tension is provoked but does not mobilize. This shows that the problem does not lie in the lack of reaction of citizens, but in the reasons why this instrument is being used.
When protest speaks to itself and not to the public, it ceases to be a tool for change and becomes a ritual that only confirms what is already believed within the circle. Instead of challenging reality, it adapts to it, locking itself into a circle where the message circulates but does not penetrate. And when a protest fails to go beyond itself, it no longer produces political pressure, but simply noise that is heard only by those inside.
Lini një Përgjigje