AAK political representative Labinot Bislimi was featured in a post shared by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Wednesday. In his post, Rama highlighted a statement by Bislimi, in which he described the recent protests in Albania as being organized with what he called anti-national motives.

Prime Minister Edi Rama’s post:

“I have never met Labinot Bislimi, but I couldn’t resist sharing this post he wrote ten days ago. Thanks to a mutual friend who sent it to me today — better late than never.”

THE LAND OF FLAMINGOS OR THE LAND OF EAGLES

“Did you know that the word Albania means ‘the land of eagles’? That is how foreign media often refer to us. But sometimes I ask myself: are we really?

Over the past few days, I have been closely following the events in Tirana.

It seems to me like a beautiful, creative and extraordinarily peaceful protest.

In fact, it gives me the impression that the Albanian people needed to reconnect with themselves. To walk together. To speak to one another in ways they had not before. More than a revolt, it feels like an outburst of love. A way of saying to Albania: ‘We love you.’

But what kind of love is this?

I believe it is the love of those who feel that Albania is changing so quickly that it is slipping through their fingers. A nostalgia for a poorer, untouched Albania, still unshaped by globalization and mass tourism.

It is nostalgia for the Albania of simplicity, community and modest happiness.

The flamingos are not the true reason behind the protest. They are a symbol.

A symbol of old comfort, familiar stagnation and the desire to remain balanced between certainty and change.

The eagle is different.

It does not stand by the water enjoying calmness. It flies high. It searches far. It takes risks.

Flamingos seek comfort. Eagles seek horizons.

That is why I do not believe this protest is really about Edi Rama. Nor about hatred. Nor about bread on the table. Nor even about most of the slogans being carried.

Rather, they are different ways of expressing the same concern:

‘We cannot keep up with the speed of change. We want to control it.’

But who will control it?

Those who have replaced knowledge with Facebook theories?

Those who talk about development without understanding development?

Those who see the future as a return to the past?

Those who live abroad, never intend to return, but love Albania only as a memory of the poverty they once escaped?

In the end, it resembles a protest filled with slogans, conflicting demands and a desire for attention, but with little clarity about its destination.

And that is why it feels more like a protest of flamingos than of eagles.

The land of eagles has no time to waste.

It must fly. It must seek new horizons. It must complete its economic and historical transition.

For the eagles, we must speak now.

For the flamingos, there will be time later.”