Albania's Uprising: The Generation Fighting Corruption

Albanians are demanding more.

The protesters behind these streets have been out every day for almost a week.

What began as a demonstration against a Trump family luxury resort has evolved into one of the biggest populist

movements Albania has seen since the fall of communism in 1991.

This is a new era, an awakening of people who want to get rid of old school politics.

They want to change a political establishment that only benefits the powerful and rich.

I'm protesting because of the lack of public consultation on public spaces and construction in protected areas.

People feel excluded from these spaces once they are gentrified or transformed.

Gresa Hasa is a researcher at the University of Graz who writes about Albanian politics and the rule of law.

The transformation of giving public land to private investors, to private billionaires, or dubious oligarchs.

In recent years, Albanians have seen skyscrapers and luxury hotels rise.

Public spaces have been privatized. Beaches, historical and cultural sites became physically and financially

inaccessible.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said he wants Albania to become a high end tourism destination.

These projects were presented as a success story, but people have seen they are not.

They were met with mass unemployment, mass emigration, and struggle to make ends meet.

The average monthly income in Albania is 950 euros.

That's lower than Bulgaria's average wage of 1,282 euros, the lowest in the EU.

The top 1% continues to grow richer. The gap between them and everyone else has grown wider.

After communism fell in 1991, informal groups and organized crime groups emerged and became legal oligarchic

structures.

In 1991, Albania transitioned to multi party democracy with elections every four years.

The current Prime Minister and his Socialist Party have been in power for 13 years.

They introduced a Strategic Investment Law that fast tracks big development projects.

They amended the nature law to allow exemptions for construction in protected areas.

The government changes the laws whenever it benefits them in non transparent, anti democratic procedures.

Protesters want Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down.

But they are protesting against the opposition too.

The main opposition leader faces corruption charges and has adopted Trump style rhetoric.

They are the same face of the system. Both corrupted.

There is resentment with a political class and economic model that no longer works for citizens.

These protests are unprecedented. They have gathered a very diverse, large crowd.

But that also makes it hard to keep a consistent, united voice.

A possible outcome in the longer term is creation of a new democratic and legitimate opposition.

And for more now, I want to cross over to journalist Besar Likmeta joining us from Tirana.

Besar, it's good to have you with us. Have these protests morphed into something bigger?

Is this now a fight to determine who will own the country's future?

These are young people rallying in thousands on the streets of Tirana every day.

The resort project was the spark, and the mistreatment of environmental activists by private security served as that

spark.

But currently the protesters have widened. They are not only in the capital but in cities across Europe wherever the

Albanian diaspora is.

They are calling for the resignation of the prime minister and rejecting the opposition.

This is an anti establishment protest calling for major change in how the government is run and the economic model.

But is it this type of project or the big name attached to it?

If this real estate plan was not connected to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, would the public even notice as much?

Internationally, the attraction to this story comes from the names involved.

To Albanians, this is a rallying cry for corruption, ties to organized crime, and abuse of power.

This is what this generation is losing. Protected areas being developed in ways not sustainable for the environment.

Young people are not reaping rewards from this development.