The future of the Albanian protest movement

Georgia Senator John Ossoff has been going viral recently with these pithy anti Trump speeches.re're seeing what I'm seeing, right? Yeah president posting about the Obam' like a clansman at one AM A lot of people seem to love him, the people in the crowd, the people who watch after. He's trying to put his face on the money. D you see that? And therefore, a certain type of political watcher, me, always wants to know what Senator Ossof is going to seize on next. Most recently, just a few days ago, it was this. There's this beautiful little island offff the Albanian coast called Sazan And And Jared Kushner wants it He went to Jared. Yes, Jared and Ivanka have set their sights on some stretches of hereto for unspoiled land in Albania. They want to build luxury resorts upon that land, and Albanians are in the streets saying loudly, Yo. That's no. Coming up on today exxplained Support for today explained comes from service now. 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That's fetchpet d. com slash save This is todayoday Explained Jacob Weismann is a sustainability reporter for Politico. He's now based in Brussels, but he worked in the Western Balkans, including in Albania for almost a decade. and so he has been following La Fair Kushner for years now. Yeah. so in twenty twenty four in Albania, they passed these very controversial amendments which brought about change to this law on prrotected areas, which essentially is Critics andend protestters stay open the door for this luxury tourism resort from Jak Kushner C's investment firm Affinity Partners is involved in a potential one point six billion development of Sazan Island into a luxury resort as well as the nearby wetlands. In this stretch of kilometers of land of wildlife habitat, we plan to build a new city And then earlier this year, they began construction and it was met with fierce resistance from local loocal residents and from activists. This is the video that sparked the uprising people are now calling the Flamingo Revolution Private security guards violently detain an activist protesting against a luxury development protected Nature preserve That is a home for the iconic pink bird. You could visibly see they were beginning construction, there were excavators, there were diggers, there were fences being built up. And when I went there myself, you could see that there was a road already built. you could see the foundation from the fences So that was really what kicked off everything. People saw that in Albania and they got really upset. and they they said, you know what? Eough is enough. We're gonna take it to the streets. Across Albania days of mass protests with police turning the water cannon on demonstrators filling the streets of the Citol. The protests keep growing in Tir Rana Albania for days thousands of gathered times have clashed with authorities All over luxury real estate developments link to Jared Kushner. He's one of the investors. Albania belongs only to Albanians, and Albania is not for sale What's there right now Yes, in this protected area along the southern coast of Albania near the Castal city of Vlora U there is this protected wildlife area which is home to endangered species of monk seals to Famingos to it It's a very popular turtle nesting site. It's a migratory path for birds and This is a special place s. Albanians in that area hold dear to their heart. It's a place where people go fishing,'s place where people go to the beach with their families. It's an untouched area where you can really feel the beauty of Albania and for that to be ruined by excavators and diggers and fences It's basically the people are saying, no, this is not allowed to happen. And then how does Ivanka Trump get involved in all of this Yeah, so on a podcast recently, Ivanka had described a story how she found the island when she was on a friend's yacht and they need to swim out to the island. We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. ive that's how we found it. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated and it stayed with us ever since. It's just a very unlikely story First of all The island used to be a military headquarters during the Communist era So there is there's a danger of Explosive mines still remaining across the island. and also there's a lot of glass everywhere. It's not well kept And there is a danger of snakes So when I told the locals about this story, they were like, this it's a complete it's completely false. There's no way she was able to do that. I mean the island is a very rugged landscape and making it very difficult to hike barefoot to the top. Not only the island, but we have five miles of beachfront directly across from the island, this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other. I think when the protest began to start, that podotest really began to go viral because People started sharing and people started getting upset, hearing what she had to say You know, just treating Albania like it's her own you know, personal luxury haven that she can just swim out to an island and say, Hm, I want that And I think it pissed off a lot of Albanians and to the point where it kind of pushed them over the edge m because first you have Kushner and then you have his wife also talking about their country like it's just, you know, something that they can take like a like a toy. Hmm. tellell me what the protests look like and who's involved I remember a few years ago It was really just a couple of hundred people from civil society, environmental organizations By the time I got to Albania It started growing from ten thousand to twenty thousand and then it just became this daily routine for Albanians. You would finish work and then you would just go out in the streets and start protesting. Albania is a small country. It's two point four million dollars And now I mean there are it's going up to one hundred thousand, maybe two hundred thousand and there are people driving from the UK, from Belgium, from Germany to join the protests and people from driving from all across the country. All over Europe and all over the world. There are people wanting to come to Albania and to protest for Albania. We want people to be happy and to be able to enjoy our coastline We don't want to be tourists in our own country. It's the first time that we protest the protest is at this scale. So I feel like it's just awakening of civic consciousness against this tourism boom in Albania and this foreign investments from Jerry Kushner and Ivanka Trump that they're just basically saying no to. and it's not just it began with that, but it now has become so much more. This prrime Mister should leave and it's not about any more flamingos It's about healthcare It's about education. All Albanians together are coming together protest against corrupted regimes. I mean, if you compare Albania borders Greece, for example, and as we all know, Greece is it's a hotspot for Americans and Europeans during the summer to visit Santorini, to visit Mkonos to enjoy the island in the blue waters. Albania has a beautiful coast, but they don't have these cut islands. What they do have is Sazan So I do feel like If they're going to do something of the island, that decision belongs to the Albanian people is what they're saying. It's very important to understand that Albanians have been through a lot in the last hundred years They were under a monarchy, they were under the Nazi occupation, and they went through a brutal communist regime for fifty years And finally their hopes had surface once more after the fall of Communism It was a very poor country, It was isolated from the entire world during communism. For more than fifty years, Albania and its capital Tirana were so hermetically sealed they were named the Little North Korea of Europe. Albania was one of the most isolated and repressive communist regimes. People weren't even allowed to talk to foreigners. They were fed a propaganda diet suggesting that theirs was an exemplary society And Andir Hoder, who executed thousands, ruled them with an iron fist. And Albania was all alone. People were not allowed to leave the country So The land is so important to the Albanians. and when someone like Kushna comes along It just wakes up the entire country and it says, no, this is ours and you're not going to touch it. and then becomes something so much more. becausecause then you look at the people who are responsible for bringing this investment into the country who are responsible for the corruption and changing these laws to bring in shady investment deals and is speically the awakening of a country and the most historic moment in Albania since the fall of communism. And Albanians themselves, it's still one of the poorest countries in Europe P people I know and people I've spoken to in Albania, they cannot afford to go to the beach. It's not like in the US where you have public beaches, right? You can go down the coast in New Jersey or Delaware and you could just pop up your umbrella and chair. I mean, Albania doesn't have that kind of infrastructure. If you want to enjoy the beach, you have to pay money and Albanians cannot afford to drive down to the coast for three hours and pay twenty thirty euros for an umbrella And you have to order drinks some food, they can't. And they can't and it's just for me, it's ridiculous to even try to fathom that People from their own country cannot go and enjoy their own nature and beaches Porters of this project would take a look at the circumstances that you're describing. This is a poor country with a lot of poor people. And what they would say is this is investment. Tourism is investment. It means you build things up, it means people get jobs, it means Albanian people working at the resorts then have money to spend, right. They would make the kind of trickle down and out argument Is there a case here, you've been reporting on this? Is there a case that tourism and investment could actually be a boon to Albania's economy And these protests might be short sighted To be fair, there are people I have spoken to who think that tourism is good for the country. I'm not going to say that all the people in Albania think that This is a bad thing, what Kushner is doing There is so much suspicion and there are so many There's so many allegations of corruption. I mean, the country's track record in the last twenty, thirty years is not good and does not convince people that there's going to be trickle down economics where You build a resort and they will they will create jobs and that will that will add infrastructure and that will bring in investment and that will bring in money to the people People. They don't believe that. They don't think the money will come to them. That's why so many Albanians are leaving the country. The mass immigration from Albania is insane. You talk to anyone in Albania, their only dreams is to leave. I mean, it's depressing. I mean, you go to a country and all they can think about is leaving their country. And Edie Rama, the prime minister is trying to bring this hope to the country, Okaykay, look, we're going to build these resorts The money is gonna come down to you. We're gonna keep investing. You have this seven hundred and fifty page document called his plan for Albania called the Albania Files, where there's several different projects that are spread across the country. But for me and for many people, it just looks like his personal Eagle art project. And what I mean by that is that It contains all these projects that he has for Albania, for this vision that he has of Albania, for the future for it to become into a tourist haven, a tourist hotspot where many people across the world flock to But for me, really, it just seems like you're trying to turn it into Dubai. and I think for many people and for Albanians, they don't really trust the fact that these kind of development ' all We'll be able to feed back into the country. We'll be able to create new jobs. We'll be able to make the country richer because the scale of corruption that's going on in the country is forcing people to lack trust in the government. And so Rama's vision and The agreement that the Albanian people have with that vision are just not in line anymore Jakub Weisman, when we return, the protesters say they want Albania's prime mininister out Prime Minister iss really interesting guy. stay tuned for that Support for today explained comes from ServiceN. 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Acording to their data sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are ninety five percent more likely to report a higher than non sponsored jobs. You can spend less time searching, more time interviewing candidates whoo check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results, when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. this can be a job for indndeed sponsored jobs. Listeners of this show will get a seventy five dollars sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status. It deserves at indeed d. com slash podcast. Indeed d. com slash podcast, you can just go to indeed dot com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast. That's indeed dot com slash podcast, terms and conditions supply Need the ride hire fast, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs Today explained We're back with pololiticoos, Jakobb Weisman. Jacakob, tellell me about Albania's prime mininister Yeah, Eddie Rama, he's quite a character. And he tries so hard to be funny and he tries so hard to be relatable. When I being enjoy the you, there are three things you can't predict. Three Right God, sex and the you. Don't mess with albanus because If the Albanians curse you, you just disappear. Yeah, I know something about the order. I haveve had several divorces, you know All right. And he has his own podcast Mimanes episod Mador Soni Josh podcasting Flasim. He used to be a basketball player and he was a painter and then he became a teacher. In my previous life, I was an artist. I still paint. I love art I love the joy that color can give to our lives. His grandfather was the chauffeur for the King of Albania back in the nineteen thirties. His father was a famous sculpture that had connection with the communist regime. And Eddie Rama, what can you say? I mean he has he's iconic for his white basketball sneakers that he wears to meetings with European leaders She's been cursing nonstop in interviews. This is an ideological book the sameant time, he's striking these billion dollar deals. He is not striking No A We have to understand again. And based on this character that I'm describing, he's you know this six, six tall basketball player who turned politician. L, I'm the Prime Minister of Albania. I' the tallest among them, but I represent a small country. so it's not up to me to Think about all the big things who's been in power for thirteen years You describe Albania as a country in which a lot of people are still very poor What is his vision for Albania? What's he done for the economy Well, he kind of has this dream of Albania becoming the Maldives of Europe. He wants Albania to become the next hut. for tourism. Have you ever heard of a law of the land that proclaims Our houses belong to God and the guest Well, such a law was written in medieval Albania and has since become an integral part of the Albanian way of life. He wants people to continue visiting the country and the tourism boom has been enormous in the last ten years. I mean, it has tripled in size from four million do to now twelve million, maybe even thirteen million. This is one of the countries that have been with the highest increase in tourism across Europe. And and he has his vision for Albania and he feels he feels frustrated that people don't see that. This has come as as one of the culminations of a long Long, long totuous path to turn Albania from a place where no investors wanted it The only way to create this st paradise of Albania is to bring in this foreign investment like Kushner This is a bless for the country. An investment of four billion euro. In a country that has twenty seven and a bit more billion euro GDP speaks by itself. You interviewed the prime Mister. What did he tell you about these protests He said that they wouldn't give a shit if it wasn't for Jared Kushner which is basically, you know devoiding himself of any blame for what is happening. He's saying that the reason why people are so upset is because it's linked to Jared Kushner and the Trump family and that these protestters are designed as some kind of anti Trump revolution. and he's saying that there's been Foreign interference from Iranian haackers and the government not saying that who is protesting in the street is an Iranian agent. I'm saying that There iss a lot of manipulation. There is a lot of a lot of half truths that become bigger and bigger lies by the hour. And then the Iranian The foreign ministry themselves responded saying as a joke that the Famingos must be the secret agents Um And then's also because Jerry Kushner is Jewish. He was involved in the Abraham Acords H um And he's trying to say that there's also this narrative of anti Semitism that is also going on at the moment and his Jerry Kushner's ties with Israel There's been these conspiracy theories that have been circulating online that this resort will become a place where Palestinians will be repopulated from Gaza or it will become an Israeli Sfe haven. He's saying that there is foreign interference. This is the same kind of thing that the former communist dictator of Albania and Verhote used to do and say that there is foreign interference from the West and from China and that we are being infiltrated by Stalinist agents. This is the same thing he's doing now, pointing at Iran, pointing at anti Semitism, pointing at you know, anti Trump It it's the same kind of tactics. What do you think about this guy's political future? Is it at risk now Well for for starters, Albania had elections last year He won by no overwhelming majority If you look at the report on these elections from these independent observers that are launched by these international organizations There have been reports of intimidation. buying, meddling. I mean, there have been so many issues people taking issues of how the elections were held. and I'm not disputing that he is the popular leader that was elected. But you can see that there have been accusations of how he has kept his power Um The people around him have been sent to jail You know, the person that was primed to take over from him Eeram Veli, he was He brought into jail on corruption allegations. He's still sitting in jail then the Dputy Mister of Albania was dismissed because of allegations surrounding corruption as well And then before that F few years ago, their former Dputy Prime Minister, he fled the country and is now in exile in Switzerland So you can see that everyone around him is just is linked to corruption in some kind of way. And this is really, I think he's starting to feel the heat. But he's also confident that he has the support of the country. and doesn't matter if it's five hundred thousand. He thinks that the rest of the two million people in the country are still in favor of him and that he has the backing of Israel and he has the backing of the US, and there is no viable opposition so he can do what he wants does he have the backing of Israel in the United States? What's the relationship there Yeah, that's a fair question. Albania was one of the only if not the only country during World War twoo that actually had an increase of Jewish population We know that the people of Albania where are not merely good friends today of the people of Israel, but in the crucial period of the Holocaust. They saved Jews during World War II, where they gave them fake identities dressed him without bnding clothing. And so the connection between Israel and Albania has been very strong for many, many years And it just comes to blows when someone who is Jewish like Kushner and has connection with Israel, and I'm not sure how as far as we can argue that his connection with Israel goes other than the fact that he was involved in the Abraham accords So you have this triangle, right? And kind of closing in on Rama to the point where He's saying that He needs to preserve his relationships So I think he views the relationship with Israel and the US as a priority. and he thinks that He needs to keep this project that Kushner is involved in going in order to preserve their relationship with the U.S ultimately whether Rama keeps his position or not would seem to depend on whether these protests burn out or not So as you observe people going out into the streets and making demands, do you get the sense that they are in this for the long haul? Or do you think that this is something that burns itself out I really want to say it doesn't burn itself out I really don't. becausecause I do think that Al being I' been frustrated for so many years You know, there was so much hope for the future of the country when communism fell in nineteen ninety one peopleople have been through so much You know, the older generations and younger generations. And you can really fully feel the frustration when you talk to the protesters. But at the same time These protesters don't have clear leader. It's the people's movement.'s