Commanders without armies

2024-09-14 09:51:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

Today, an absurd situation prevails in the Albanian opposition. If you go near her and call "president", a dozen politicians will turn their heads.

It is really impressive to see how many opposition politicians declare themselves leaders and declare in front of the people, (but do not really believe it) that they can lead their parties, but also the opposition in general and win with Rama.

You believe it, although I have doubts if you really believe it, Sali Berisha. Some others within the PD also dream of being potential leaders of the future.

Ilir Meta also defines himself as a winner and leader in metal structures, high mountains or seas and rivers with clean waters.

Basha, Alibeaj, Agron Shehaj, Lapaj, Shabani, Qorri, Duka, Shehi, Dulja through Beler, Idrizi are also seeking a primary role in the opposition... Even Gjuzi and Jenishehri are not behind...

Their conviction is not based on any substantial reason other than that they think they "have resonance", that they "feel they can face Rama", or that they "have a good command of public communication".

Their political charge, what program they represent, is not mentioned (with the exception of Basha, who presented the program when it had the seal and logo). Neither mentions the alternative politics they propose, the strategy they have worked out, the governance model they would like to test, how they currently define progressive or "popular" politics. Nothing, they only denounce the scandals of the government, plunge into populism every day, the causes they have are someone else's personal causes and declare that they will overthrow Rama.

They don't even think about whether and to what extent they have built representative relations with wider social strata, that is, whether they represent an electoral and political dynamic and whether society really recognizes them as potentially leading personalities and not as someone who reminds them of something from television studios .

The only thing they do is to act as potential candidates for the leadership of the opposition and go to the televisions, to some protests that have died down without being ignited, or under the balcony to convince themselves and anyone else that they belong to that or that place. dream they have...

Not to mention the fact that they treat the whole process not as a political battle, a confrontation or even a "rivalry" with proposals, programs and ideological directions, but as a survival-style reality game.

It all starts with a striking lack of understanding of what politics really is. Because they still think about finding the person who will be the "antiRama". So they really don't understand anything. The result is an inflation of ambition combined with a huge seriousness deficit.

But Rama does not govern for 12 years, because he is simply "one person". The most important aspect of his political presence is not even the "face" he presents. After all, he has always been a gifted communicator and master of imagery.

Rama represents a policy, a model of government and a way of exercising power, a social alliance that identifies itself with this government and with this way of exercising power! Rama represents a plan that favors privatizations and strategic investors; he is the only politician who has relations with foreign policy, unlike the opposition which cannot meet with internationals and is isolated in the "non grata" bunker. Rama knows and is clear how he will take and keep power, unlike the opposition which has an outdated rhetoric, without ideas, without people, unlike the opposition which expects society to change its behavior towards it and not it to society...

This policy is indeed not majoritarian in society, but manages to concentrate the most powerful minority electorally, albeit with growing frustration.

If one wants to overturn the dominant position currently held by Rama and SP, one should do something similar and not simply appear as a "new face" pulling skeletons out of the closet, nor expect to make a new wardrobe out of old suits .

This means that the one who claims to overthrow Rama from power must present a program, specific proposals for an alternative economic policy, his concept or method for governance and democracy, his positions on how the politics of external and internal and on this basis form a similar social alliance and basically claim hegemony over a significant part of society.

Of course, all this is not easy, it requires study, strategy, dedication, preliminary work, contacts with society and obviously collective work, openness and truth, tolerance and not refractory attitudes, humility and realism and above all the understanding that a person cannot do all this alone.

Have you seen anything like this in DP? What about PL (LSI)? What about other opposition parties or groups? Have you seen any kind of political confrontation of substance about the character, the ideological stigma, the social vision of the party, in a way that interests and inspires society?

The answer is no! Because this is exactly the problem in the current opposition, which comes from the lack of real democracy. It comes because the opposition still works with outdated mentalities and there are old parties and new parties.

Because the opposition, as part of the establishment, continues not with elections and circulation of elites, but with appointments, individual cults while fighting to keep the establishment standing and not to give perspective, vision and prosperity to Albania!

But it seems that a rule has already been made in the Albanian political parties of the opposition that one should not learn from mistakes, but simply repeat them, lest "the devil breaks his leg" and the results will be different after the same mistakes.

While the Albanian society is disappointed by the way political parties function in the democratic space, disappointed by their ability to produce non-market politics; it is disappointing the leaders who could implement these policies. Albanian society is disappointed by corruption, party-ocracy and the clientelistic state; it's a deeply depressed society with low expectations, willing to accept anything as long as it looks like "normality" and choosing to run away instead of trying to change.

And this testifies not only to a deep existential crisis of the democratic space, but to a crisis, which translates at the same time into a crisis of the functioning of democracy itself.

While the opposition will be looking for a general to topple Rama, there will most likely be no army when the time for war comes.../ CNA