When you don't have answers to your problems, you'll talk about "uncles"

2026-06-25 21:51:00, Opinione Lutfi Dervishi

When you don't have answers to your problems, you'll talk about

There is no official answer to the simple question: why are citizens protesting? But there are four deviant narratives, rapidly produced and distributed in coordination. Their very existence is, paradoxically, the most complete answer the government can provide.

The first narrative: “the protesters are coming from Kosovo and North Macedonia.”
Suddenly, the debate is no longer about the demands of the people in the square, but about the presence of citizens from Pristina and Skopje. The KLA, veterans, political leaders and regional historical figures are cited, everything except the reason why the square was filled.
Citizens from Kosovo and North Macedonia are a handful of people (some Albanian citizens) among tens of thousands. However, this topic is occupying almost the entire space of the virtual and television debate. This is not a coincidence, but a strategy, because every time that handful of people is talked about, there is no talk about the fact that the average Albanian net salary is 60-70% below the EU average, while prices have reached European levels. This gap, not Pristina, is what has brought people out.

The second narrative: “the protest is instigated by foreign powers.”
The list of “culprits” rotates at breakneck speed: dark forces, Russians, Iranians, Greece, Serbia and, at the height of creativity, social media algorithms. All it took was an isolated incident with a flag for the entire protest to be labeled “anti-Israel.”

This technique has a name: when you can't refute the other's arguments, you declare them an enemy of the national interest. The demands of the square have been and remain completely internal: transparency on contracts with strategic investors, repeal of custom-made laws, an end to institutional arrogance. There is no need for Iran or Russia to explain them. Perhaps the fact that half a million people in Albania live on salaries below twenty thousand lek per month explains it.

The third narrative: “the protest is harming tourism.”
This is the narrative that the government itself does not seem to take seriously, because it cannot take it.
Albanian tourism is not threatened by people demanding accountability. It is threatened by the concreting of the coast, pollution, legal uncertainty and the destruction of natural heritage, the very things that the protest is talking about. And these are the things that tourists in the square are also talking about.

The fourth narrative: “protest is hindering integration.”
This is perhaps the only narrative that deserves serious discussion because it stems from a sincere misunderstanding, not just from political calculation. The European Union does not demand civic silence. It demands functioning institutions, independent justice, and an active civil society. Exactly the kind of society that stands in the square today.
Integration is not blocked by a peaceful protest. It is blocked by the capture of institutions, abusive concessions, and a system where laws are written according to the needs of contracts.

People who cannot afford the cost of living have taken to the streets. Young people who cannot afford to buy a house and parents who see their children being taken away; entrepreneurs who are being hit by unfair competition and residents who feel excluded from decision-making for their city. Young and old people who are fed up with the "old politics" and ordinary citizens who are ashamed to stay at home/in the cafe.
The reasons for the streets are simple and verifiable. And the fact that the propaganda chose to respond with regional and global conspiracies, and not with them, shows with mathematical precision what it does not dare to say: that it has heard and that it has no answer.
Why, after so many weeks, do people refuse to leave the streets? Because no one has yet given them a convincing reason to leave.