“I have nothing against those who react for Zvërnec. In fact, they do very well. I have something against those who react only for Zvërnec.”
With these words, Louis Eylli reacted to the situation in Zvërnec, raising a question that has long remained unanswered: why do some causes receive national attention, while others are left in oblivion?
He recalls that the residents of Rrjoll have been facing strong tensions and clashes for weeks, without receiving the same public reaction that Zvërnec is receiving today.
“What is the difference between Rrjoll and Zvërnec? Either we react for everyone, or we are using double standards,” he writes.
And this is precisely where the biggest problem lies.
We as media have repeatedly made the same call: protests in Albania are lost because they are left alone. They do not unite. They are not supported by other communities. They never turn into a national civic reaction.
Any isolated protest is easier to suppress. Any community left alone is weaker. When voices unite, the message becomes stronger.
Remember the Fushë Kruja protests. Residents who came out en masse, entire families, with evidence in hand and legitimate anger. It could have become a turning point if it had had broader civic and political support. But it didn’t.
The protest was faced with police forces, tensions, clashes and escorts. It was extinguished. So was Baks-Rrjolli. As many others have been extinguished before it.
The same thing is happening today in Zvërnec. Instead of citizens seeing it as an issue that concerns everyone, it risks being treated as a problem for the residents of the area. And that’s exactly how battles are lost.
The rest of us continue to watch from afar. “It’s not our problem,” we say. “It doesn’t affect us,” we think. Today it’s someone else’s land. Tomorrow it will be ours.
We have seen what is happening with the Port of Durres. We have seen what is happening in Vlora. We have seen Fushë Krujë, Rrjoll and Zvërnec. In some cases the protests are localized. In other cases they are not organized at all. And the system continues to win precisely because citizens do not unite.
Every suppressed protest is a loss for all. Every land lost today is a precedent for tomorrow. Every time we remain silent when others are suppressed, we are strengthening the system that will come for us tomorrow.
Therefore, we repeat our call:
Albania belongs to everyone. Not just the residents of one area.
We must stand up even when the problem is not at our doorstep. We must stand up even when the land that is at risk of being taken is not ours. We must react even when the protest takes place hundreds of kilometers away from us.
Because if we don’t stand up for each other, there will be no need for anyone to divide us or defeat us.
We will have done it ourselves.