From the “ Washington Post ”
Albania’s socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is facing a protest movement against his rule that has garnered global attention largely because it involves the Trump family’s business dealings — is arguably the most aesthetically focused and image-conscious leader in the world.
Whether wearing everyday sneakers to NATO summits or turning conference panels into stages for viral stand-up comedy, the 61-year-old Rama knew how to grab media attention before influencers became commonplace — and leverage his power from being an effective, if bully, communicator.
It seems entirely appropriate, therefore, that the biggest challenge to Rama’s 13-year rule has come from the smart and confident Gen Z protesters, who, using AI-generated memes as their aesthetic weapons, have effectively subverted the prime minister’s many talents – relegating him to the territory of “genuine boomers.”
An artist and painter by trade, Rama rose to power in the early 2000s as mayor of Albania’s capital, Tirana, cultivating an image of an eccentric “anti-politician,” shouting at lazy bureaucrats in front of media cameras and rehabilitating the city’s crumbling communist facades with colorful drawings. He promoted a philosophy that art in public spaces could foster community transformation.
As prime minister, Rama has devoted much attention to transforming not only the once-dreary capital of Tirana but also Albania’s Mediterranean coast. Gleaming skyscrapers, luxury resorts, and modernized and revitalized public spaces have transformed one of Europe’s poorest countries into a tourist hotspot, while also attracting the attention of the world’s most prominent architects and artists.
Albania’s youth have been less impressed by the painter-turned-politician. But their disdain has been more evident in immigration statistics than in street protests. Until now. Much like the “Arab Spring” was sparked by a viral video of a Tunisian street vendor setting himself on fire, a single incident has brought the long-pent-up frustrations of Albanian youth to a head.
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When locals and environmentalists in the coastal village of Zvërnec — the site of a planned new tourist resort linked to Jared Kushner, a Qatar-based fund, and local oligarchs — protested the fencing of a public beach around a protected natural site, two private security officers dragged one of the locals across the sand as local police looked on. The public outcry was immediate.
What began as an isolated protest in a remote village quickly moved to the capital, growing so fast that the mainstream, largely self-censoring media, could no longer keep up. Almost four weeks have passed and demonstrations now occur daily, with the flamingo – native to Albania and endangered by resort construction – as its unifying symbol. The protests are both angry – calling for the overthrow of the entire political and media establishment – and celebratory. As with many other Gen Z uprisings, political solidarity has spread through humor and memes. A previously quiet generation of Albanians is feeling a new sense of dignity and political agency.
Western media coverage has narrowly portrayed the demonstrations as directed against the Kushner project – an easier hook for their readers at home. Authoritarian social media bots have also been deployed, presenting the rebellion as a kind of stand against American and Israeli colonialism.
But the real grievances are entirely about internal governance. Tens of thousands of Albanians of all ideological stripes – liberals, nationalists, environmentalists, Marxists, fashion influencers and even extreme conspiracy theorists – gather every evening because they feel disenfranchised and abandoned by a self-serving elite – including the formal opposition in parliament, the Democratic Party – that has been stripping public assets through shady and sweet deals with special interests for years. Kushner’s decision to give them the green light was just the latest and most prominent example.
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Rama has tried to argue that luxury tourism projects like Kushner’s are the future of the economy. The demonstrators are not buying it. Albania is still a poor country, and a development model based largely on construction and tourism has only enriched those with good connections while alienating regular voters from the simple pleasures of a summer vacation on the coast. Worse still, the tourism sector is using low-wage migrant workers to keep costs down, even as Albanians themselves migrate west in search of work.
The widespread corruption in Rama’s government has also become increasingly difficult for citizens to deal with. Rama’s recent refusal to lift the parliamentary immunity of his former deputy prime minister, who is facing an indictment, is creating a major obstacle to Albania’s progress in EU accession talks. It is also seen as a broader threat to popular rule of law reforms, demanded by the European Union and the United States, which Rama had until recently embraced as his own.
The record of Gen Z protests around the world has been decidedly mixed, and Albania doesn’t have elections until 2029. But these particular demonstrations have done one important thing: They have damaged the charismatic prime minister’s reputation as someone who is always able to talk his way out of a situation. His attempts to mock protest participants as out-of-touch influencers and appropriate their symbol by ironically wearing a flamingo T-shirt have, at best, backfired.
A rising generation is trying to find a way to mobilize public discontent into electoral politics. And for the first time in his long career, Rama seems unable to have the last word. That could cost him even more.
©Written by Agon Maliqi, a political analyst from Kosovo and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He lives in Tirana.