Found hungry and faced with the choice between a generous plate of ripe, delicious fruit and a plate of undercooked potatoes, you will certainly choose the fruit to satisfy your hunger and satisfy yourself.
But if the alternative were uncooked potatoes or rotten fruit, a dilemma arises, and in the end, uncooked potatoes would probably win, as they seem like the healthier option for satisfying hunger.
If I had to choose between Edi Rama and Sali Berisha, I would certainly choose Edi Rama every time this dilemma arose, and if I had to choose between Edi Rama and Irfan Hysenbelli, I would still prefer the uncooked potatoes.
Edi Rama’s political strategy can be summed up in this fable. He has done everything he could to ensure that his confrontations always remain between him and an evil greater or uglier than himself.
This strategy has always given it an advantage in public opinion even when it has taken arbitrary actions, when it has violated the constitution, when it has overstepped the laws, and when it has ignored every state-building rule.
Because he has placed characters opposite him who have consumed these sins even more than he himself.
If you don’t pay taxes, it’s hard to have the morals to talk about respecting contracts. If you benefit from public spaces with favorable conditions because you own a media outlet, it’s hard to be credible when you talk about violating media independence. If you censor news in favor of one or a few politicians, it’s hard to create waves of solidarity when censorship falls on you.
Therefore, it is difficult and will be difficult to create solidarity with the incident against News 24 these August days and consequently the situation will be closed in Rama’s favor, either by taking the building or by entering into a long-term agreement with Irfan.
The latter is likely to happen, and when it does, all those who shouted and screamed for media freedom and the principles of democracy will be left with their fingers in their mouths, and if Rama adds a little more irony to the whole scene, the latter will also remain censored by the same TV they sought to protect.
And it will be good for you because you cannot protect symbols that represent the opposite of what you are propagating. There is no free media that gets its building for free from the government. There is no free media that is paid for with money that comes from government favors.
Because when the facade falls and the mud with which the walls of these institutions are actually built breaks, everyone around them becomes dirty, some more and some less.
Meanwhile, people will have to chew on the uncooked potato one more time.
This scenario will continue until we have public actors on the Albanian political scene, be they politicians, media owners, journalists and analysts, who do not hold positions based on the narrow interest of the day or month, but based on a basket of principles that they have carefully collected throughout their experience and for which they are willing to fight and sacrifice everything to protect.
For these principles, they don’t ask whether they are attacking the media that favored them during a certain period or the business that helped them during the campaign.
For these principles, they don’t question whether they are facing the Prime Minister or even their own family.
If this type of public actor flourishes on the Albanian scene, and I believe that such actors are being forged, although still fragile, then the choice for citizens will become much simpler and the uncooked potato will end up in the trash as the majority will refuse to consume it, having better choices.
Besjan Pesha është një studiues i shkencave politike dhe njohës i mirë i politikës në rajonin e Ballkanit. Ai ka mbaruar Masterin për Shkenca Politike pranë Universitetit të Tiranës dhe ka një eksperiencë të gjatë si aktivist i shoqërisë civile, duke filluar me themelimin e Lëvizjes Mjaft e më pas me themelimin e Nismës Thurje.
Besjani gjithashtu ka një eksperiencë në politikën aktive si edhe në qeverisje ku ka shërbyer në disa pozicione të rëndësishme përgjatë viteve 2007-2013.
Së fundmi ai punon si konsulent politik në rajon dhe gjatë kohës së lirë kontribuon për shteg.org.
