By Finn McKenna
Thousands of protesters have for four consecutive days mobilised on the streets of Tirana, the capital city of Albania, towards the Prime Minister’s headquarters. The protests have two primary symbols attached to them, the first one being easily recognisable for those with any familiarity with the region – the Albanian national flag with the double-headed eagle centred with its blood red background.
Uniquely featured alongside the national flag are paper cut-outs of another bird, the flamingo—a bird now placed in danger by the Trump family and its insatiable lust for profits and power. Interspersed in the crowds are placards which feature an array of slogans which get to the heart of the protest’s matter; people are opposing the Trump family scheme to set up one of their empty capitalist palaces in Albania. Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, is the key face of the Trump family pushing forward with this development via his firm, Infinity Partners.
Trumpian real estate project
Protestors have commented that the vast real estate project is extremely destructive to Albania’s biodiversity. The patriarchal head of the dynasty, Donald Trump himself, has clearly demonstrated his contempt for the natural world – epitomised in his sloganeering “Drill Baby Drill” and his and the Israeli regime’s ecocide in Gaza. To give a sense of the scale of this project, protestors have indicated that the construction of these palaces will take 10 to 15 years and will result in a 10,000-room monstrosity.
This represents the creation of an entire new city. The aim of Kushner’s investment firm is to build two ultra resort complexes; firstly, they intend to cover an area that not only includes the uninhabited outcrop of Sazan, Albania’s only island, but also wetlands and coastal habitats in the marine national park that surrounds it. Secondly, Swathes of protected coastal landscape between the lagoon of Narta and the sea are also pinned down for development.
‘Our Land, Our Title, Our Rights’
Barbed wire was also fenced in the earliest stages of development, which began on a beach in one of the affected areas last week, sparking outrage amongst residents. Protestors along the beach demonstrated with placards which read ‘Our Land, Our Title, Our Rights’. The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has kicked his heels in, doubling down by indicating that so long as he is in power, the project will go ahead.
The protestors are demanding that the Prime Minister step down, associating this grandiose capitalist project with his corrupt connection with local Albanian oligarchs, as well as wider billionaire outside forces, including the Qatari ruling classes. Organised crime and the Albanian mafia are also suspected of being involved in the project.
The Trump clan give the worst of the worst in human history a run for their money. They and their demented desire to devour land and people, churning out palaces for them and their oligarchic-capitalist brethren, is an affront to the basic concepts of democracy and environmentalism. All attempts to scupper the undemocratic expansion of the Trump palace regime deserve the applause and encouragement of people who care about genuine democracy, the planet and the rights of workers everywhere. The time to end the rule of this capitalist oligarchy and their ilk is now.
