Albania vs. West: A genuine democracy or a hybrid totalitarian system?

by alfred kola            Click here for the version in albanian

 

Albania is without a doubt in a crucial crossroad of its history, in its efforts to ultimately part ways with the past of disaffinity with the west and to cross the line that divides it from the democratic and economically prospered west, a line that an outstanding political journalist justly labeled “the Theodosius’ line”. But is it on the right course to fulfill this ambition that requires an all-embracing reform of the political system and the society itself including the prevalent mentality? It’s here that the hottest and pointless debate takes place between the majority of Albanian population and the government-backed bullhorns, aided inexplicably by the international community, who, although Albania has greatly deviated from the European course, are trying hard to persuade Albanians that their country is zigzagging toward the European Union. Whether Albania is headed on the right or the wrong direction of the European course, we just need to confront the aspects and the principal pillars upon which the Albanian system is founded with those of the EU and United States, in order to have an idea for us, but mostly for the international community to see with realism the development in Albania and stop lying to Albanians about their future in EU with the current government headng them thereto.

 

Government, elections and media

 

Compared to the western governments, the Albanian government resembles the administration of a family-run company, whose business activity and assets is Albania. It has an absolute and direct control over the life of every Albanian, ranging from that of the janitor in a suburban school to those of the high-ranking officials of the administration. The latter is utterly partisan and incompetent, a fact that is backed by the paramount role the party in power plays in the social and economic life of the country. The hiring process in budgetary sectors is conducted through recommendations made by the local branch of DP and is not based on professional competence and skills, but on the militancy contribution given to this party, which on its part, constitutes in rallies, ballot buying and participation in groups and gangs employed to distort the will of the electors. The Albanian government officials get very rich pretty quick and are the wealthiest strata in Albania owning properties in every corner of the country, what is a living proof of an unimaginable level of corruption. Unlike EU and United States where a minister is sent to prison for having abused with 10,000 Euros of public funds or a senator is indicted for not disclosing the source of money he spent to repair his house, the Albanian government officials and MPs are untouchable even when their embezzlement scandals reach millions of dollars and are raked up in the mass media. The concept of resignation is not accepted even for serious charges like murder and human trafficking. In this matter Albania is very different from western countries where a minister and the future leader of his party resigns from his office and politics just because of rumors of plagiarism or another minister resigns because people found out that his wife had used the office vehicle to go shopping.

The topic of elections in Albania is very much-debated in media and is now an international issue. The entire world is aware of how the elections are held in this country, so we will not discuss this topic here.

Media, as the Fourth Estate, plays a major role in the life of a country and its balance, followed by explicit rules of professional ethics, indicates the level of democracy in that country. But how balanced is the media in Albania? The following table representing the political affiliation of the Albanian TV stations and newspapers will help us answer that question clearly:

Supporting government and sponsored by it

 

Televisions

TVSH (public television)

Klan

ABC News

News 24

AS

SCAN

NTV

UFO

Planet...

Almost all local TV stations

Newspapers

Koha Jone

RD

55

Standard

Panorama

Mapo

Metropol

Gazeta Shqiptare

Klan Magazine

Agon....

 

Impartial and unbiased

Televisions

Top Channel

Vizion+

Ora News

Newspapers

Shqip

Mapo Magazine

Ballkan

 

Anti-government or supporting opposition

Televisions

----------------

Newspapers

Zeri i Popullit

Shekulli

Tema

Sot

The table shows that the government has complete hegemony over the media, televisions and newspapers, where those impartial are in an inferior number compared to those controlled by the government. This ratio is not found in any of the western countries. The usurpation of the public state-owned television, for which all the citizens pay taxes, and its use in the service of the party in power occurs only in dictatorships. The extreme politization of the Radio and Television Supervising Commission in favor of the government and DP, has caused the elimination of regulatory rules of conduct for televisions and newspapers as well as the complete lack of professional ethics, so vital for this sector of business and public life. Government-sponsored televisions air very aggressive news editions and editorials lashing every critical voice toward the government, programs that are mostly, beyond any standards and ethics, focused on defamation campaigns about the family life of the opponents thus violating all the privacy and human rights. The lack of a television ratings agency to measure the audience for various programs enables awkward and old-formatted TV shows to continue being aired in all televisions.

 

Economy            

 

Albanian economy is weak, mainly commercial, based on the import of goods from other countries and lacks a clear model of development. It is dominated by monopolies, encouraged and organized by government, through which, people with close ties to the government officials control the market in every aspect. Fair competition is an unacceptable notion and honest entrepreneurs, outside the circle of the ruling party, who prosper by using their management and marketing skills, may be forced into bankruptcy by the application of mob methods such as heavy fines levied by the tax police, seizure of merchandise, even threats against their lives if they would slightly jeopardize the market monopoly of the government people. Scenarios like these have gained national attention but nothing has been done, for everything is controlled and organized by the government. Strategic sectors of economy and natural resources have been given on concessions to dummy companies, with no records of business activities in countries they claim to originate from, which exploit ruthlessly the Albanian underground and poor workers thus violating human rights and international conventions. The recent event of the underground hunger strike of the Bulqiza miners and the inhuman reaction of the concessionary company, ACR, and the president of parent company, Decometal Austria against the miners and labor union is merely the tip of the iceberg of mob and enslaving practices of these companies toward the Albanian nation. If these companies applied such practices in EU countries the consequences would be very serious.      

 

Justice System     

 

Justice system and media are two domains where Albania differs from EU and United States as chalk and cheese. Justice system in Albania is extremely unjust. Law is not the foundation, upon which this system is based, but money and politics are. The dependence of this system upon the government is not a concealed fact any longer. In the last years Berisha administration has put under control the courts in every level. The end of 2010 saw the passage of the last one, the Constitutional Court, under the dominance of the government and DP, marking the complete submission of the court system and justice as a whole. The corruption in the justice system has been strongly pointed out by the EU commission, but instead of bringing about changes and improvements, the government is placing under its control every cell of this system. One remarkable indicator of this control is the Electoral College’s decision on the voting process in Tirana, where the loser became winner and the winner became loser. Another indicator is that during the last five years in its appeals to Supreme Court and Electoral College, the opposition hasn’t won even a single one. The same happened with the appeals to the Constitutional Court in the last year. What are the odds for the government to win a case in court in EU and U.S.? Less than 30%! How come in Albania it’s the government that always wins? In what system government wins always in court? That’s easy, in totalitarian systems where government and courts are inseparable. We will not mention here the countless number of cases, when very dangerous criminals have been released and acquitted in court rooms on account of bribes and pressure, because then, the situation would sound desperate and hopeless. But we have to mention the arrest of Strauss-Kahn, the most powerful man of the financial world, by the New York police, on charges of sexual assault just from a report filed by a hotel employee and the case of an Albanian minister who was taped attempting to rape a girl, and later claimed libel and damage of his public image.   

The same situation is with education system where government still determines the number of college students and their field of studies, follows policies that favors the privately owned universities, which are nothing more than assembly lines for the  production of paper for college degrees without the minimal level of knowledge and training. These self-styled private universities are owned by government officials and are another source of collecting the money of poor Albanians through expensive tuition.      

Healthcare system is no different with the smothering corruption, rip-off of patients, and wrongful deaths by staff negligence.

We can consider here every aspect of the Albanian society in details and we will conclude that none approaches even remotely to the European and American counterparts. Then, where is Albania headed to in its European course? Where is the Albanians’ brilliant future in EU, so much ballyhooed by officials in Brussels and Washington? I don’t see it anywhere.