The myth of unity

The belief in absolute national unity, an indisputable union around the flag and the state, is in contradiction with the foundations of a democratic society, where everyone has the right to free, unimposed thought. Modern states do not function based on mythical unities around national causes, but function based on strict rules that everyone must respect. The constitution, laws, rules and democratic standards. A country where the political elite still insists that even crimes may not be prosecuted, if we get along, cannot be democratic

Inter-Albanian unity is a myth. Albanians, in their history, at least in the last hundred years, do not have any moment when they were united around the national flag and idea. Even in the most difficult times for the nation, the Albanian political leaders, the leaders of the nation and the people, could not overcome the differences, which in frequent cases were not so much ideological or political as they were related to personal and group interests and goals for power, privileges and material benefits. As a proof of this, it is enough to look at the Albanian history after the declaration of independence of Albania, and we will see that from the time of raising the flag in Vlora until today, inter-Albanian political disagreements were constant.

Political assassinations, coup d'état, threats of violence and uprisings, regional divisions and other divisions of various natures have characterized the first years and decades of the Albanian state, while such situations have continued to dominate political relations among Albanians until today. Even in the time of communism and one-party dictatorship, conflicts within the political type continued, which in many cases ended with physical elimination, ideopolitical differentiation, imprisonment, isolation and the most terrible punishments for "traitors" and "internal enemies".

In the years between the two world wars, a large number of political leaders, leaders and undisputed patriots, but also politicians with dubious political loyalties, have been killed and fought in the name of political disagreements. A superior patriot like Hasan Prishtina was sentenced to death by the Albanian state under King Zog, while political assassinations took the lives of distinguished names in various Albanian political camps of the time. Besides Hasan Pristina, Bajram Curri, Luigji Gurakuqi and many others also fell from the bullets fired by the Albanian hand - while the intra-Albanian political conflict continued even after the World War, when the one-party communist system, both in Albania and in other Albanian countries, was one that did not tolerate dissent to the point of persecution and physical elimination.

Thus, in the history of the last hundred years, the idea of ​​political unity for the good of the country and the people remains a myth, a politically designed mirage, an illusion in which we want to believe as a people, a desire that has been exploited and continues to be exploited by politicians in pursuit of their personal visions for the future, who mainly take into account the will of the minority in power.

Throughout history, Albanians have mostly been ruled by the minority even when the government has been supported by the people.

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The lesson of history, then, is that the feeling, which many may have today, that we live in times of great, unprecedented disruption - is wrong. The truth (bitter, of course) is that political divisions among Kosovo Albanians (and everywhere else) are a permanent situation.

In Kosovo, there have been political divisions that have provoked violent confrontations and hostility to the point of impatience, even during the most difficult time of the war with Serbia in 1998-1999, when the entire people were at risk from the genocidal attacks of the Serbian state apparatus. So, even at that time, the proclamation of "traitors of the nation" and "harmful factors" was the favorite political sport of the resistance wings. Such a method of political activism - accusing the opponent of national treason (which automatically implies the type of punishment for such an act) - continued even after the war, when relations between the country's political leaders were extremely strained, even when the country needed them to cooperate.

It is not better even in Albania. On the contrary.

The years after the fall of communism are years of clashes and conflict between the two Albanian political poles that never stopped, except, perhaps briefly, during the Kosovo war. In the last twenty years, the political situation in Albania - a country that is already a member of NATO and a serious aspirant for EU membership - remains a situation of deep political enmity between parties that do not hesitate to sacrifice any progress of the state to fulfill their own aspirations - to remain in power, or to take power.

Disagreements leading to conflict have been recorded over the years also between Albanian political parties in Macedonia (now North) and in the Presheva Valley, and recently we have seen a degradation of relations between groups with different preferences in the diaspora, even in the USA.

Albanians who deal with politics, everywhere, seem as if they are not able to get out of party politics and seek the path of reconciliation, at least around the basic issues for a democratic society ruled by the law.

This is how realities are created that otherwise, when talked about, seem impossible. As is, for example, the recent situation in Kosovo with the annulment of illegal and corrupt appointments of state consuls. Now, to the surprise of the normal world, we have party and political clashes for and against the cancellation of corrupt decisions. Some political parties, along with some so-called analysts, relativize legal violations and corrupt practices, insisting that everyone else has done this. They attack the acting president for canceling the decision that prevents nepotism, accusing her of nepotism! The signal they send: Don't touch us, we won't touch you! Or: Do not enter our territory, we do not enter your territory! Don't meddle in our business, we don't meddle in your business!

These slogans belong more to the mafia organizations of Southern Italy than to the political parties of a democratic state where the law rules.

In such circumstances, therefore, it is illusory, even crazy, to hope for a unity, a union around the flag and the state, a unification around national interests. Because, when the national interest by one party is reduced to defining the boundaries of "our affairs", in which the others do not interfere, reconciliation does not bring unity, but brings the division of the spoils.

And this, unfortunately, is the goal of a (not small) number of those who deal with politics in Kosovo and among Albanians: to create their own political fiefdoms, to control parts of the state apparatus, to place themselves and theirs above the law, to generate benefits, material and other, not based on knowledge and professionalism, but based on the status of the boss, whose will no one can contest. The network of this corrupt system, which extends through all state and social institutions, from state administration and justice to enterprises and other public foundations, has already come to light and is clearly visible.

And this - the fact that the truth not only came out, but turned out to be even uglier than we expected - is why the political divide will deepen even more.

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The belief in absolute national unity, an indisputable union around the flag and the state, is in contradiction with the foundations of a democratic society, where everyone has the right to free, unimposed thought. Modern states do not function based on mythical unities around national causes, but function based on strict rules that everyone must respect. The constitution, laws, rules and democratic standards.

A country where the political elite still insists that even crimes may not be prosecuted, if we agree, cannot be democratic. This, naturally, brings us to the conclusion that our insistence on myths and political illusions for unity in purpose and action is jeopardizing our chances of building a democratic state where the law rules. So, if political mythology has turned into our addiction, then, at least, let's build a new cause, one that would help us much more than the search for an unattainable national-romantic unity.

Let's unite around the law and the state.

The current political generation will not be able to adapt to such a goal, but time moves on for everyone, and sooner or later, a new generation will come.

Or maybe this is also a myth, an illusion?

I say that everything in the end depends on us!

agronb@kohaditore