By Everest HAXHI
It all started with a simple announcement from United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken that former Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha is a “Non Grata” person due to the standards and policies against corruption this current administration is implementing.
Its very simple! Sali Berisha is a corrupt politician and United State Department of States has all necessary proves to support that decision, no matter how many French lawyers will be involved in this. For all the believers of the mightiness and powerful resources the United States Department of State has, it’s easy to accept that this statement is not a product of media nor NGO-s operating in the country. This is a very serious statement that comes from a very careful diplomatic analysis and conclusions, involving decades of monitoring, supporting, and participating in advising Albanian political class towards pluralism and democracy.
The fact that Sali Berisha is not the only corrupt from a waste majority of political leaders in Albania doesn’t make him absolved from his charges nor makes him an innocent martyr. It only makes him the first Albanian politician of that caliber to be called a corrupted one. Sali Berisha does know that, and he knows that he will be the role model for everyone to come after him facing similar charges and exposing their decades of wrongdoings leaving Albanian people and society with no hope for the future.
This is the greatest gift United States of America is giving to the Albanian people. This is the greatest support that United States Ambassador Yuri Kim, on Behalf of her boss Antony Blinken, is giving to Albania. Establishing a precedent than No One Is Above the Law, no matter how powerful you are, and, to that regard, no one has been as powerful as Sali Berisha in the history of 30 years Albanian post communism politics.
Unfortunately, the harm those corrupted politicians in Albania have done is enormous and have twisted the very fabric of grassroot supports in the country, destroying not only a healthy political structure but also reflecting a distorted political relation with institutions and the very Albanian society view of political contributions.
Sali Berisha was the undisputed leader of Democratic Party and the very example that the authoritarian model was the only way of political management in Albania. He was the Master of Political manipulations and everyone who spoke against him ended up expelled, asylee or even dead.
The current Chairman of Democratic Party Lulzim Basha was Sali Berisha’s product. Lulzim Basha was supported publicly and privately by Sali Berisha in taking over the Democratic Party forcing all the local structures to vote for Lulzim Basha and disregard the opponent, the late Sokol Olldashi, that did not stand a chance against “The Chosen One”. Everyone that voted for Sokol Olldashi was declared heretics and expelled from party structures, with the blessing of Sali Berisha.
Current prime minister of Albania Edi Rama is a product of Sali Berisha too. Edi Rama took the Socialist Party from Fatos Nano that was a liberal leader and accepted different fractions in the Socialist Party by reforming its inner structures. Under Edi Rama leadership, implementing the exact same authoritarian model as Sali Berisha, The Socialist Party has become the nightmare of every honest socialist in Albania and is consumed by corruption, political immorality, and decadence. No alternate voice nor alternate political views besides the only and direct guide and orientation from Chairman Edi Rama.
Those authoritarian politicians in Albania are so powerful that is impossible for the Albanian people to gain their freedom. Freedom fighters among Albanian society need support and this support is coming from United States. Ambassador Kim, and all her predecessor have been calling endlessly every single Albanian to act. To not be afraid. This corrupted political model is holding the Albanian society back. From the movement “Act Now” of Ambassador Arvizu and now with Ambassador Kim public statement and State Department speaking out names of corrupt politicians, now is the very moment that Albanian people has been waiting for.
To some extent the harm is done, and Albanian people have lost a rational perception of the political reality in the Albanian Society. The very support that Sali Berisha is having currently shows just that.
Many Berisha supporters, unfortunately manipulated and misguided forget the fact that Sali Berisha is a corrupted politicians and is the first one to be blamed for the lack of justice reforms, endless transition, lack of political standards, lack of landowner’s reforms, nepotism, and totalitarianism. Sali Berisha with his 7501 Land Law has destroyed the future of Albania, leaving open decades of horrible land conflicts, unsolved to this day and, profiting form this law only the Land Mafia and his close family members also part of the corruption saga he is accused for from the United States Secretary of State.
This misguided supporters of him, not only in Albania but also in Diaspora and in United States, forget that Sali Berisha and the political contribution standards he created were the main cause they immigrated largely because the system was based on traditional political connections, and not on individual intellectual values and institutional experience. It’s the same system Edi Rama is following religiously in Socialist Party and in all Albanian institutions.
With the help of United States of America Albania is making big steps in the process of integration toward western institutions and organizations. The dual challenge remains in implementing much needed reforms in Albanian institutions and Justice, as well as much needed reforms in political thoughts and culture. The domestic political factor plays a leading role in Albanian society as an indicator of expressing the willingness to help the process of integration through well designed reforms. This makes it very important for the new political model of leadership to implement a new political culture in accepting a total reforming within the political parties.
There should be no names in politics but only standards and political events. Names should be a product of successfully implemented political standards and not the way around. This is the open society and western culture. This is the real message of United States Ambassador in Albania.
For everyone that reads it differently is the right moment to reflect that United States diplomats do not engage in personal vendetta nor have personal interest in their noble duties. They are raised in their carriers and positions by their professional integrity and undisputed moral values necessary to be a United States Representative. They are a product of the very standards of their institutions, the standards we would like to see in all Albanian politics, institutions, and society.