The smell of tear gas on Desmoret e Kombit Avenue in the center of Tirana has not yet dissipated. A few hours earlier, the heart of the Albanian capital resembled a battlefield. Thousands of citizens, holding pink inflatable flamingos – the iconic symbol of this idiosyncratic uprising – faced a barbed-wire police cordon around the prime minister’s palace. However, in order to understand the real dynamics of this, one must travel hundreds of kilometers away, to the wounded and systematically looted Albanian South.
The setting in the Viosa-Narta lagoon, in the wider region of Avlona, captures the contrasts of modern life. On the one hand, the eerie calm of a unique wetland and on the other, the cold metal of the barbed wire fences of the private security companies. The bulldozers are already at work, leveling protected zones to lay the carpet for the real estate investment company Affinity Partners, interests of the US president’s son-in-law. For anyone who knows the anthropo-geography of the region, it is not a bolt from the blue. It is the culmination of a chronic, mute trauma. For decades, the residents of the South have seen the most beloved beaches of their childhood disappear one after another and turn into entrenched military bases – not only for the needs of the Albanian army, but also in the context of the geostrategic needs of NATO. Today, the loss translates into fast-track tourist resorts for the global financial elite.
Joy Kuta, one of the participants in the “Flamingo Revolution”, with the crowd protesting in the streets in the background
“What prosperity?”
In the shadow of the closed shops of Avlona o Dritan (32 years old, small cafe owner and activist) expresses in the most composed way the frustration of the southern productive class that sees its future mortgaged: “They tell you, ‘investors will come, does this mean economic prosperity? How can you not want that for your country?’ But when in history did this happen? The same investments, the same mega-tourism passed through Bali, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Greece, Thailand that I went to last year. Which of these areas recovered financially? Which peoples saw their quality of life improve? Absolutely no one! In Thailand we saw most of their most famous beaches destroyed. Go in now and google what their once pristine beaches look like. Also come in and see what their salaries are and tell me if you see prosperity. It’s not that we live in the past, we live from tourism. But everything must be done step by step, legally and transparently.”
On the same sidewalk, another protester who participates daily in the mobilizations describes an unprecedented social reality: “For about three weeks now, we have fixed appointments at six o’clock every afternoon. The Albanian people have not shown such persistence and massiveness since the fall of communism. We are not generally a people who go out on the streets, in this Greece or France are more advanced. The marches last until late and we usually return home after midnight. On the street you see everything: pensioners, families with children, people with their pets, of all ages, religions and political beliefs. Never before have I felt so alive and connected to my place. It saddens me, of course, that in the last few days I start to see less people here in the region. In Tirana, fortunately, the gatherings remain massive, despite the fact that the domestic media is doing everything to silence and downplay the true scale of the uprising.”
The background
The story begins when Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trumpvisited the Albanian Riviera by luxury yacht. Fascinated by the pristine landscape, they identified two points of interest: the isolated, uninhabited island of Sazan (a former communist military base) and the Zvernets peninsula in the Viosa-Narta lagoon, a protected sanctuary for rare birds such as pink flamingos and other endangered species.
Private courtship turned with geometric speed into state policy. Immediately after Donald Trump’s re-election to the White House, his Govt Edi Rama expedited the proceedings. The total amount of the investment project reaches the amount of 1.4 to 1.6 billion dollars, making it one of the largest foreign investments in the history of the country. The plan envisages the creation of a pharaonic complex with 10,000 beds, ultra-luxurious hotels, villas, private swimming pools and a marina for yachts.
But where is the scandal that sparked the rebellion?
The Albanian government, in order to satisfy the American investor, hastily passed Law 21/2024, which favored the construction of tourist structures within strictly protected natural areas. In addition, it granted the consortium the status of “strategic investor”. This in practice means: complete exemption from tenders, bypassing of environmental studies, provocative tax exemptions and, most importantly, the ability of the state to expropriate local lands to grant them to foreign oligarchs. The fact that the country’s special anti-corruption prosecution was forced to step in and freeze bank accounts of companies due to forged and fraudulent title deeds to the investment land confirms that the “economic miracle” that Rama is heralding is hollow.
Cross-party overreach
What began as a localized environmental protest in Avlona and Zvernets quickly mutated. Through the power of social media, images of stranded shores acted as the ultimate catalyst. The fury of the periphery was transferred to the capital, which, as the center of political decision-making, assumed the role of the great national speaker.
The most striking element recorded in the streets is the complete collapse of traditional political barriers. The “Flamingo Revolution” achieved the unthinkable given the deeply polarized Albanian society: the inter-party union. Left-wing environmental activists, conservative nationalists, disillusioned voters of the ruling Socialist Party and dynamic university youth coexist on the same sidewalk.
In the heart of the protests in Tirana, Eriola (21 years old, Sociology student) clarifies with absolute clarity the motivations of the new generation: “Many are saying that the Albanian people are against Trump or Kushner. What I want to make clear is that it is not personal or person-centered. We would be just as opposed if it were some other government or some other billionaire. The problem is not who buys our land, but that the people do not agree to sell it. Let alone a protected area, where buying and selling should not even be discussed. But beyond that, all this is the last straw. There are so many other reasons we are on the road. The South has been left to its own devices, often without power and water for days in the countryside. Of course, tourists will never experience this. What we are experiencing is the effect of gentrification and it started with the golden visas that the government gave so generously. When a British family or a digital nomad comes to stay here and build a house, the prices in the area go up. What does this mean? That we the residents have to leave since the place does not fit us. It’s either rebellion or immigration. We do not want to emigrate like our parents who suffered so much. Why is the state trying to give us reasons to leave our country?”
The “bloc” of Brussels
Developments are now running at a pace that the government of Tirana cannot control. The issue has escaped the narrow geographical boundaries of Albania and turned into a European thorn. The intervention of the European Parliament was resounding, which with a harsh, urgent announcement called for an immediate moratorium on all construction projects within protected areas, directly photographing Viosa-Narta. Brussels’ ultimatum is clear. The destruction of ecosystems for the purpose of real estate constitutes a violation of the prerequisite criteria and can completely “freeze” Albania’s accession path to the European Union, jeopardizing the national goal. This uprising carried the tension from the streets directly into the hall of the Albanian parliament. The meetings are taking place in a climate of extreme polarization, with the government politically caught between its commitments to American investors and the risk of a total break with Europe.
