“The farther you stay from politics, the more havoc politics will create. Together you can make a difference in everyday life. Politics often epitomizes the abuse of political passion. It is needed the political commitment, not of politicians but of the citizens, because it inspires critical thinking, promotes a joint decision-making, ” Rama said.

It is ok to dislike the politicians, according to him, but it should not lead to the deadlock of losing the confidence in politics itself, nor to the trap that all politicians are the same.

“Think how many welcome things in the long journey of human society would never have happened without politics. Without politics there would be no peace that brought the EU to life, after the fiercest world war that human history has ever seen. There would be neither independent Albania nor independent Kosovo. The hands of politics tore down, but also built the Berlin Wall,” Rama said.

Let us not forget, he said, how politics has given some the means to oppress, others politics has given the means to put oppression to an end, it depends on who uses these means.
Rama brought to attention the student protest of 2018. “The only political protest without politicians at the helm, from that of the ’90s that cleared the way for political pluralism in Albania,” he said.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Rama also touched on the January 8 protest of the Democratic Party, saying that that day the Democratic Party was reduced to a ‘reality show.’

“What we witnessed on January 8, not even 1 kilometer from here, in the yard of a party that was reduced to a site of filming a ‘reality show’ with real politicians but fleeing back in time, somewhere in the Middle Ages and the party building turned into the castle with some fighting to take it over, others fighting not to give it up, ” said Rama.

“I want to share my conviction with you, that despite the politics that is real, that blows winds against politics, and beyond the barrage of LIKEs and clicks from a non-stop bombardment with news, comments, statements and denunciations, politics remains inalienable and irreplaceable for the democratic coexistence of the people, economic and social progress, for peace and security,” said Rama.
/sm/