Our cynicism of performance

By Ben Andoni

The mass of scandals that are fed to the public every day has exceeded even the liveliest imagination. SHISH, Rama, SPAK, Corruption and a few other keywords are mentioned endlessly and with such a frequency that they no longer constitute even the smallest surprise. The clash and the recklessness of the institutions continued the chaos also in the latest case with the former head of SHISH, where not only a leak of private conversations was seen, but also the surfacing of an accusation that speaks of a grave offence (the exploitation of the resources of the main National Security Institution, according to the media, by its head and the help given to an arrested businessman). Experts, among many suggestions, added in these days also the fact that besides many things there could have been a careful investigation without exposing the Albanian Intelligence Service before the allies, since this seriously damages Albania’s reputation as a NATO member. And, the seriousness of our state really showed itself weak: to think that the lady received the arrest measure while she was at a meeting in Baku with 70 heads of partner services!

Meanwhile the saga of corruption has no end of names, figures and systematic summonses from SPAK. The problem is not that people no longer believe in Rama, but the system built and maintained by him no longer produces reasons to be believed. And not only his. Many countries have almost the same concern. Decisions are taken in technical subjects (EU Structures, Governments, the World Bank) while the Albanian citizen is called simply and only to vote every 4 years, but the status quo remains. In short, the concept of political philosophy that democracy is made with and for the demos is now truly a “democracy without demos”. Therefore, people trusted in the first weeks with all their energies the “Protest of the Flamingos”, as an attempt to restore to the Albanian citizen, through an organisation in the future, the efficiency of institutions, meritocracy and the public sphere. The paradox we live in today is great: Albania has opened all the chapters with the EU and has closed two of them. There is growth of 3.7% in 2025 and almost as much is forecast in the year 2026, and even foreign investments reaching 1.84 billion euros, but in the Fragility Index it is included among the countries with “moderate stability, institutions under pressure” (Fragile States Index, 2025). Meanwhile, the US State Department’s report continues to emphasise that corruption, money laundering and the weak enforcement of contracts remain the main obstacle to development. The political crisis in Albania is no longer solved even with a technical government (this does not even occur to Rama even after the Flamingos’ four-month insistence) or even with a stronger SPAK, but only if a new form of trust is created; not in a boss or leader; but in the procedure that makes the Albanian feel part of it. This is what anyone who looks at the tiring and exhausting social situation insists on today, gripped by corruption and the brutality of bad news of every kind. “Enlightened cynicism” would the philosopher Žižek call it, when we know and feel that the institutions are corrupt, but we still continue to “believe” in them. This is also the Albanian paradox and chaos today: we are not at all uninformed about what is happening, but we are facing our functional cynicism that is “wonderful”, as long as it is shaken neither by the arrested names, nor the handcuffs, nor the pornographic videos, nor the chaos of these times that exceeds even the liveliest imagination, but we are in the “cynicism of the performance society” (Byung-Chul Han). This cynicism is killing us little by little, every day more. (Javanews)