The fear of protesting against Kurti

By Berat Buzhala

There is no good in a protest that is made with half a heart.

There is no good in a protest where the protesters do not know against whom they are protesting.

There is no good in a politically correct protest, where everyone is welcome.

Only in church and in mosque do the doors open for everyone.

A protest must have a cause. It must have an address. It must have someone it angers and someone who fears it.

Otherwise, what is it?

George Orwell is credited with the idea that if a published piece of writing does not anger even a single person, then it is not writing, it is marketing.

But what would Orwell have said about a protest that angers no one?

He would have said: that is not a protest.

It is a party.

A party for what?

What would he have said about a protest where the organizer chooses by competition those who will speak, trying to make each of them as harmless as possible, as neutral as possible, as acceptable as possible?

Like those who sell ice cream.

To be liked by everyone.

The organizer must ask himself a very simple question:

What are we trying to do, that we are bringing people out into the streets every evening?

To convince Hashim Thaçi and Kadri Veseli that the people love them?

They know that.

To show that the organizers are doing something?

Fine.

But what?

Since September 17, the Government has been leading you by the nose.

In the end it issued a statement, whose effect was like the effect of holy water:

it neither does you good, nor does you harm.

If by now you have not found the cause of the protest, then stop.

Or clear the square.

Because it makes no sense to bring people out into the streets night after night only to prove that there is a protest.

Boys, you are not serious about this.

The moment you start calculating whose feelings you might hurt, whom you should not mention, which name you should spare and which sentence might sound too political, then that is no longer a protest.

It is an event.

You can bring 100,000 people out into the streets.

But for what?

What do you achieve with it?

Albin Kurti managed to justify himself even when he took to the streets against political processes that led toward Kosovo’s independence.

And you still feel ashamed before Albin Kurti.

Two days before the verdict, Kurti said that Hashim Thaçi and Kadri Veseli should apologize for their vote for the Special Court.

So he has no problem saying clearly what he thinks.

And you?

Hashim Thaçi and Kadri Veseli have staked their bodies on what they believed is a better future for Kosovo.

You may agree or not with their decision.

But they made a decision.

Whereas today, the protest organizers fear to even mention the name of Albin Kurti and Donika Gërvalla when they speak of political responsibility for the stance toward the law changes.

They have several thousand people in the square.

People who have come out there because they expect someone to lead them.

For someone to show them why they are there.

For someone to articulate their anger.

And what do the organizers do?

They bring to the podium someone who sings.

Or someone who speaks in circles.

Donika Gërvalla comes out and says:

“Four accused, four convicted.”

And at the protest no one dares even mention her name.

Then, what kind of protest is this?

If you protest against an injustice, you must show who is producing that injustice.

If you demand a change of a law, you must show who is blocking that change.

If you think the Government is wrong, then say it:

The Government is wrong.

If you think Albin Kurti is wrong, say it:

Albin Kurti is wrong.

If you think Donika Gërvalla is wrong, say it:

Donika Gërvalla is wrong.

That’s it.

A protest is not a beauty contest.

It is not a conference for national reconciliation.

It is not a concert.

And it is not a place where everyone must feel good.

A protest that does not disturb those in power is a protest that suits those in power.

Therefore, decide.

Either call a real protest.

With a cause.

With a demand.

With an address.

With names.

Or clear the square.

Because the people who come out there every night deserve to know what they have come out for.

And, above all, they deserve organizers who are not afraid of Albin Kurti.