The illusion of power that comes from above

By Ylli Pata

The warped algorithm of public opinion that declared Edi Rama’s resignation is not something that happened only today.

For more than a year it has circulated in opposition opinion and among the proxy revolutionaries of the flamingos. The overthrow thesis is in fact nothing new in Albanian politics, since it has been used in the past as a version pushed by factors and actors who are not only inside the country.

In all cases, this thesis — the top-down assault on political power — has produced only traumatic results. Without resolving any political issue, and even opening other, bigger wounds.

The attack that justice is waging on the government is openly not a linear operation, not a procedural act, but simply a targeted operation to achieve a political goal.

A political goal that hides within itself another political goal, which, it must be said, has long been rumored in public opinion.

Today, after Edi Rama, the most popular man in public is the former head of SPAK, whose descent into politics may be seen by some factors and actors as an opportunity to carry out the famous rotation.

But politics is not a lightning operation, not a security measure or a reality show where you win popularity overnight.

Politics is a process, where victory and defeat walk together along a road of turns and climbs. Politics, even though it looks simple, is not created from above, since it comes as a complex organization on the ground. There is a well-known model in this field, close to us, and it is Italy.

Antonio di Pietro, the well-known prosecutor of the “Mani Pulite” group, had one objective, which everyone said was his obsession: to reach Bettino Craxi, the former prime minister of Italy and leader of the Italian Socialist Party. This happened after he managed to put the cream of Italian industry in pre-trial detention, demanding that they testify about the bribes given to the main governing parties, especially the Socialist Party. The cream of Italian industry was locked up in Milan’s notorious San Vittore prison, where a large number of suicides occurred. This caused great trauma in public opinion and created the first dilemmas about Mani Pulite. Di Pietro’s aggressive operations then produced attacks against him, as problems he had had while working in the police were made public. Under heavy attack, Antonio Di Pietro left the prosecution and entered politics.

But the popularity he had as a prosecutor was not rewarded in politics, so he did not stay long and withdrew. This has a reason: people may support an action, an undertaking when it appears clear, without a hidden agenda or secondary purpose.

There is nothing wrong with a man of justice entering politics, with his reputation and professional baggage; but there he must start from scratch.