Interestingly the change-over in 1991 is described by many as the ‘arrival of democracy’, but there is little perception of improvements and less of having much say in the way the country is run. And what do they understand by democracy? A question not only for Albania.
There are particularities of fear in a post-communist Europe bewildered by the demands of neoliberalism, which also tap into a legacy of aversion matured during Communism.
On 21 January, three people died when the Republican Guard opened fire on protesters in front of the Prime Minister’s office. This is taking place in Europe
Albania’s iron communist regime survived until 1990, five years after the death of its great dictator, Enver Hoxha. But the country’s political path since then is full of unburied ghosts, says Bernd Fischer.
Hoxha's bunkers remind Albanian's of the destructive paranoia of their recent past. But they are being re-used and rediscovered by a generation for whom that history is now ancient
