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ANALYSIS: From the government, the opposition, the media to civil society: Lessons to be learned from the protests

2026-07-03 23:07:55Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA LUTFI DERVISHI
Scenes from the protest

This protest happened and we saw it!

A protest is not simply a list of accusations against the government. When it lasts more than a month, when it gathers people beyond traditional lines, and when it refuses to become the property of a party, it turns into something else: a test for everyone. Not only for the one who opposes it, but also for those who claim to be its alternative.

This protest is not simply giving public actors a "chance", but is putting them in front of a mirror.

1- The government is showing the limits of its arrogance.

The vote received last year is not a four-year hunting license. A parliamentary majority does not replace social legitimacy, nor does it make it unnecessary to listen to citizens.

When thousands of people go out every evening, without parties, without buses, and without paying, the system cannot blame the dissatisfaction on polls, algorithms, or foreign agents, even though it has tried them all.

2- You are showing the traditional opposition something that until yesterday seemed unthinkable: the square is not its property.

The protesters did not request membership cards or permits from opposition headquarters. In fact, in many cases, they distanced themselves from them.

If the opposition does not understand why it was rejected, it will have an even harder time convincing citizens that the alternative it offers will be something different from the government it seeks to replace.

3- He is sending the media perhaps the last possible warning.

This protest was also reported mainly through a partisan prism, pro or con, often according to who was paying the bill. Citizens noticed.

Credibility is not restored by turning the tables in a day. It only takes one piece of news to lose it and it takes years to gain it. It must be understood that the square is not against journalists, but against the "media product"

This 34-day period was a test for the media. How well the media passed it, the audience will tell in six months.

4- It is showing big business that capitalism without social responsibility is self-destructive.

A sustainable economy cannot be built on an impoverished and unhappy society.

Business that has grown on monopolies, concessions, favors, and state capture has not built sustainable capital, but dependence. And dependence on favors becomes especially dangerous precisely when the state begins to fear its own citizens.

5- It is reminding civil society of the distance between the project and the problem.

Organizations that have worked for years for democracy, transparency, accountability, and good governance often found themselves outside a movement that demanded precisely these things.

Perhaps because the language of projects is one thing and the language of problems is another. It's one thing to talk about civic participation in a hotel room and another to recognize it when it appears, uninvited, in the square.

6- The police are reminded that uniforms are not a guarantee of immunity.

The way a peaceful protest is managed, communication, proportionality, self-restraint and respect for the citizen, become part of the collective memory.

A police officer who protects the state by respecting the citizen gains authority. A police officer who is used as an instrument of political pressure may win a street fight, but loses something much harder to regain: trust.

7- You are asking the question of justice that it cannot avoid indefinitely.

When will the files on publicly known issues, questionable contracts, decisions made outside of procedures, and flagrant violations of law and logic be ready?

SPAK is not obliged to the square and should not be rushed by the pressure of the street. Justice dictated by the crowd is not justice, but even the slow investigation, by candlelight, for crimes committed in broad daylight, makes the question increasingly legitimate: who benefits from the delay?

8- It is offering the new parties the most difficult test: not to become like the old ones.

The first signs are not always encouraging; even among the new voices, old reflexes appear: the search for a savior leader, emotional rhetoric without a program, the personalization of the movement, and the temptation of the cult of the leader.

Change is not evidenced by a new logo or a new age leader. It is evidenced when the number two figure of a movement, if there is one, can challenge the number one figure and survive politically.

9- This 34-day period is showing the protesters themselves that anger can turn into resistance.

But resistance without organization and without a negotiating structure has an expiration date. The demands exist. The way to impose them is not yet clear. The square can produce pressure, but pressure that does not achieve concrete results, over time, produces fatigue and weariness.

After the courage to take the stage, comes another courage, perhaps even more difficult: organizing.

10- And it is showing the entire system, without exception, that the cost of indifference has increased.

Not every protest brings down a government. The history of the Albanian transition is a testament to this. But the success of a protest is not measured solely by the mechanical overthrow of a government, especially if it is replaced by another one that governs in the same way.

Success is also measured by the increasing cost of arrogance and lack of accountability.

It is measured by the fact that, next time, anyone who makes a decision on behalf of citizens should know that the price of arrogance is no longer zero.

SP

Whatever path this movement takes, partial reform, change of government, or silent consumption, one thing has already happened and is difficult to reverse: collective expectations have changed.

Not yet the institutions, not yet the way of governance, but the expectation.

The people who took to the streets for 34 consecutive nights have learned something about themselves that the system cannot easily unlearn: that they can come out, they can stay, and they can disobey when told that everything will be fine. The protest may close, it may diminish, but what is certain is that it can return in other forms, on other issues, and at a higher cost to those who choose to ignore it.


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