What the left American media framed as the “Flamingo War” against the development of Zvrnec, in Tirana tried to sell it as ecological awakening. But whoever knows the social and economic psychology of Albanians, easily understands the absurdity of this trick: asking a people that has suffered the most brutal communist experiment in Europe to return to neo-Marxist romanticism is simply an inability to read reality.
The beginning of this story had nothing to do with the problems of the Albanians, but the continuation was definitely only for their completely legitimate problems. It was born as an ideological export of the American left radicalism, which used Zvrnec as a ring for its electoral battle against Donald Trump and Jared Kushner. It was a pure instrumentalization of the frame (framing): an emotional symbol like the flamingo was taken to feed the narrative of “hungry capitalism” destroying nature. And this narrative was quickly packaged to be distributed on Tirana’s boulevard.
Naturally, the square was full. But here lies the biggest misunderstanding of the organizers and those who rubbed their hands behind this framework.
Albanians did not come out because they suddenly woke up neo-Marxists or defenders of the economic status-quo. They came out because they have thousands of real problems with everyday life, with the management of public space, with transparency and with trust in institutions. The frame and frame of the flamingo were simply the fuse or instrument that ignited the accumulated discontent to drive people out of the house.
But clinging to the neo-Marxist ecological narrative fails where the logic of Albanian society begins. In his economic DNA, today’s Albanian is deeply pro-capitalist, pro-development and pro-free enterprise. After decades of isolation, forced poverty and state control over every breath, Albanians have once and for all rejected the model that sees development as the enemy and property or capital as a sin. They want jobs, they want investments, they want five and seven star hotels, they want modern infrastructure, private property and they want their country to be part of the global development map.
Our society is overwhelmingly anti-communist in its concept of the economy. Our citizens know well that the protection of the environment and the public interest does not mean the blocking of capital, but its wise management.
Therefore, the attempt of local and foreign neo-Marxists to turn the boulevard protest into a revolution against the free market was overdue. People can use any pretext to protest against the government, but they will never go after those who seek a return to the past in the name of ideological utopias. Albanians can fill the square to demand more justice and accountability, but their strategic choice is clear: they want development, they want capitalism and they want the future.
