By Ditmir Bushati,
Tirana, 21 October 2026, dtt-net.com – As a parent, I stand with the young people who seek a life of dignity in their own homeland. As someone from the academic world, I fully support the students’ demands.
The future will be shaped by the aspirations, defiance, and energy of a generation that refuses to accept what is presented to them as “normal.”
As a citizen, I oppose acts of violence and police brutality.
Whenever Albania has reached a major turning point, young people have led the way toward change. They did so in 1990.
They tried again in 1996, but their demands were ignored, a failure that foreshadowed the horrors of 1997.
For months, Albanian youth have returned to the public squares, displaying a passion unique to this generation. It is not always clearly articulated, and it is rarely disciplined.
The youth demand a new Albania because they reject the normalization of corruption and organized crime in public life; the extreme personalization of power, which treats the homeland as mere spoils; and a model of predatory capitalism that creates an unaffordable cost of living, mass emigration, and social polarization.
The strategy of ignoring the youth’s demands-and the attempt to sow division between “flamingos” and “crows”-has failed. Attempts to categorize young people into “good” and “bad” will not work-nor will the use of threatening language toward them, their parents, or the media. Rubber batons, tear gas, high-pressure water cannons, or financial incentives for police officers cannot extinguish the revolt of a generation that is aware of numerous scandals and lives amidst countless hardships. Even less effective is the attempt to pin the blame on “foreign forces” within a European, deeply pro-American society.
Young people are calling for a new Albania. It is now the duty of teachers, parents, entrepreneurs, workers, academics-and, above all, the Socialist Party-to rise to the challenge demanded by the times.
The Socialist Party must distinguish between what pertains to a specific political moment and what it owes to Albania.
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Ditmir Bushati is former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania (2013- 2019). He previously chaired the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration.
This opinion was published first at his Facebook account.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of dtt-net.com.
