[Reader-list] Political Situation in Albania

[Jeebesh]

 From Clara (Meister) to Nico (Dockx)

Subject: Political Situation in Albania

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Berlin 04.05.2010



Dear friends,



since the elections last year I am surprised and disappointed how  
complicated and almost impossible it is to be informed about the  
political situation in Albania. even if you would like to learn more  
you find very few (often not thoroughly researched) articles in German  
(and English). Last weekend the opposition collected more than 200.000  
citizens to peacefully demonstrate against Berisha and to ask for the  
recount of the votes and their democratic right. 200 citizens and 22  
politicians went into hunger strike. All I found in German is just a  
short note. Here, below, is a letter that Anri (Sala) forwarded to me:



Clara (Meister)



Tirana, May 04, 2010
The Hunger Strike Committee Re: Letter to the members of International  
Community and Media

Dear Friends,

We, 22 members of parliament and 200 citizens of Albania, concerned  
about the fate of democracy in our country have decided to engage in  
the ultimate form of peaceful resistance by going on a hunger strike  
in the name of the cornerstone of any democracy: free and fair  
elections.

Our demand is simple: a full and thorough parliamentary inquiry into  
the elections of June 28th 2009, including the opening of the ballot  
boxes and the examination of the electoral material contained therein.  
Our demand is not motivated by a yearning for power, but by the  
aspiration that the next elections are guaranteed against falling prey  
to the same machinations and manipulations

For the last nine months we asked for our constitutional right to  
transparency only to be denied in all our efforts through the  
arrogance of a government that is no longer constrained by the  
Constitution in its actions.

In April 30th, 200,000 Albanians protested in Tirana in the name of  
the transparency of their votes. The same day, we 222 citizens of  
Albania decided to start a hunger strike.

It is not a decision lightly taken, nor are we ignorant of the gravity  
of our course of action. Yet we are no more prepared to give up on  
free and fair elections and democracy in Albania than you would be in  
any of your countries.

We ask only for what you take for granted in your countries: elections  
that are free and fair. No more. No less.

The Hunger Strike Committee





Tirana, 05.05.2010



Thanks Nico, if you can spread it out it helps, Brussels has been  
insensible so far, many greets Anri



Tirana, 07.05.2010



Nico, have a look tomorrow at the opentheboxes page as I am uploading  
now a few interviews from inside the tents. Their voices really need  
to be spread out, it’s in different languages. It’s in the ‘from  
the inside’ link in the page. Hugs, Anri.





Dear Friends,



please check the new link for interviews (filmed by artist Anri Sala)  
with the hunger strikers in Tirana (in english, french, Italian &  
portuguese)

http://www.opentheboxes.com/archive.php



On June 28th 2009, Albania held its parliamentary elections. These  
elections were supposed to mark a watershed moment in the country’s  
democratic transition: a break with the tradition of manipulated and  
contested elections. Unfortunately the story was to repeat itself.

The Socialist led opposition complained about multiple irregularities  
in the electoral process and its claims were supported by the OSCE- 
ODHIR report that observed serious irregularities, the most disturbing  
of which concerned the fact that ballot counting in a full one third  
of the counting centers was bad or very bad. However, all the  
complaints of the opposition were dismissed by the relevant  
institutions, through decisions taken under extreme political pressure  
from the government. Faced with the obstinate denial of its right to  
transparency, a right enshrined in Albania’s constitution, the  
opposition decided to escalate its democratic action: since April  
30th, 200 opposition MPs and ordinary citizens have been camped in  
Tirana’s Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard, engaged in an open ended  
hunger strike in the name of free and fair elections.



Clara (Meister)



Live stream from the camp: www.opentheboxes.com



Support us to get more attention to their cause by forwarding the link  
or by putting us in contact with journalists and bloggers!



contact:

clara at soundfair.net

anrisala at yahoo.com

nicodockx at yahoo.com