Two days ago, one worker was killed and several injured during an explosion at a refinery in Ballsh, recently reopened by the government after it was bought by foreign investors.
After another day of heavy rainfall, 1000 ha (2500 acres) of farmland are reported to be flooded, with many power outages around the country. Several roads have been blocked and dozens of people have been evacuated.
At the same time, President Bujar Nishani convened the National Security Council to address the problem of the massive cannabis production. According to the recent progress report of the European Commission, Albania’s response to organized crime remains largely ineffective, and corruption levels remain high.
One would expect a prime minister of any country to be leading the effort to protect the factory workers, lead the evacuation and rebuilding efforts, and address the crisis of organized crime heads on.
Not our prime minister.
In the midst of these crises, Prime Minister Edi Rama left Albania to attend a gallery opening of his own work at Marian Goodman Gallery in Albania on November 11, as well as talk with artist Rirkrit Tiravanija and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist the day after.
In spite of the fact that this talk was supposed to be about his work, Edi Rama used the opportunity to propagate the good works of his own government, and to once again admit that he doodles in Council of Minister meetings when he doesn’t understand what is going on.
During the Q&A session, art historian Eriola Pira questioned the motives behind Rama’s solo show, addressing the issue of whether those present, including Obrist and Tiravanija, were aware of the actual political situation in Albania, the criminalization of its institutions, the imprisonment of those who express dissent, the wholesale destruction of independent media, and the employment of his art practice as a form of propaganda.
The answer of Rama was typical for the arrogance with which he interprets any nod or handshake from the international community as a full endorsement of his own policies:
Albania got a few days ago the recommendation of the European Commission (EC) to start accession talks to the European Union. This is not very simple and not all what the country was imagining. If the EC, which is not known as this kind of beast, has swallowed all that you said, than truly the problem is very global. But it’s very simple: you don’t get it. They get it. You don’t get it. How could the EC open negotiations with a country that you described.
Rama then added, turning himself directly to Pira:
And by the way, the EC valued our freedom of speech, so you will be a safe person in our country, even after what you said.
The audience laughed away the implicit threat.
Linda Pellegrini, press officer of Marian Goodman Gallery did not return any answer to questions of Exit as regards the details of Edi Rama’s exhibition. She stated that “we are an art gallery and we are not engaged in political bias and perspective. This is an exhibition.”
