Students taking part in the massive university protests which are now entering their second week have refused Prime Minister Edi Rama’s invitation to a live Facebook “dialogue,” which the Prime Minister announced for 11:00 today.
In his invitation, the Rama tried to appropriate the student movement, which has explicitly stated that its demands are nonnegotiable and that it will not send any representatives to negotiate them with the government, in his “co-governance platform,” which so far has been a mere propaganda tool for the government.
In a Facebook video, the Prime Minister stated:
I am very convinced this is a golden opportunity to build a co-governance mechanism with the students to address in a multifaceted manner the problem of the crossroads at which the university finds itself. […]
Especially now we have to try a common student–government strategy. To bring this to life, we need a union of the government, students, and teachers that want to exit this vicious circle.
The Prime Minister also opened threatened the students, should they not want to enter in “dialogue” with him:
For me it is the easiest thing to make a political maneuver to close down the protest. Let’s talk through a representation.
Students interviewed by the media regarding Prime Minister Rama’s invitation responded with incredulity:
Is he serious?! All the arrogance we’ve endured from him, so now we’ll be arrogant to him. Take your requests with you, there are no negotiations and there will not be. What the fuck!
And:
We will stay until we’re tired and we’ll never tire. I heard he’ll go live [on Facebook]. I hope it will go well because there won’t be negotiations. Why does he want them when we’ve made clear what we want. What does he want them for, to divide us? Take your dirty hands of propaganda with students!
