ALBANIA — A NATION FADING AWAY IN SILENCE Flamur Bucpapaj Editorial for RTV Nacional

Albania is not collapsing with noise. There are no tanks in the streets, no declarations of war, no bombings. Its downfall is silent, slow, yet ruthless. It happens every day through emigration, poverty, injustice, and a power that never leaves.
In this country, the absurd has been normalized:
one man remains in power for 30 years, while an entire people is forced to live in exile, or to survive in inhuman conditions within its own borders. This is no longer a matter of ideology or party politics. It is a matter of national existence.
30 YEARS OF POWER: FROM GOVERNANCE TO CASTE
In every democratic society, power is temporary. In Albania, power has become property. Thirty years of political dominance—direct or indirect—have created a reality in which:
the state does not change,
elites are not renewed,
accountability disappears.
When power lasts that long, it no longer governs—it rules.
The capture of institutions
Institutions are no longer independent. Courts, administration, media, the economy—all are tied to political power. The law does not act against the powerful, only against the weak.
Formal democracy
Elections exist, but real choice is absent. The people vote, but they do not decide. Slogans change, not the system.
This condition produces a state that serves power, not the citizen.
A DIVIDED SOCIETY: THE RULERS AND THE DEPARTED
Albania today is a society fractured into unequal layers—not only economically, but existentially.
The ruling class (1–3%)
A small minority that:
controls national wealth,
benefits from concessions and corruption,
lives detached from the reality of the majority.
This class does not feel the crisis. It has villas, bank accounts, private healthcare, and absolute security.
The class of fear (15–20%)
Administrators, teachers, doctors, professionals who:
remain silent to avoid losing their jobs,
see injustice but do not speak,
survive without dignity.
This class keeps the system standing through its silence.
The abandoned class (70%+)
Workers, pensioners, youth, farmers, emigrants. They are:
without security,
without protection,
without a future.
They either leave—or fade away slowly.
A STATE THAT FAILS TO PERFORM BASIC FUNCTIONS
A state exists only if it fulfills its fundamental duties. Albania fails in almost every aspect.
The army and security
Without a functional army, there is no real sovereignty. Albania has formal structures, but no real defensive power. This makes the state dependent and vulnerable.
Healthcare: life for sale
Public hospitals are poor, overcrowded, often inhumane. Health has become a commodity. Those who have no money have no life.
Education: diploma factories
Schools and universities do not produce capable citizens, but consumers of disappointment. Talent leaves the country; mediocrity remains.
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES: DEPOPULATION AND SILENT DEATH
Mass depopulation
Empty villages, aging cities, fragmented families. Albania is losing its young generations. This is not migration—it is collective escape.
Dying for bread
People die:
on construction sites without safety,
in hospitals without medicine,
in extreme poverty.
This is structural violence, not coincidence.
The destruction of trust
When the state does not function, society disintegrates. The law is not respected because it is not just. Solidarity disappears.
ARE WE A SHEPHERD PEOPLE OR A BETRAYED PEOPLE?
Albanians work and build everywhere in the world. Only in Albania they cannot. This shows that the problem is not the people, but the system.
We are not a people without values.
We are a people without a functional state.
CAN WE STILL BE A STATE?
A state without an active population, without justice and without hope, is merely a name on the map.
If this condition continues:
Albania will become a territory without a nation,
a formal state without real sovereignty,
a symbolic homeland for emigrants.
TWO PATHS, NO THIRD
Albania stands at a historic crossroads. There is no more time for illusions.
Either radical change: an end to eternal power, real justice, a social state.
Or total depopulation: departure, aging, extinction.
If one man remains in power for 30 years while another leaves or dies for bread, this is not democracy.
It is a historic failure.
And history does not forgive nations that accept injustice as normality.