Protest Memes Bring Political Satire to Albania’s Streets

Placards bearing satirical messages have enlivened mass protests in the Albanian capital Tirana demanding the cancellation of a controversial tourist resort project linked to Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. They are also calling for the resignation of Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has strongly backed the scheme.

A placard (right) shows Prime Minister Edi Rama, claiming he has been criticising pro-protest influencers “because he can’t silence them the way he can silence the media”. Photo: EPA/MALTON DIBRA.

Sparked by environmental concerns about the displacement of wildlife for the planned luxury tourist complex on Sazan island, flamingos have become a key emblem – hence the nicknaming of the protests as the “Flamingo Revolution”.

A placard mocks Ivanka Trump, wife of Jared Kushner, over her support for the resort project. Photo: EPA/MALTON DIBRA.

Some of the messages displayed on placards poke fun at Kushner’s wife Ivanka Trump, a vocal advocate of the upscale island idyll.  But they also mock what protesters see as entrenched, old-style politicians such as Rama and the opposition Democratic Party leader, Sali Berisha.

A picture of Prime Minister Edi Rama with the words: “The final thief.” Photo: EPA/MALTON DIBRA.

Rama, who has refused to cancel the resort project, has dismissed what he calls “meme-mania”, but Albanian media freedom activist Blerjana Bino believes that the caricatures expose political absurdities and highlight demands for accountability from the government.

A placard showing a flamingo in a traditional Albanian cap toting a rifle and saying: “Don’t you dare.” Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN.

“At its core, a protest meme does what political caricature has historically done: it takes a serious situation, reduces it to a recognisable image, joke, or symbol, and through irony exposes the contradiction, arrogance or absurdity that protesters perceive in the powerful,” Bino told BIRN.

A placard reading: “Careful Ivanka doesn’t see Lake Shkodra, or she’ll take our carp too.” Photo: LSA.

The placard-borne mini-satires play well in the social media era, Bino argued. “A meme placard can communicate faster than a long political statement, because it uses cultural codes that people immediately recognise,” she said.

Protest placards with the slogans “When students rise up, the state trembles” and “Rama to prison! Berisha to prison!” Photo: EPA/MALTON DIBRA.

Communications lecturer Ervin Goci noted that while these slogans are being disseminated online, they gain their power from being displayed in public. “Even though they circulate online, that circulation functions more as a roundabout to bring people into the square, into a digital-physical community,” Goci said.

A caricature of Edi Rama with the slogan “We believed he was an idealist, he turned out to be an illusionist.” Photo: Fjori Sinoruka/BIRN.