Where this was said
The Flamingo Revolution: Protests Erupt and Grow
At 7:51 · chapter starts 7:00
The protests — now dubbed the Flamingo Revolution — evolved with stunning speed [1] — Jakob Weissmann "What began as a few hundred environmentalists grew to 100,000–200,000 people in the streets — with diaspora Albanians driving in from the U…" 06:43 . Weissmann traces their arc from a few hundred civil society activists to daily demonstrations of tens of thousands. By the time he arrived in Albania, crowds had grown from 10,000 to 20,000 and were still swelling — eventually reaching an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 participants, a staggering figure in a country of only 2.4 million. Albanians from the diaspora were driving in from the UK, Belgium, and Germany. And the movement's demands had expanded far beyond the resort: protesters were calling for better healthcare, better schools, and — most pointedly — for Prime Minister Rama to leave. A single environmental trigger had become the match that lit years of accumulated grievance.
Albania endured a brutal communist regime for approximately 50 years under Enver Hoxha, who executed thousands and kept the country hermetically sealed from the outside world.
For over 50 years, Albanians couldn't talk to foreigners, leave their country, or dissent. Enver Hoxha executed thousands and kept the country hermetically sealed. That history of imprisonment makes foreign ownership of their land feel like a second invasion.
