"Pluralism is my child"/ Sali Berisha's emotional speech in front of DP's National Council

by Sali Berisha*

We gather today at one of the most critical moments, perhaps the most crucial moment in the history of political pluralism in Albania. In the moments of the beginning of our irreversible and decisive battle for the salvation of Albania, the real opposition, political pluralism as the engine of existence and development of a free society.

Karl Marx, the idol of Edi Rama's cruel fathers, but also Edi Rama's crypto-idol, said 160 years ago an expression: the meaning of peace is the absence of opposition. For the chief philosopher of terrorism, peace was a dictatorship, and in this context, based on this inhumane principle, Enver Hoxha transformed the liberation war into a civil war. He shot the parliamentary opposition in 1946 and then thousands and thousands of Albanian citizens who dared to oppose his oppressive policy.

Albanians without opposition experienced a triple dictatorship like no other country: the class war, the tyranny of hunger and misery, the dictatorship of isolation.

I stopped because no one should know better than us what it means to be a nation without opposition. A country without opposition lives in its darkest night.

But, likewise, in those years of Karl Marx's 'peace,' the national interest was kicked in the most unworthy way. All this was accomplished because all the powers were concentrated in the hands of one man.

Where are we today? What is the situation? Today, we don't have concentration camps; today, we don't have firing squads hypercollectivism. So, Albania is not what it was, of the communist doctrine and dictatorship. However, today, Albania is again in a tyranny; it is in a real and undeniable dictatorship because today, in Albania, a single man controls all the powers.

Today, Edi Rama controls the executive, legislative, and judicial power, the so-called independent agencies, and the economy, while his oligarchs control the media.

Today, Edi Rama, just like Enver Hoxha, has declared the opposition an enemy and enemies to eliminate, of course not with firearm bullets, but with other annihilating bullets, to put it under complete control.

Today, the dictatorship of Edi Rama controls the vote to the greatest extent that he needs, with the gigantic machinery of citizens' fear. With the red communist phalanxes of the patronageists, with the serial killers of the gangs, he controls and dictates the will of the Albanians.

With the machinery of the gigantic vote-buying industry, hundreds and thousands of Albanians sell the right to vote or vote. All these have one goal: the elimination of the opposition. Edi Rama considers all these, his stolen votes, bullets for the opposition. The same thing happens with property today. People did not understand, and PD did not do its duty. The law of strategic investments is the law of confiscation of properties in all areas that may have a touristic value, from Cape Stillo to Velipoja, from Çajupi to the depths of the Alps. Wherever the dictator wants, he confiscates them and uses them for his mafia.

Edi Rama does not have State Security, but he has a SKAP, the secret police, and the state police, all of which are oriented toward an internal enemy, and that is the opposition. They work day and night on the mission against the opposition.

Today, like before, Enver Hoxha, who agreed with Tito for Kosovo, has turned Tirana into a second Belgrade for Kosovo. In an anti-national effort, every day, he plots, attacks, and does everything for the project of Serbian independence of Aleksandar Vučić at a time when Kosovo is an independent country, at a time when Kosovo is going through difficulties, but much better than Albania.

Edi Rama does everything to destabilize it. Communism created a terrible human reserve, while Edi Rama created a human desert in Albania.

But Edi Rama has got stuck in the nail saw. If Enver Hoxha overthrew the opposition with bullets, this one again, despite the most significant efforts he has made, has not succeeded in destroying the opposition.

This story for which we are here today begins in April 2021, when the elections were closed on the table, despite the rivers of sweat that the noble opposition people poured into those elections for the victory of democracy.

Edi Rama closed the government after April 25 with Lulzim Pengu. The latter, caught with the file that Edi Rama was holding, sold the elections and, in the end, sent his people to get Sali Berisha's bridge for co-governance. That day, if I had accepted that deal, today, I would not be non-grata; I would not have my son-in-law unjustly in prison. But how could I accept this?

This shopping with Edi Rama would be a stab in the back of the heart of Albanians. This deal with Edi Rama would be the death of the opposition, signing to destroy the nation.

Pluralism is my child, the child of all those who fought in the 90s for the collapse of the dictatorship. I could never make such a compromise to annihilate the pluralism we brought in the 90s.

After I categorically rejected this proposal to the people of Brava, Edi Rama added another bullet to the opposition. Like Enver Hoxha towards the opposition of '45, in 2021, Edi Rama tried to annihilate Sali Berisha politically, this time with the bullet of lobbying; he contacted McGonigal with manipulative and corrupt mechanisms. Sali Berisha is designed non grata.

I'm stopping here, as today McGonigal pleaded guilty to the Albanian dossier. He is behind bars, and in addition, there is a report on my website of the so-called evidence that was used for my non grata, which you can download and see, as it originates from Edi Rama, Lulzim Brava, and the media financed by Soros.

After failing with this action, Edi Rama added another bullet to the opposition; this time, in 2023, he shot its identity. The opposition, by court decision, was denied the right to use its 32-year-old logo on the ballot; it was forbidden to place Sali Berisha's name on the ballot, as well as to erase the identity; the Nazis used this practice in concentration camps. When imprisoned Jews were denied the right to have a name, they were assigned a number to destroy their identity. Because if you're going to destroy a person, you're going to destroy a political force, in our case, annihilate their identity.

Edi Rama failed again because 600 thousands Albanians voted for the real opposition, saving Albania from absolute dictatorship. I remind you that with the measures taken for the electoral farce, Rama had calculated that we would come out with a handful of votes or not participate in the elections.

It was this failure of Edi Rama that brought us to today. Of course, the opposition had consequences from this aggression. Still, after the difficulties it went through, it managed and promoted the unification process, and in the end, in the last weeks, united, we started the battle without return as the opposition until the overthrow of Edi Rama.  

Edi Rama tried once again to annihilate the opposition; that is, he wanted to appoint us the group's chairman, and he tried to disintegrate our group. All these failed. We in the Parliament made the most potent oath after '46: we will not leave that Parliament without the return of pluralism.

This is our pledge to all Albanian democrats.

The response he received from the united opposition, as you saw last week, forced Edi Rama to lower the lights of the Assembly to cancel the session. He was very alarmed, so we must assure him that if he dimmed the lights of the Assembly last week, we would soon dim the government's lights and give him the place he deserves.

After that, he used the next volley again, but this time with the dacibao of the party's Scap. But here I will stop to say two words, not because of the importance, but because it is the development of the last days.

I named the file against Sali Berisha dacibao. Dacibao is a lightning bolt that targets someone by order from above. They spread during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the darkest period in human history, after the Second World War.

Let's be clear: I was President for five years and prime Minister for eight years. Being the Prime Minister and President for 13 years, your first and most crucial instinct is the Constitution and the law because you live from morning to dinner on the Constitution and the laws. With this sensitivity that I have towards the law, I guarantee you that I will respect any investigation that they will carry out for me, which they have done in the past as well.

But how can I not say dacibao when, in 200 pages, not a single piece of evidence is presented, not a single fact that I or Jamarbër Malltezi have violated even one law? The only law violated in that dacibao turns out to be the Urban Planning Law violated by Edi Rama.

In 200 pages, there are only doubts based on practices that are, without exception, in full compliance with the law, and the file itself shows this.

How can I not say dacibao when Skap, who is supposed to guarantee the law, violates the supreme law, above all, the Constitution of Albania? They knew the procedures, but they implemented the orders, and with the orders implemented, they decided to remove me without first going through the Assembly. I, if the procedure were to be followed, go absolutely at any moment, whenever the justice authorities call me.

I requested, in 2012, to remove the immunity of deputies, but I cannot become a collaborator with SPAK in violation of the Constitution. This is like asking a man to change his religious beliefs. I don't change mine.

We voted for SPAK to guarantee respect for the law, not to give it authority over the law; otherwise, we are dealing with a bandit Republic of vassal prosecutors. This will never happen.

They ask me to violate the Constitution through constitutional procedure because, in Edi Rama's mentality, it does not protect the opposition enemy but only the governors and government deputies. Therefore, when for a government deputy, based on a file received from the Italian Anti-Mafia, for connection with drug trafficking clans, or theft with incinerators, etc., by the Constitution, the party's Cabinet requests the authorization of the Parliament to proceed against theirs.

But in the case of the opposition enemy, the Constitution does not exist; for the enemy, there is no constitution and laws that prevent the fight against him, so Skapi and the famous court of the party impose sanctions that the Constitution does not allow without obtaining the approval of the Parliament.

I guarantee you that those who started the 'process of the century' will face the trial of the century against them. I will do that trial in the streets and squares of Albania; from that trial, they will emerge victorious, as they are.

They entered this process because they saw that the non-grata did not work, and now they thought we were lining up some evidence.

However, it only took a few days for 70% of public opinion to dismiss them with disdain, as slander, as fabrications worthy only of Rama and his gang.

This process is just the next bullet in a volley that has started against the opposition in 2021, when we, with our positions, broke Edi Rama's dream to control the last institution that he has not brought under control and will not be able never to decide, DP and the opposition of Albania.

Political processes have not been unusual, but they have always won the right politicians, the political forces who were right. In this context, I guarantee Edi Rama that he will take the shame with all this effort, this prey that he makes against the Albanian opposition.

From now on, the name of Sali Berisha has started to change in ways that I had not imagined. Fantasy leads people to think that it was Skapi himself who instigated his martyrdom. But can I do such an act? No, I don't, but their fear.

Why did I stop here? I made this clarification. Since this last attack had only one purpose, apart from political spectacle and media noise, the purpose of this process was to decide, to scare the opposition, the opposition action, to ball it, to curb in one way or another the battle without return that we started in the Albanian Parliament.

It is required to complex the opposition. We had predetermined on the agenda the most robust, deserved responses to the regime. We decided before this that the battle started from the Parliament and spread throughout Albania and settled in Tirana until the final fall of Edi Rama.

This agenda terrified Edi Rama, and he believed that with a dacibao, he could divert the Albanian opposition.

Fortunately, the opposition will never be able to be manipulated again. If Sali Berisha did not want to be attacked politically, he would have accepted the co-governance proposal two years ago, and today, he would be on the side of Rama-Brava. I was convinced when I made my decision; I am convinced today in our victory, I am convinced today that the Democrats, that the opposition, will triumph.

We went through a difficult period, but the difficulties, the sacrifices, and the suffering only temper them, strengthen them, make people more determined, and today, after two years, we are much more committed than two years ago.

There is no Albanian who does not benefit from rotation.

Therefore, our strategy is this: the united opposition will continue the battle without returning to the Parliament, but at the same time, we will start the dialogue with all these aggressed segments; beyond the opposition, we will unite them in our movement.

We will extend the battle that we started in the Parliament, in the squares, streets, and alleys of Albania in sustainable resistance without return, without compromise.

This union will be the opposition front, the coalition of Albanians who want to remove Edi Rama.

From now until 2025, the lion will be wise and face the hyenas who thought they could throw a second dictatorship at the Albanians.

The lion, you, will overthrow them!

You have sacrifices to make because the dialogue will be constant, the objections we will receive will be fierce, there will be many, and we will be tested in different ways. But what alternative do we have?

The problems of the opposition people today are more significant than the sacrifices required to save Albania.

Therefore, this is the only path we have, the mission that fate has assigned to us.

Many may become demoralized and say that good people, honest people, have fled to emigration.

There is no greater deception. The Albanian life cell, with the DNA that seeks the salvation of Albania, is found in Albania, it is found in emigration, it is found in the diaspora.

We will all unite to save Albania.

The silent majority, the majority of Albanians today, are against the regime but remain silent.

Well, many people love Albania and are against the regime. We are the majority.

But, at the moment, this majority is not united, and we do not win if we are not united.

He is naive or inexperienced and thinks this.

But, together, in an alliance of diversity, where we put aside our differences, we join in the mission to save Albania; we not only overthrow Edi Rama, but we have the transformative power for Albania's destiny.

Let's make Albanians live instead of surviving.

To transform their misery into hope for their future.

We can do this. We proved with our party that those who think differently, those who are against us, have a place to achieve the best.

With this example, we will start the configuration of the Opposition Front to save Albania.

The so-called Alliance of Stinks, headed by its head, was created to overthrow Sali Berisha.

This alliance governed Albania for ten years; that's why we are in this situation.

Imagine for a moment an alliance of those who love Albania, a coalition of idealists, what this unique movement can achieve in a very short time.

To get there, we must first show ourselves worthy and consolidate the DP union, which, for the sake of truth, has happened.

Let's prove that we take this battle very seriously.

From here, we open the gates to welcome into our family the most prominent opposition front Albania has seen.

This alliance will finally show that the transition ran away from Albania, that we finally left behind the communist mentality and embraced the European psyche, where in diversity, we unite for the national interest, we react to injustices, that we stand up for the nation.

This will happen. This is inevitable.

Edi Rama has understood this, so he takes desperate measures to stop this momentum, this jerk, this alliance.

Tried to annihilate me politically with McGonigal, to prevent that, failed miserably, for fate favors idealists.

You saw that, like any rebuke, it was true when McGonigal was arrested. Now he's trying jail time and other stays.

Once again, I remind them that the trial of the century awaits Sali Berisha and the Albanian democrats.

Before exhausting these means, he and every man should be clear and not forget that ideals are neither declared non-grata, imprisoned, nor killed.

Therefore, the alliance of ideals of this opposition front will save Albania.

Friends, once again, I appeal to you not to be distracted by Rama's dacibao!

Albania today is a tearful country; the nation is tearful because it has lost 35 percent of its sons in 10 years. Today, we are a tearful nation where pluralism has been destroyed. We are a tearful nation that young people have not come here. We are a tearful nation because we have been robbed to the core in the last ten years. We are a tearful nation because our government has betrayed the Albanians of Kosovo.

Where will this suffering nation find a solution? To the government? No, she brought him to this state. To justice? No, she is a tool in the hands of the government.

He expects this only from the mission of the great missionaries, the mission of the democrats.

The only hope left for the Albanians is the opposition.

We are the only ones who are fighting for them today.

This truth is a chilling revelation for any of us.

Only we are the solution for those tearful mothers separated from their children in emigration.

Because we are the hope for young people, who have been dulled by the reality they live in.

We are the only hope for those heartbroken parents who can't make ends meet.

Only we are the hope to save political pluralism.

Just because we are the last hope of Albanians, we fight fiercely.

That's why our party logo is stolen, that's why they block us in the Parliament, that's why they issue lightning sheets for the opposition leader.

But can these low attacks demoralize us? No never!

Don't forget, we are the last hope of Albanians.

Therefore, our response will be 10-fold in the Assembly, 10-fold our action with the citizens, 10-fold our dialogue with each other, ten times more united in the squares, 10-fold the massiveness of our protests, 10- 2x our durability, 10x our responsiveness.

Because this is the only way we bring the Albanians out of despair; this is the only way this anti-Albanian and criminal government will be overthrown.

This is the only way to save Albania from this new dictatorship.

Long live Albania!

*Speech given at the National Council of DP