Instead of a profile/ Florian Binaj – the artist that Tirana has missed

Armand Maho

The candidacy of a profile like Florian Binaj can be said with full confidence that it is a novelty for the Albanian reality. It has never happened in these 34 years that a political force has supported a completely independent candidacy, without first testing him for political "loyalty" to it.

Even Edi Rama, who was thought to be a novelty in 2000, when he took over the Mayor's office, was not like that at all. He was neither independent nor non-partisan. Nano knew that, despite the bohemian life he had experienced on the streets of Paris, he was nothing more than a crazy careerist. With the idea that he could use him as an 'attack dog' against the opposition of the time, he took him and raised him to the highest peaks of politics, until "his dog" finally turned his teeth to "kill" him politically.

Rama had previously attempted to enter politics, trying to infiltrate the right, in an attempt that proved unsuccessful in the early 1990s.

While Florian Binaj's profile is completely different. It has been built on his own, based on his work and activism. So, Binaj has not need either Berisha or Rama. In fact, he has had more meetings and assessments from the latter - a long-standing strategy of the prime minister to lure every opposing voice in this country.

Well, knowing Rama, Binaj could have become a strategic investor, or a deputy or mayor in a small town whenever he wanted, because he had examples. Wasn't it Luftar Paja's son, Erjoni of Erseka, who benefited quite a bit from power? And others and others that we are not mentioning, who have received funds in bags from Erion Veliaj and Rama himself for the services they have rendered.

This would be the easiest way.

Binaj, like few of his kind, stayed away from this temptation. Instead, he chose the more difficult path – that of opposing what he considered unjust. Instead of being an extension of power, he decided to confront it, of course, to the best of his ability.

He realized that the problems of Tirana, the city where he raised his family, could not be solved by serving Rama, but by confronting him.

Binaj does not belong to any political wing. He is the type of individual who does not care what Rama or Berisha says, but wants things to go as they should. He represents that never-represented part, which has stayed away from politics, but has never hesitated to raise its voice against evil. Sometimes with humor, with a loudspeaker in hand, he has done what he believed in - without gaining anything and without asking for anything in return.

Seeing it through this prism, he has taken the initiative to confront Edi Rama himself, and to amortize as much as he can this unfortunate accident that has been "hurting" us since 2013.

Of course, it is difficult to confront a government that has based its philosophy on theft, organized crime, and all kinds of bandits.

Flori, alone in such a candidacy, would never have succeeded. The Democratic Party, its leader Berisha, and the opposition as a whole, have done nothing but support the narrative of a young man who has proven successful in his profession, successful in his family and community, who seeks a better city, freed from the interests of a man obsessed with power and money. Of course, it is also a smart political move.

For the rest, Flori has shown that he values ​​nothing more than his freedom, as he said in a television interview.

He was one of the first who did not submit to the dictates of a director. He was one of the few artists who did not sell out to the power of Rama and Veliaj, although he could have done so whenever he wanted. And he is one of the few today who raises his voice against oppression, from whatever political wing.

Seen through this prism, Binaj is a hit candidate, even though leftist patronage figures, servants of power, and even quite a few careerists, with or without opposition ties, keep their guns raised to attack him.

Let's see if those who justify their "abstention" by claiming that they "have no alternative" will choose this time. Because there is no better alternative than Flor Binaj for Tirana.