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| When I took this picture Nick had already worked 15 hours |
It is 9 PM I am sitting in my favorite restaurant which has
outdoor seating along the quarter mile pedestrian street that is crowded with
the local population sprinkled with the many Western European tourists. Every night at about seven o’clock people
make their way out of their homes where they have stayed to escape the summer
heat. Nicolas is the owner/chef of San
Francisco. He left Albania many years
ago and learned the restaurant business in America. You can guess the city.
He returned here and now works up to
seventeen hours a day, in the kitchen and monitoring the many other tasks
necessary for success in this competitive business. He is one of the Albanians who has adopted me
as his friend and taken me into his circle of trust and generosity. I go often to his restaurant with friends or
just to sip tea or drink a beer while observing the passing crowd or using the
free internet, as I am doing now. Nick will
often take a break and join me. He is
insatiably curious and often comments that he is constantly learning new
things. He brings an entrepreneurial
spirit to Albania and our last conversation was about expanding his
business. As I watch the people walk by
I consider this blog and reach for some of things I have learned here over the
last two months.
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| The favorite restaurant of many PC volunteers and many of the locals. We love to eat on the balcony |
I recently read an article from the Boston Globe that
suggested that depending on the stage of development of a particular country
that stability may be more important than democracy. The article is worth
reading and here is the link.
http://epaper.bostonglobe.com/epaper/viewer.aspx. If you are a frequent reader of my blog you
know that I am fascinated by the concept of stages of development. Stages suggest consistent historical patterns
and predictable direction. Where
are we, where have we been and where are we going? I relate this logic to myself, my country and
my experiences in Albania.
Along the walking street I see young woman escorted by their
mothers as the young men and boys sit at the tables and pretend not to notice
as they frequently glance up. The older
men talk dynamically about politics and economy. I am witness to the dynamic spiral in Albania
where values from different stages are creating heat as they blend like
chemicals in a petri dish. I am
constantly reminded of this same heat and tension when I read news from the US,
or any place else in the world. How else can I explain the
conservative/progressive dysfunction in the US Congress or the treatment of
women in virtually every country I know?
In a more mundane example, my Peace Corps colleagues are often
frustrated and become angry when an Albanian counterpart does not feel the same
urgency about creating or meeting project deadlines.
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| The Pedonale - walking street - you can see the Mosque in the upper right |
Legitimate multiparty democracy only emerged in Albania in
1992 after 50 years of communist rule that was both benevolent and brutal. This emerging democracy suffers from the values
and habits of the past. During Communist party rule the population was not even
allowed to watch western television or listen to western radio. One of my Albanian friends told me of his
experience when his family closed all their window blinds and then snuck out of
the house at night to surreptitiously turn the television antennas toward
Italy. It was not unusual for neighbors
to spy and contact authorities which often resulted in labor camps. One of my friends in his forties told me his
grandfather, a dentist, was imprisoned in a labor camp for complaining too
loudly about the poor bread provided by the government sanctioned bakery. The suspicion of spying and fear of authority
still lingers in the attitudes of many Albanians today.
Albania is a European country with a long history of
connections to the west and many Albanian citizens have longed for Western
style democracy and the sophistication and modern behaviors associated with a free
market economy. On the other hand there are
many who became accustomed to a paternal government that defined behavior and
provided benefits, no matter how meager.
I have met a factory worker who has long been without a job and while
sitting with other men in the morning drinking alcohol he reminisces about the lost
stability of the communist era. That
group is a declining minority
.
After less than 25 years Albania has a firmly established
democratic process, and the European Union has agreed they have made sufficient
progress to be granted candidate status for future entry into the European
Union, if they meet strict guidelines. It is helpful to remember that the US
has had a democratic process for more than 200 years. The history of our democracy has many flaws
and we are still witnessing the attempts to disenfranchise segments of our US
population. The learning curve in
Albania will be steeper. Albanians have
accepted the vision of European standards and the need for accelerated change
in government and civil institutions.
Fast change is now government policy and the evidence appears daily in
the news media. (Perhaps the subject of
another blog.)
Much of the youth population in both village and city has
already moved to the clothing, music and the language of popular Western culture. Smart phones are ubiquitous, and are
constantly used in the streets, in cafes, on buses and where discipline is
relaxed, in the classroom. This young,
educated group observes the habits of the past and the lack of opportunity
resulting from the stall of the world economy and the lethargic economic
practices inherited from the communist era.
When I meet them it is not long before they ask me how I can help them
leave Albania and go to America. There
is more than one young lady who wants to meet my son in the hopes that a spark
will emerge. I encourage them to create
a positive, and more realistic, Albanian vision for themselves. In my English classes in the coming year I
will have visioning exercises and then teach the English language skills and
modern business practices that will help them achieve that Albanian vision.
