“Liberal: a power worshipper without power.”- G. Orwell
November 1st, All Saints’ Day, dawned with a profound sorrow for Albanian politics. The first socialist patriarch to bless the nation’s inaugural pluralist elections, who guided the state through the fragile, infantile, and unconscious years of democracy, Fatos Nano, has passed away, following a long and imposed political silence. Yet, his political legitimacy will undoubtedly endure as a monumental memento for generations of young Albanians aspiring toward a liberal and reformist political culture.
As is customary when a prominent political figure departs this life, the press hastens to compile a brief summary of their biography and public career. For such information, the reader may easily consult the Albanian media portals and press archives. Here, however, lies a brief eulogy to the man who undertook to lead his country through a political tempest in the wake of the Berlin Wall’s fall and the lifting of the Iron Curtain that had long shadowed communist dictatorships.
It was Fatos Nano to whom the disintegrating communist nomenklatura entrusted the thread of Ariadne to help guide Albania out of the dark labyrinth of the political pluralism it was entering and the blade of Peleus, to make the Da Vincian golden cut through the ideological deadlock and party paralysis that had left Albanians indecisive and frightened:
- Indecisive– whilst they were unfamiliar with the Western offered alternative of a capitalist system with an open market economy and the principles of free speech, free press, freedom of thought, rule of law, and separation of powers, the fundamental pillars of a democratic society;
- Frightened– since as we recall, in the first elections of March–April 1991, a tiny part of the Albanian electorate chose to vote for the “democratic fronts” artificially created by the mother Communist Party, while 1.1 million voters remained loyal to the PPSH (Party of Labor of Albania).
Regardless of one’s emotions or ideological leanings, Nano’s greatest merit lies in averting bloodshed and civil unrest during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of the transitional government, an outcome that many other post-socialist Eastern Bloc countries failed to avoid. He remains the pivotal figure of Albania’s political transition, for even as the winner of the 1991 elections, in his role as Prime Minister leading the socialists, he chose to guide and reorient those 1.1 million followers of Marxism-Leninism-Enverism, so that by the repeated elections of March 1992, they had learned to forget the red and paint themselves blue.
Beyond his contribution as a shrewd and deft politician, capable of navigating the global tides of political change while preserving peace and order in the harsh early years of transition, what elevates Nano’s figure even further is his culture and moral ethics, his political vision and statesmanship. No other head of government in the history of Albanian political pluralism, elected by the majority of his party’s electorate (thus excluding compromise-appointed prime ministers) has ever demonstrated the same civic culture of voluntary political resignation, both from the post of executive leader (PM) and from the leadership of his party.
In this light, Fatos Nano leaves behind a legacy of the legitimacy of political resignation, not once, but three times:
- Twice as Prime Minister of Albania:
a) After the elections of March–April 1991, when the need became clear to yield to international pressure and steer the Albanian ship toward Western democratic waters;
b) In September 1998, amid popular discontent fueled by the collapse of financial pyramid schemes and the opposition’s attempt to exploit that turmoil for its political gain, sparing no means to do so. - And once as leader of the Socialist Party, in 2005, after losing the parliamentary elections of July and facing mounting internal criticism and disorder within the party.
When placed in parallel with today’s tragicomic Albanian political scene, Nano’s figure echoes thunderously: his example stands in stark contrast to the present-day opposition leaders who, after a decade of consecutive electoral defeats, still refuse to relinquish power, leaving their followers divided between the faithful of their “lords of seals” and those of self-proclaimed historical messiahs.
Alongside his culture of resignation, Nano also demonstrated his liberal nature, both ideologically and practically in the governance of his cabinets and parliamentary groups. Throughout his mandates as Prime Minister and party leader, he consistently accepted political compromise, engaged in cooperative governments of national reconciliation by integrating the opposition into cabinet positions, and fostered broad, constructive dialogue with representatives of all political forces within the People’s Assembly. His liberal nature was manifested also after his release from prison, when Nano did not retaliate against his political rivals but decided to extend a hand of cooperation to them.
Fatos Nano will also be remembered as the country’s first reformer in launching institutional transformations in post-centralized Albania. Moreover, he was a promoter of political modernization within the Socialist Party itself, having courageously undertaken the process of catharsis in 2001.
This entire political legitimacy within our political farm of animals, makes his name worthy of eponymous remembrance, paraphrasing Orwell’s phrase, “a liberal, a power worshipper without power.”
P.S. Regrettably, most of today’s active political figures, those who were students when Nano was the patriarch of the Socialist Party, have mourned and glorified him only after his death. Yet, for those Albanians suffering from political amnesia, let it be recalled that these very same figures, if they can be excused for his political ostracism in 2005 under the pretext of a “second catharsis” within the party, can never be excused for later denying him the Presidency of the Republic. Today, that institution has joined the long line of Albania’s institutional puppets, in the hands of the ventriloquist who occupies the PM.
Sadly, the dialectic of post-2005 political history shows that liberalism does not resonate with our people’s state-building or governing nature. Yet we must still hope that future generations aspiring to the political stage will find inspiration in the study of the political culture and legitimacy left behind by figures such as Fatos Nano who will undoubtedly remain a paragon of liberal political values.
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