Above photo: A protester against Jared Kushner’s proposed development, which would bring luxury tourism to a stretch of protected coastline in Albania, June 2026.
Waves of daily protests, growing in size and in rage, are denouncing a fast-track deal to develop two mega resorts in Albania. One is in a unique and environmentally protected coastal area. The lagoons, wetlands, pine forests and sand dunes of Pishë Poro–Narta provide habitat for hundreds of species. The coastal region on the Adriatic Sea serves as an important stopover point for migratory birds traveling between Europe and Africa, including protected pink flamingos, the symbols of the rallies.
A major coastal development project on the protected island of Sazan and the Zvërnec Peninsula — spearheaded by Affinity Partners, an investment firm linked to President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka Trump — has sparked daily waves of widespread protests in Tirana, the capital. More than 6,000 elaborate villas and accompanying luxury infrastructure for the superrich are projected. The developers estimate the enormous project will exceed €4 billion ($4.6 billion). (tinyurl.com/vc3cx4ft)
The mass demonstrations and the government repression, caught on videos of bulldozers, barbed-wire fences and security guards dragging protesters across the sand, may have a far-reaching impact.
The present Albanian government is firmly pro-U.S. and pro-NATO and has supported every U.S.-NATO war since 1991, including sending Albanian troops to U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where they maintained a continuous presence for nearly two decades. The United States maintains a persistent military presence in Albania. (tinyurl.com/4rft54j4)
U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) established a rotational, forward-operating headquarters in Albania to serve as a logistical and operational hub for the Balkans. With its lax oversight, Albania has become a hub for advanced cybersecurity. (tinyurl.com/mzpdb5mt)
Albania remains among the poorest countries in Europe. (tinyurl.com/bdctkxt9)
Despite complete compliance with U.S. demands and support for U.S. wars and use of NATO weapons, the U.S. keeps impoverished Albania on a short leash. It continues to maintain targeted sanctions. These are part of the Balkans-Related Sanctions that impact the entire region with asset freezes, U.S. bans on politicians and local media and an all-pervasive network of control and enforced poverty.
Albania’s history of struggle
Albania has a fiercely independent history. An anti-fascist and communist-led resistance led by Enver Hoxha liberated the country from Italian fascism, then partisan resistance to direct German Nazi occupation, without Allied assistance during World War II. Despite extreme underdevelopment and lack of infrastructure, following liberation, the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania attempted with great determination to build an egalitarian socialist country. But Albania faced intense isolation. Every attempt at development was blocked, cut off and sanctioned.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990-1991, all the socialist countries of Eastern Europe were pulled under in a wave of U.S.-imposed counterrevolutions. In Albania, the entire communist movement was outlawed for years from all political life and blocked from all media.
The overturn of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania government did not bring the promised capitalist prosperity or even an end of Albania’s isolation. It led to a sharp class divide. Capitalist goods flooded in, displayed enticingly in shops, but only a small, corrupt handful benefited from loyal compliance to imperialist demands. The population as a whole faced massive displacement.
Almost half of the population has been forced to migrate from Albania to survive. Globally, approximately 2.2 million to 2.3 million Albanian citizens live abroad, which is almost as many as the 2.8 million living inside Albania. This massive diaspora, a brain drain, is one of the largest in the world relative to the country’s total population.
The waves of demonstrations today express a great rage at the lack of transparency, level of government corruption and the outright plunder seen in the secret deals that hand over precious protected areas.
The images of pink flamingos, an endangered species put at risk by the two developed playgrounds for the ultrarich, hold the potential for wider struggles.
