[ALBSA-Info] Artist-mayor aims to shake up Albanian capital

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Artist-mayor aims to shake up Albanian capital

By Richard Murphy

TIRANA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Self-respect, a sense of belonging and a 
willingness to clean up the mess outside their front doors -- that is what 
Edi Rama hopes to instil in the people of Tirana as the new mayor of the 
Albanian capital. 

The tall, bearded painter, elected mayor this month as candidate for the 
ruling Socialist Party, has transformed the Ministry of Culture since 
entering government in May 1998. 

He now aims to do the same for Tirana, an anarchic Balkan city of some 
600,000 people plagued by poverty, official corruption, garbage, uncontrolled 
urban development and an infrastructure reminiscent of the Third World. 

``The problem is to start nourishing a sense of belonging to the city,'' Rama 
told Reuters. ``People should feel they are living in a town where they have 
to respect some rules. I think it is possible.'' 

Albania, Europe's poorest country until it recently lost that dubious honour 
to Moldova, has been prone to periodic political violence since overthrowing 
communism in 1991. 

State institutions have been weak and corruption is endemic. Albanians are 
fiercely loyal to their family and clan but have little sense of civic pride. 

VISIBLE SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT 

Rama, a charismatic 36-year-old, believes his country, often written off as a 
hopeless case by the outside world, can change if people are given hope and 
see visible signs of improvement. 

As Minister of Culture, he inherited a gloomy institution staffed by ageing 
bureaucrats housed in a ramshackle building. There was not a single computer. 
Typists cooked meals in their offices. Morale and working standards were low. 

``When I entered this building I felt like I was entering a Kafkaesque 
nightmare,'' Rama says. 

He first set to work on transforming the building, bringing in gangs of young 
artists to help him redecorate it. ``I painted a lot of it myself.'' 

He persuaded Germany's Dresdner Bank to donate computers -- ``At first they 
thought I was an Albanian Mafioso'' -- removed two-thirds of the staff and 
put young people in senior posts. 

``We are now the only institution in Albania where there are more women than 
men,'' he says. 

Rama introduced new letterheads for ministry notepaper and raised standards 
by fining employees for every typing or spelling error in official documents. 

``I am very proud of all this because it has completely changed the spirit,'' 
he says. ``Since the ministry has been restored, people stay in the office. 
You find people working overtime just because they feel good here.'' 

Instead of simply administering institutions such as the National Theatre and 
National Library, the ministry has become an active patron of independent 
artists which works with foreign institutions to arrange funding. 

RENOVATIONS A SIGN OF HOPE 

Rama has already left his mark physically in Tirana. 

The city, without a cinema for much of the past 10 years, now has a plush, 
modern movie theatre, built by private investors after Rama's ministry 
provided a financial guarantee. 

Italianate government buildings in the city centre have been beautifully 
renovated, in marked contrast to the crumbling decay all around them, with 
funds arranged by a new office of national heritage created by Rama. 

``This is very important psychologically,'' Rama says. ``It's not only that 
these buildings are beautiful, they are a sign of hope for people. When they 
see them, they have a feeling that something is starting.'' 

Not everything went smoothly. Musicians at the state opera staged a hunger 
strike this year in protest at subsidy cuts. 

The opposition Democratic Party, which ran Tirana for the last 10 years, 
denounced Rama as autocratic and phoney. 

``Rama's reforms amount only to a very expensive painting job,'' said former 
Culture Minister Teodor Laco. 

Rama shrugs off the criticism and insists that change, with all its risks, is 
better than stagnation. ``It is much better to accept new kinds of mistakes 
than to carry on with the mistakes which people have been making since 
1944,'' he says. 

How will he tackle his new job? 

``By doing things that are visible,'' Rama says. 

He will concentrate on reducing garbage, improving street lighting -- the 
city is often blacked out by power cuts -- and getting residents to feel 
Tirana belongs to them. 

``If people realise you are committed and not corrupt, they will respect your 
efforts. If every businessman makes sure there is no garbage in front of his 
shop, there will be no more garbage. If the mayor gives them a model, they 
will do it.'' 

``I had my first moment of hope in this town when I saw that some shopkeepers 
had repaired their sidewalks by themselves.'' 

He plans to hold radio phone-ins several times a month, broadcast city 
council meetings live on local radio and open up the city's accounts to 
convince a sceptical public that their elected representatives are not simply 
stealing their money. 

Rama, who acknowledges that simple narcissism is one of his motivations for 
being in politics, believes ordinary Albanians are saner and more realistic 
than most of their politicians. 

``They have realised finally that capitalism is not paradise. They no longer 
expect the government to make them rich the next day,'' he says. ``They want 
some stability, peace, opportunities and they want examples of commitment.'' 

Rama no longer has time to paint but feels the often crazy world of Albanian 
politics has its own compensations. ``I think politics in Albania is the 
highest level of conceptual art,'' he said.