Yesterday after midnight I finished writing and early in the morning I woke up with all the desire to publish it, not knowing that at night, as I was writing for the Theater, the Theater was no more. The theater collapsed hastily and secretly, at a time when the "Invisible Enemy" is telling us that it is wreaking havoc on the streets of Albania and we must stand within the walls of the house. Anti-Covid measures were neither less nor more than the pro-demolition measures of the Theater, and so we woke up today - with protests, violence, revolt and disgust on the delicate day of pandemics.
I do not want to talk about why the Theater should not be demolished, because despite being considered one of the first buildings in the country to be built on the principles of rationalist architecture, after a long time of construction based on neoclassicism, because despite the damp walls that resisted time and earthquakes. despite the importance of nostalgia for the contribution of dozens of actors, directors, playwrights, screenwriters, scenographers, etc., despite the identity given to Tirana, a city that is so decorated and in danger of becoming a monster, the Theater is no more. Theater is not, because we were not.
Having said all this about the fact that a problem always has three ways to solve it: leave it at all, accept it or change it. We did not accept the fate of the Theater, on the contrary we left it in the hands of the actors, who later split up, nor did we dare to prevent its collapse. Tell me how many of us were inside the Theater building yesterday as the police prepared the fandrom to tear down the walls? How many of us have been with the actors since the beginning of the protests? Actors are people like all of us, they have worries and problems and of course they would be divided, that if they were not bought, they were threatened. If they were not threatened, they were frightened. And if no one threatened them, they changed their minds. How could we ask them to unwittingly become heroes for something that belongs to all of us?
We, who yesterday cried for Notre Dame Cathedral and contributed - albeit with a ridiculous value - to its reconstruction, today demolished the Theater without the sun rising yet. But do you know what is most surprising about all this: Why surprise us ?!
The French philosopher Joseph de Maistre has perhaps one of the most significant expressions of power: "Every nation has the government it deserves." We screamed, screamed, screamed and exploded for the Theater, but inside the walls of the house or with Instagram posts. We are disappointed to the core, but we are still inside the walls of the house. So, no matter how much the collapse of the Theater hurts us, let's admit that it is the result of our rejection of the country. As grotesque as it may seem, the Theater will be forgotten and history will repeat itself because, as always, we refuse to see what happens beyond our doorstep. No one will play clean with us unless we play clean with ourselves.
Instead of closing:
Martin Niemöller - "At first they came?"
At first they came for the Socialists
and I was silent that I was not a socialist.
Then came the trade unionists
and I was silent that I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews
and I was silent that I was not a Jew.
Then came my turn,
but no one was left
to talk about me.
