After beign busy for a long time I was happy to notice that I still had my password here and moreover that I could still remember it after loosing the email I had registered here with. It was an amazing discovery to see that TIG has changed with many new features and a blog spot for members. This blog is named Mikon Reflections, as Mikon is thought by some to be the Illyrian God of friendship. While I cannot prove the historical facts, I decided to go for it and use it as title for my blog here.

It is November 29th, and I would like to wish all Albanians a happy indipendence and liberation day. It looks like November has been written to be a month when Albanians celebrate freedom. It is has been like this for the past centuries but I hope a day will come when people won't need to celebrate for such essential things, which shall be granted no matter what.

As the evening came I kept thinking whether Albania is free yet and I started to reflect on what freedom meant on a national level. While I was exploring my mind, I was really sad to meet feelings of being abused and ignored as part of country where freedom itself is ignored.

As young person I belong to a group which makes up the majority of the population in Albania. As a young person I belong to a group without the freedom of movement, without access to proper public services, to a group that lacks access to policy making, which is used only for propaganda purposes and for politicians to take photos and being broadcasted in the news whenever there is a need for such presence for political gain. I felt sad that right now, youth in Albania, in all their diversity, are being considered as important as a parfume, make up product or a well written speach.

The President of the Republic announced the amnisty act, from which many people serving time on prison for various crimes were either freed or had this time reduced considerably. Minors in state prisons in Albania did not gain from this act, even when their offenses were minor. Yet, people accused of drug and people trafficking were set free. Even women over 70 years old were considered more dangerous then drug dealers and did not gain from this act. I felt powerless while witnessing such an absurdity.

It appears that the forms that have today been used by young people to organize themselves are not affective. Proper advocacy and lobbying campaings need to be set up. Young actvists shall be able to read and understand laws and shall be able to meet and input on those laws and force the Parliament to meet the needs of this part of the population. We need to set up an active network which shall be granted access in the parliament and the government and put pressure on those institutions.

Maybe TIG can be a good start for some change to happen...