The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, has accused the Rama government of controlling most of the media, during his speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Berisha stated that over 90% of the media in Albania are controlled by the government and interests related to it, while independent media, according to him, face pressure and attacks. Speaking about the impact of language on society, Berisha stated that “language has become a prison without walls”, arguing that its use as a political tool limits independent thought and makes democratic pluralism fictitious.
Berisha's speech:
Madam Speaker,
In a context where 90% of the media is controlled by the political and economic interests of the government, "banal evil" ceases to be a series of random errors and becomes an operating system, and this is precisely the case in Albania.
When 90% of the media is controlled by the government, the corruption of language is no longer a side effect but a technology of rule, and this is a typical case of Albania. In this case, language becomes a kind of “prison without walls”, where words are used to prevent independent thought before it can arise. The corruption of language is by far the most powerful and invisible tool of “banal evil”.
The corruption of language marks the destruction of the fundamental contract between man, society and truth. The corruption of language corrupts thought: freedom becomes fictitious, political pluralism is replaced by bureaucratic pluralism, and this is today's reality in Albania, the first and only narco-state in Europe. Language no longer serves to seek the truth, but to build walls.
Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN said: “The limits of my language indicate the limits of my world.”
It serves to attack opponents and demonize the real opposition. In a country where banal evil has become a system and the corruption of language a dominant technology, the opposition is always to blame for everything that happens in the country. A firm stance, international sanctions and the punishment of the narco-state in Albania and those who built it are conditions sine qua non for the freedom and independence of the media and for the restoration of true democratic pluralism in my country.
