No One Liberates Anyone

No one liberates anyone. No one is liberated alone. People free themselves together. For AURIO this is not a slogan for a poster. It is the measure by which we judge every leader and every “investment” in our region.

In Albania, many people are describing plainly what is happening. Edi Rama wanted to turn the country into a “tourism miracle” and to be remembered as the leader who took Albania into the European Union. To do that he opened the door to foreign funds and local oligarchs who see the coasts and protected areas as an opportunity for luxury resorts. Workers are left with low wages and insecurity, while wetlands full of flamingos and sea turtles are treated as empty plots of land.

This is neocolonialism in practice. Decisions are made far from the people who live with the consequences. Laws are changed to suit investors. Democracy is reduced to decoration, while real power sits with a small circle of politicians and big money. Oligarchy does not simply live beside democracy. It eats it.

The people of Albania answered with flamingos in the streets. They did not wait for a saviour. They said clearly that their country is not for sale and that “protected” nature must actually be protected. They showed what Freire meant when he wrote that people free themselves only together.

For northern Greece this is not a distant story. It is a warning. Our ports, energy corridors, islands and coasts are under the same pressure. The offer is always the same. Give us your land and your silence and we will give you “investment” and a place on the map. AURIO says no. We want development that serves the many, not the few. We want living coasts and dignified work, not fenced luxury enclaves for the very rich.

AURIO will not play the saviour. Our role is to help people organise so that decisions about land, work and the environment are made with people, not over their heads. We stand with everyone, in Albania and in Greece, who defends the commons against the oligarchs and the neocolonial deals. The earth we leave behind will show whether we chose profit for the few or freedom for all together.

No one liberates anyone. No one is liberated alone. AURIO stands with everyone ready to turn that truth into action.