News

The first workshop was held in Tirana from April 9-11, 2021, as part of the Europe for Citizen Project “Youth involvement in a constructive dialogue: Communist Past in Contemporary Western Balkan” (YOU-WB) led by the Center for Comparative and International Studies (CCIS). CCM as a partner in this project also participated in this three-day blended event.

The plenary session, held through ZOOM on April 9, 2021, brought together academics, researchers, experts, civil society activists and young people to discuss the involvement of young people in constructive dialogue about the communist past, focusing on the case of Albania. Fifty people from Albania, Italy, France and Northern Macedonia took part in the first day. The main speakers at the plenary session were: prof. Dr. Adrian Civici, Rector of the Mediterranean University in Tirana and prof. Dr. Enriqueta Pandeleimoni.

On the second day of the workshop, also at ZOOM speakers in front of 30 participants from several countries, they talked about the reconstruction of collective memory and political discourse in post-totalitarian Albania: Critical approach, the absence of political culture that explains the lack of democratic consolidation in Albania. unity and separation of powers in the light of the constitutional systems in Albania and
the influence of the "Young Socialist" on the structuring of political parties in the post-communist period.

The third day on April 11, 2021 was organized in the form of a field visit to Tirana, to see the architectural, urban and socio-economic development of the capital from the time of communism until today. The young people accompanied by Dr. Erida Kuraj and Dr. Blerjana Bino also visited the House of Leaves, the Museum of Covert Surveillance during the communist era in Albania.

Overall, the young people expressed satisfaction with the workshop, the expertise of the speakers, the topics discussed, the opportunity to network and exchange ideas and get to know Tirana from a different perspective.