The Trump family has had Albanians up in arms for over a month now, as anger over a luxury real estate development has grown into a protest movement against government corruption and what they see as a political system that protects the corrupt over its citizens. Many observers describe the demonstrations as Albania’s largest civic protests since the fall of communism in the early 1990s.
The movement, dubbed “The Flamingo Revolution,” began in late May after President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner (also moonlighting as one of Trump’s Middle East peace envoys), set their sights on developing an island in the Adriatic Sea.
The proposed development includes a resort on Sazan Island and another luxury resort with up to 10,000 tourist accommodations that would affect the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape on Albania’s southwestern coast. The area is home to endangered Mediterranean monk seals, flamingos, nesting sea turtles, and hundreds of migratory bird species.
The proposal has been championed by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, eliciting outrage. But for many Albanians, the Kushner-backed development is only the latest flashpoint. Protesters say years of corruption, weak government accountability, and an economic model centered on luxury tourism and foreign investment have benefited political elites while doing little for ordinary Albanians.
To better understand the protests and why so many Albanians have become disillusioned with their government, Today, Explained co-host Noel King spoke with Politico’s Jakob Weizman, who has covered the Western Balkans, including Albania, for nearly a decade.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
What is the background on the foreign developments in Albania?
In 2024, Albania passed these very controversial amendments which brought about change to this law on protected areas, which essentially is what critics and protesters say opened the door for this luxury tourism resort from Jared Kushner.
Earlier this year, they began construction and it was met with fierce resistance from local residents and from activists. You could visibly see they were beginning construction, there were excavators, there were diggers, there were fences being built up. And when I went there myself, you could see that there was a road already built and you could see the foundation from the fences. So that was really what kicked off everything. People saw and they got really upset and they said, enough is enough. We’re going to take it to the streets.
Tell us about the protected land.
In this protected area along the southern coast of Albania, near the coastal city of Vjosa, there is this protected wildlife area which is home to endangered species of monk seals and flamingos. It’s a very popular turtle nesting site. It’s a migratory path for birds. And there’s also, it’s a special place that Albanians in that area hold dear to their heart. It’s a place where people go fishing. It’s a place where people go to the beach with their families. It’s an untouched area where you can really feel the beauty of Albania, and for that to be ruined by excavators and diggers and fences…
And then how does Ivanka Trump get involved in all of this?
On a podcast, Ivanka Trump had described a story, how she found the island when she was on a friend’s boat and swam out to the island, and they came ashore and they started hiking to the top of the island. And she was completely enthralled by the beauty of Sazan, which is Albania’s only island.
It’s a very unlikely story because first of all, the island used to be a military headquarters during the communist era. There’s a danger of explosive mines remaining across the island, and there’s a lot of glass everywhere. It’s not well-kept and there is a danger of snakes. When I told the locals about this story, they were like, “It’s completely false.” There’s no way she was able to do that. The island is a very rugged landscape, making it very difficult to hike barefoot to the top.
When the protests began, the podcast really began to go viral because people started sharing and people started getting upset — just treating Albania like it’s her own personal luxury haven.
Tell me what the protests look like and who’s involved.
It started growing from 10,000 to 20,000, and then it just became this daily routine for Albanians. You would finish work and then you would just go out on the streets and start protesting. Albania is a small country. It’s 2.4 million. And now, it’s going up to 100,000, maybe 200,000 [protesters]. And there are people driving from the UK, from Belgium, from Germany to join the protests and people driving from all across the country. I feel like it’s just an awakening of civic consciousness against this tourism boom in Albania and these foreign investments from Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump that they’re saying no to.
It’s very important to understand that Albanians have been through a lot in the last 100 years. They were under a monarchy. They were under the Nazi occupation, and then they went through a brutal communist regime for 50 years. And finally their hopes had surfaced once more after the fall of communism. It was a very poor country. It was isolated from the entire world during communism. So the land is so important to the Albanians, and when someone like Kushner comes along, it just wakes up the entire country and says, “No, this is ours, and you’re not going to touch it.”
Is there a case that tourism and investment could actually be a boom to Albania’s economy and these protests might be shortsighted?
To be fair, there are people I have spoken to who think that tourism is good for the country. I’m not going to say that all the people in Albania think that this is a bad thing. But there is so much suspicion and there are so many allegations of corruption. The country’s track record in the last 20, 30 years is not good and does not convince people that there’s going to be trickle-down economics where you build a resort and it will create jobs and add infrastructure and bring in investment and bring money to the people. They don’t believe that.
That’s why so many Albanians are leaving the country. The mass immigration from Albania is insane. You talk to anyone in Albania, their only dream is to leave. Edi Rama, the prime minister, is trying to bring this hope to the country: “We’re going to build these resorts and the money’s going to come down to you.”
Albanians don’t really trust the fact that this kind of development will be able to help the country. The scale of corruption that’s going on in the country is forcing people to lack trust in the government.
