Since October, every weekday, Qani Shino, together with dozens of pensioners, protest in front of the Prime Minister's Office for more dignified pensions. His profile is special as he stands out as the most vocal activist of this cause even though his age does not tolerate physical exertion.
Every Wednesday at 10:00, he dedicates himself to the protest, a dedication which led me to meet him closely for a longer conversation with him.
"See you at 9:00,"-Shino answered my invitation for morning coffee. As a former miner, now retired in his 70s, protest acts are not his first.
"I worked in the mine of Valias and in the mine of Priska. When the system change started, we were selectively fired. They gave us a year's salary and a year's assistance. After that they left us like fish out of water,"- Shino pointed out as he returned the coffee, to which he added some brandy, which as he explained "does good for the voice in protest".
For about 35 years, he and other former miners have been protesting about the status of a miner. However, in the shadow of an Albania trying to integrate into Europe, the voice of former miners, now retired, remains a clear reminder of social injustices.
He describes the transition period as the time when all the sweat and toil of the workers invested in the mines, factories and factories was destroyed "for scrap".
"Democracy came to us with a pickaxe to destroy all the hard work and sweat we had left. We have a policy for several years that says: no left no right. For us, they are all right-wing," Shino continued.
Minimum pensions and a constant war
Today, Shino lives on 18,700 ALL pension, an amount insufficient to cover basic monthly expenses. He feels bitter about the way politics has misused the contributions of his years of work.
"I have 45 years of work. I paid the insurance according to the rules of the state of that time, but the calculations were made according to the pleasure of those who govern," he continues while paralleling the situation with the deputies.
"What would these people do if they had so much money?! Today, one deputy receives the same salary as 33 pensioners. Only salary! Without these commissions, diets, fuel, etc."
For Shinon, the indexation of pensions, a legal obligation of governments in the face of currency devaluation as a result of inflation, is an empty policy that is thrown into the public discourse as a promise or support of the government.
"Indexing is an obligation, not an honor that they do us. We need a living wage, not handouts!" Shino explained indignantly.
Since October, pensioners have organized in protest. Supported in this initiative by the Joint Movement, a new party that intends to compete in the upcoming parliamentary elections, they demand increased pensions, approval of the miner's status, the establishment of a living minimum, health services and more.
At first, these protests were taken with reservations by the government.
"Our representative in the Prime Minister came out and said: 'Some, a group of old men have come out that someone is lying to them, Sudja said'..." - quoted Shino with irony one of Prime Minister Rama's statements.
However, since the beginning of the protests, the issue of pensions has been placed on the government's agenda, starting from meetings with pensioners and up to the tables to address their support.
Meetings, which were crowned with a bonus for the end of the year, higher than in previous years, giving pensioners 10-15 thousand ALL.
"There will be a second bonus, it will be given at the entrance of every spring,"- Prime Minister Rama promised, ahead of the parliamentary elections.
For Shino, this bonus is a lie.
"It was to shut up, the bonus is not a solution for us. For us, the solution is to ensure the minimum living wage for all the layers in need, and then according to the specialties, according to the work professions, everyone gets their share," he explained.
A life in search of dignity
Qani Shino says that unfair policies towards pensioners have forced them "to live on children's alms".
"But when the children fled, when the system broke down, they were 17-18 years old. Now they have become a family, with two or three children. Then they really sent [as immigrants], now what should he send, to feed his children or to cry about the plight of the elderly here in Albania and the 34-year-old policy of stealing and usurping the state's wealth".
Citizens.al previously realized one online survey, where he collected the opinions of dozens of citizens of retirement age, who shared their experiences about living costs. Most said that medicine was the most expensive main expense of the month and that you end up running out of money.
Most indicated that they were helped by children with money due to low pensions. While a small part stated that they borrow money from relatives or buy the products they want to consume in the summer.
Qani's ordinary day is like a battle for survival.
"I go out to drink a coffee, but I choose the cheapest place. We don't have the good one, because it doesn't come out. With the 187 lek pension that I have, I don't go out, especially in the city, because in the city you have four sides of the wall, you will go out, you will put your hand in your pocket. Lepe says the pocket."
However, Shino is an example of citizenship due to the fact that he has not given up the fight for his rights.
"As long as I have breath, I will not stop. We do not ask for alms, we ask for dignity for our work and for our lives."
A policy that forgets the elderly
The last time Prime Minister Rama spoke about pensioners was 10 years ago.
Initially in 2013, as he started the electoral campaign to become Prime Minister, considering the increase of pensions as the main commitment of the government he would form.
In 2014, while creating the government, he stated that "it cannot continue for another 30 years, seeing pensioners as beings who simply have to survive with a handful of lek".
However, from that time until today, pensioners have been in the government's attention for as long as one has lasted "drum dance" in the campaign and when it came to indexing pensions.
The return of attention now, reminds us that the elections are near and the election campaign has started.
Shino remembers that he has never been a member of the party, but even now that they are protesting, there are many who are afraid to join.
"We have many of them who are afraid that they have their children at work and they tell me I want to come to the protest, but I have children at work, they take them away immediately. They fire you."
On October 21, while Prime Minister Rama was meeting with pensioners at the pyramid, Shino took his notebook and tried to enter the meeting. However, it was not allowed by the security guards.
"They told me we have pensioners, I told them 'Take us, boy' and showed him the booklet. Jo said your name is not on the list,”- remembers Shino.
In the absence of the media at the time, he felt the need to perform a symbolic act of his revolt.
"One lay down at the mosque there shouting: 'O Edi Rama, why don't you love honest people?' Why don't you love suffering people?"
Retired political activist
Repeating several times the fact that he has never been a member of any political party in the country, Qani Shino confesses that he is now a sympathizer of a new party: Lévizja Bashke.
"I am a supporter of the Joint Movement, not a member. That came at the age of 72,”– he explains to me.
The commitment to a cause supported by this movement came from the time of protesting the status of the miner, a few years ago.
"As former miners, we have been protesting for 34 years. The Together Movement came to us in these protests. Many of these parties came to us, we did not accept them, but we saw a seriousness in the young people of this movement who supported us".
He has forgotten his age as he recounts recent political activism rare for his peers.
"Let them forget the vote of the elders. We went door to door. I have a pair of shoes, shoes that I climb stair to stair, house to house and I take flyers myself, I tell you not to vote for the government, but vote for the Joint Movement".
Qani Shino is convinced that pensioners and former miners will continue the protests until their demands are met.
"We don't only need protests here, but we are old people and we can't just sit on a bench and sit there for 40-50 hours. That building [of the Prime Minister's Office] has been lying to us for three decades. That building must be demolished from the bottom. We spent four decades in dictatorship. Now the fourth decade is closing, we are moving into usurpation. Dictatorship and usurpation, this is Albania".
For Shino and many others like him, the road to social justice remains long and difficult. However, their engagement in these protests is a reminder that dignity and integrity should not be taken as privileges, but as rights that must be protected at all costs.
"They trampled on our dignity. We are corpses, but we are dignity. A people without dignity cannot be integrated. If this mockery of our generation is not stopped, there is no future even for young people,"- he finished.
Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
