Not every island is for the Trump khandaan to profiteer, especially when flamingos got there first
Sazan. Say it softly. You don’t have to be Albanian to really like the word. It’s got Open Sesame feels. A magical incantation taking you into an otherworldly space. Sa-zan. For ordinary Albanians, the island by this name has come to have a haunting vibe. They have never made it there. Through the 20th century it served as a secretive military base for the Italians, Soviets, communists. Then, the collapse of communism brought good fortune to Sazan too. Nature began clawing back lost ground. Nothing spoke ecological rebirth louder than the return of flamingos. Most Albanians still don’t get to go to Sazan or the surrounding wetlands. They watch the flamingos thriving there from a distance only. Still, they treasure the life of the birds, their pink striking against the Adriatic grey light.
Hence, the flamingo revolution. It’s Albanians protesting against Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump plotting to turn Sazan into a $1.4bn plus luxury resort. To them, this is as galling as Trump’s Riviera-style Gaza plan was for Gazans. Of course, Albania’s govt gave the go-ahead to Kushner’s plan only after Trump 2.0 got underway. It’s hardly the only one trying to suck up to the world’s most powerful man by sweetening his damaad. But it alone is in the (un)happy position of giving this family a Christopher Columbus ego kick. Ivanka’s spoken of being on a friend’s boat (a friend called Rothschild), stopping for a swim, ‘finding’ the island, climbing to its top barefoot, being just captivated. So, naturally, she set about sending in the bulldozers.
People in different corners of the world can feel united by the oddest things. Mumbaikars would certainly understand what the Albanians are trying to protect. They, too, cherish a horizon of flamingos. And every project proposal that endangers it, sees a fierce public pushback. The beautiful pink bird on one leg, isn’t it inhuman to drown it in a billionaire’s infinity pool?
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
