Version imprimable150 kilometres southwest of Tirana is the island of Sazan, a former military base for the regime of Enver Hoxha. Its magnificent beaches bordered by the Adriatic and its rich biodiversity make it a real natural sanctuary, a refuge for colonies of pink flamingos.
It is on this paradise that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, have decided to set up a luxury tourist complex estimated at 1.4 billion euros. In addition, a second project is planned in Zvërnec, on the coast facing the island. The start of the work is scheduled in one year.
The murky conditions in which the investment fund Affinity Global Development, of which Jared Kushner is a partner, obtained permission to carry out this pharaonic project, as well as the threats it poses to the environment, are fuelling public anger.
Every evening since the beginning of June, thousands of demonstrators have been taking to the streets in Tirana to denounce this project and the policies of the Socialist Party Prime Minister Edi Rama. Under the slogans “Albania is not for sale” and “Ivanka go home”, Albanian flags mingle with the effigies of pink flamingos that have become the symbol of mobilisation. [2]
Rama, who has offered the project ten years of tax exemption, justifies this decision by the need to develop tourism in order to support Albania’s application to join the European Union.
In a region marked by Russian influence and massive Chinese investment, Trumpist politics is unfolding its now familiar face: a mix of geopolitical ambitions and real estate business, like the disastrous Riviera project in Gaza.
We will not let them do that. Against the capitalists and their world, from Sainte-Soline to Zvërnec, let’s all be bustards and pink flamingos!
16 June 2026
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.
