December 8th / National Youth Day: 35 years since the calls “We want Albania to be like all of Europe”

Today marks December 8th, Albania’s National Youth Day, a date officially declared in 2009 by the Albanian Parliament to honor the students of December 1990 and the entire Albanian youth.

On December 8, 1990, a group of students and professors from the Universities of Tirana became the initiators and main actors of a historic turning point. Their peaceful protests led to the fall of the communist system and the birth of democracy in Albania.

With the slogan “We want Albania to be like all of Europe,” they demanded the establishment of Western values, the rule of law, political pluralism, and the country’s integration with Europe all fundamental pillars of a free and democratic society.

The Student Movement of 1990 remains the only peaceful movement that changed the course of Albania’s history. Their civic and political act brought an end without violence to decades of isolation and ideological rule, opening the way for a market economy and an open society. The values of this day have since grown into national values, precisely because, unlike many other historical events, December 8th had no winners and losers.

It marked the birth of democracy in Albania. The communist dictatorship no longer had the power to keep the country isolated. That era came to an end, making room for free-market reforms and the establishment of pluralism in Albania.

These profound changes, which began 35 years ago, ensured that December 8th would be engraved in history as Albania’s National Youth Day.

In 2009, the Albanian Parliament decided to commemorate it annually in honor of the students and the youth who believed and hoped that Albania should become like the rest of Europe.

“KORÇA BOOM”