It is 05:50 a.m. and life is starting its cycle again. Cars begin to move and people start to walk; it is another day, another day of “campaign” for Albanians and Iranians. Different people in different places, and with different stories but, all of them, with one common objective: to improve the quality of their lives.
Albanians are going to bed very late at night and waking up early in the morning to fill up the walls and the streets of cities and villages of Shqiperia with the propaganda that will secure the votes that the main party leaders, the young man and the older politician, need in the upcoming Parliamentary Elections to make their promises of a better future a reality. Iranians are not even going to sleep. They are just staying vigilant, ready to pervade the squares and alleys of Tehran and other cities, some to demand the respect of their votes and their call for leadership change and others, to establish, at any cost, the order the 30 year-old-structure in power wants to impose.
Economic stability: a job with which to support their families. Freedom: to be able to speak out and be listened with respect about what they think, believe, and need. Common examples of what different people in different places, and with different stories are demanding; a “better quality of life” for which they are ready to “fight”. Will they be heard?
Leader of the Albanian opposition Socialist Party Edi Rama speaks to his supporters during an electoral campaign rally in Tirana (above). Supporters of Prime Minister and leader of the Democratic Party Sali Berisha (below). Albania will hold general elections on June 28, 2009.
Supporters of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (above) celebrate the results of the election confirming his re-election. Masive protests spread throughout the streets of Teheran denouncing ballot irregularities and recalling the election (below).
