An article on domestic violence in Abania from Le Monde diplomatique.
I was watching Top Channel last night, first the news, then Fiks Fare. According to them Tirana's citizens now have a choice not only between Rama and Olldashi, but also between Rama and Rama. A minor right-wing faction, Parti 'Balli Kombetar' , submitted papers to the election authorities registering their candidate, Akile Rama. The people on Fiks Fare got hold of the papers and sent a reporter and camera team to the address listed for Mr A Rama. After much ringing of the bell the gate was reluctantly opened by a middle-aged woman who refused to speak to the reporter and tried to close the gate on her. Back in the studio Saimiri and Doctori - the two presenters of Fiks Fare - revealed that Mr Akile Rama was 73 years old, in hospital, and did not know he was now a candidate for mayor. They also compared two documents - the papers submitted on his behalf, and a genuine document he had signed. The signatures were not even remotely similar. There was an interview with the lea...
Comments
The sentence "A resurgence of Albania’s ancient customary law, the Kanun, which allows a man to beat and publicly humiliate his wife," is simply untrue. I'm not defending Kanun but its source is in Middle Age when in the rest of Europe people were burnt for nothing. Furthermore, it suggests that that's what's happening in Albania all the time; women beaten in the street from their husbands and in my 23 years in Albania I cannot recall a single case.
Violence against women is bad; but it happens everywhere. I live in Germany and here one hears all the time that even VIPs beat their wives. By lying nothing is solved.
Anyway a very nice blog; some World Cup atmosphere from Albania would be nice :)
Nobody would want to read that.
Boring!
Kanun is only taken in consideration in about 2% of Northern Albania. Anybody south of Tirana couldn't tell you what Kanun is...
Anyway, here is an American joke for you:
-What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?
-Nothing. You already told her twice.
/one ticket to hell please
I got diffrent point of veiw, i am albanian,Women in poor countryside in Albania treat some time badly but allways that dipends from education,poor education bad behavier in any case whatever that happens,in Albania or abroude ,i know too from news violence against women is global problem in world,
why you picked up albania ????
Bad and good is any where even in WEST
is not eazy to know albanian,you need to go very deep to be sucsesfully,..thier heart is to big
Why pick up Albania? Because I live in Albania.
Is the article truthful? Untruthful? Fair? Unfair? That's for you to decide.
I list occasional articles I come across on Albania becuase I think other people might be interested in how Albania is perceived out there.
I'm working on a World Cup in Tirana post. Unfortunately the games keep getting in the way.
However, I think that article has many, many inaccuracies and it doesn't seem very well written or particularly well researched. The point about the Kanun (as evil as it is) allowing a man to humiliate his wife is absolutely untrue.If anything,many more men are hurt by the recent resurgence of the Kanun in small areas of Albania than women.Also, I'm not sure the article explains how the availability of guns has contributed to domestic abuse. Maybe murders using guns are on the rise but I don't understand why general domestic violence would increase significantly due to guns.
Years back, in New York, a man shot and killed the woman he was having an affair with and her father and the papers reported it as a man acting out an ancient code of laws, blah, blah, blah. He wasn't following the Kanun (otherwise he wouldn't have been sleeping with another man's wife), he was just a jackass.
As for Southern Albanians not hearing the word Kanun...being able to tell you what the Kanun is...are you talking about the mute Southern Albanians???
Instead of blaming the media for blowing it out of proportion, why don't we say something like, "Hmm...this might be a problem amoung our people. What can we do to stop it?"