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| Daniel Koski while speaking in Tirana |
Two days after the majority voted in parliament the two legal initiatives labeled as 'Anti-Defamation' packages, the US embassy official, Daniel Koski appealed for Albania to not turn back to the communist nightmare of controlling the free-speech.
At a roundtable organized by the People's Advocate on Freedom of Speech, the American official was invited to deliver a greeting speech. Although he never mentioned the word 'Anti-Defamation', his messages were highly relevant.
“The spirit of dissent has the power to overwhelm a police state. This is why dictators seek to suppress critical voices. They can only survive if they deny the free speech of their people. When they deprive their society of oxygen, which is free speech, democracy suffers and gets rot,” Koski said.
Senior officials, such as President Ilir Meta, Speaker of Parliament Gramoz Ruci, were also invited to speak at the event, but the US official was the last who spoke.
“Albania was awakened by the Communist nightmare of controlling the free-speech no more than 30 years ago. Many of you grew up in a society in which a random word could lead you to jail, forced labor and torture. You should never go back to that society," Kioski said.