Lea Ypi: What Does It Mean to Be Free (Bristol Festival of Ideas)
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- Questioning the true nature of freedom, Lea Ypi's unflinching memoir documents a childhood in the shadow of the oppressive Stalinist regime in Albania and an adulthood in the uncertainty and tumult that followed the fall of communism.
Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity, of political executions and secret police. To Ypi, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other and children were expected to build a better world. There was community and hope.
Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed. The statues of Stalin and Hoxha were toppled. Almost overnight, people could vote freely, wear what they liked and worship as they wished. There was no longer anything to fear from prying ears. But factories shut, jobs disappeared, and thousands fled to Italy on crowded ships, only to be sent back. Predatory pyramid schemes eventually bankrupted the country, leading to civil war. As one generation’s aspirations became another’s disillusionment, and as her own family’s secrets were revealed, Ypi found herself questioning what freedom really meant.
In conversation with Andrew Kelly (Director of Bristol Ideas), she discusses communism and socialism in Albania; how a book about freedom became a memoir and a story of generational disillusionment; what being a teenager at a time of great economic and political change was like; the importance of exploring the past and asking the right questions to better think about the future; the moral duty on us to fight cynicism and political apathy; and, most of all, what it means to be free.
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi: uk.bookshop.org/a/11279/97801...
Presented by Bristol Ideas. Find out more: www.bristolideas.co.uk/
Loved her book
Thanks Lea, I loved your book. It brought something new for me and it was a riveting read.
Walked & bussed through Albania in 1993 with a friend. At least 80% of people in the south were stick-thin suffering malnutrition. I went mainly to see how the Greek population were doing & the Albanians. The place was hell in burning acid. A dentist was telling us how he had been learning English through the programmes on BBC. One in four Albanians were spies for the Communist State. The police came to him
asking why he was learning English. He said 'I want to be able to speak to all the world.' They said 'You are a bad man' & locked him into what
sounded like a mining concentration/work camp for twenty years. He told us terrible stories of people murdered in his camp for disagreeing with communism. Fortunately the regime fell so he came out early. People were so desperate they were swimming to Corfu. They did not even have rowing boats or fishing tackle so they were using dynamite for fish. We were invited to five funerals of men on the coast who had died from the inadequate dynamite in one week. The Government had built 600,000 concrete bunkers against invasion telling their people 'The West wants our good water & bread.' The place was a nightmare. We met hundreds of people telling us horror stories. The people had been so enraged when the regime fell they tore down their excellent public buildings. What Lea says here is nonsense. My parents began the Taunton Communist Branch before the War. What finished me emotionally with Communism--I was finished intellectually a long time ago--was Albania in 93. Compared to Albania the West has good freedoms. We go through a crisis now but that is because the Extreme Right have managed to fool people & take over traditional Conservative Parties. Kick them out & find leaders to tackle the grave problems facing us.
Lea please say Kosova don't feel inferior to call it Kosovo.Success!
Committed citizen to socialism at 11 years old! I come from a persecuted family, same age as her, but I knew socialists and communists were the bad guys since I was a child much before the system changed. My parents didn't hide the truth from us. Lstening to your interview something doesnt add up in your story. The rest about Albania relations with Russia, China, Yugoslavia are well known for our generation so not bringing anything new here.