A special conversation between pop star Dua Lipa and renowned author Lea Ypi has brought to attention a deep discussion on democracy, political elites and the importance of protest in today's society. In the next episode of the Service95 Book Club podcast, the duo focused on civic movements in Albania and the message they convey about confronting political apathy.

Dua Lipa commented on one of the strong slogans of the protest: "Albania is not for sale", and responded to one of the program's commentators who raised the question: "How can we avoid protest fatigue?", thus prompting a deep discussion on civic movements in Albania.

During the podcast, Lea Ypi states that "it is important to see democracy as something that lives even through these cases of protest, and not to reduce democracy simply to participation in elections."

Podcast conversation

Dua Lipa : I would like to turn the floor over to the readers of Service95 at this point, because I have a few questions from them to share. This question is related to the “Albania is not for sale” protests, and it says: “How can we avoid protest fatigue?” – Cassidy

Lea Ypi : I think it's important to see democracy as something that lives through these instances of protest, and not to reduce democracy simply to participation in elections, not to reduce it to existing elites, and not to think that we have done our duty simply on that day when we went and elected one representative instead of another. And to understand that in these instances, protests can also be creative. They can generate ideas, they can generate projects, and...

Dua Lipa: Yes.

Lea Ypi : For me, it's very defining to stick to this and not give in to apathy and cynicism. And here, at the beginning, people were singing, dancing and handing out flowers to the police, so it was just a really different way of doing a protest...

Dua Lipa : Yes, to protest.

Lea Ypi: …which I felt was really inspiring and could serve as an example of how other countries should respond to their elites and respond to this oligarchic takeover of politics.