On the afternoon of November 25, 2025, the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Tirana opened its doors to an ideological debate on the rise and fall of systems – a favored topic in current global discourse due to the policies pursued by United States President Donald Trump.
The panel featured two professors of the exact sciences, a retired military officer, an activist of the opposition Democratic Party, and the founder of an underground movement that researchers classify as belonging to far-right ideology.
Filmed by an amateur camera with tight close-up shots, the panel conveyed an almost dramatic tone.
“This is the end of history now,” says Orsin Bakalli, a serious-looking 29-year-old. “We did not achieve the end of communism… but we will now achieve the end of the liberal order,” he adds.
Bakalli is the founder of “Brerore,” an organization little known beyond narrow online circles, which has recently also been representing itself under the name “Boshti Kombëtar” (National Axis). Based on publications on its website, “Brerore” claims to be a nationalist and anti-communist movement, while also publishing fascist literature.
Bakalli rejects the term “far right” as an invention of recent years used for “witch hunts.” “We are ultranationalists,” he said at a café in the former Bllok area in early February, adding: “Our aim is to remake Albania.”
Through open-source intelligence (OSINT) research methods, BIRN identified two other groups that represent themselves with symbols used by 20th-century fascist or Nazi movements. At the center of their propaganda are nationalist narratives about preserving tradition and national identity, as well as positions against communism, the liberal capitalist system, and the LGBT community. Fragmented and with a seemingly small base of supporters, these groups have recently been trying to gain popularity by aligning their ideas with the MAGA movement in the United States.
The November 25 meeting at the Faculty of Natural Sciences (FSHN) conflicts with Albanian legislation, which prohibits higher education institutions from engaging in political activities. However, FSHN administrator Robert Skënderi told BIRN that the activity was not organized by the Faculty, but by the students themselves, who are part of the Student Council.
“In the afternoons the halls are free because there are no classes, and often students, being part of the Student Council, organize activities and publicize them on social media on their own initiative,” Skënderi said. “Our regulations do not allow political activities inside the institution, but more or less this situation reminds me of the leftist academy that was created,” he added.
Limited Influence
“The far right” is an umbrella term used for many groups across the right side of the political spectrum, and the term itself often sparks debate, because it is used to describe very different groups ranging from populist political parties to violent neo-Nazi networks. However, these groups share some common features, such as ultranationalism, sovereigntism, xenophobia, and homophobia – which appear in different forms depending on the context.
In Albania, far-right ideologies have so far had no electoral success that would allow them to be represented in official politics. Nevertheless, they exist in virtual space and within narrow social circles, while seeking to expand their support base.
Albanian Third Position (ATP) is considered the only openly neo-fascist movement in Albania, according to a 2022 report by the Radicalisation Awareness Network, a network supported by the European Commission. ATP opposes communism, democracy, and the Abrahamic religions, while promoting tradition and paganism. The ATP logo is a symbol known as the “Wolfsangel” – the Wolf’s Hook – used by Nazi units during World War II. Today this symbol is used by neo-Nazi and far-right groups in Europe, including currents linked to the Third Position. In addition to social media posts, the group publishes photos of its members during outdoor activities or international events. However, its leaders and supporters remain unknown, and their faces are usually covered with the icon of a skull holding a knife in its mouth in social media posts.
Zona Nacionaliste (Nationalist Zone) is another far-right group with a presence only on Telegram. The group displays nationalist symbols and speaks out against “the LGBT community, drugs, and communism.” Supporters of Zona Nacionaliste also operate in anonymity, using the skull symbol to conceal their identities.
Unlike the two groups above, “Brerore” does not use violent symbols on its social media channels. However, the group promotes fascist literature and supports an exclusionary rhetoric, especially against the LGBT community.
According to far-right researcher Fabio Bego, these groups in Albania currently have limited influence in online environments, in stadiums, and within narrow social circles. But he notes with concern the rhetoric and use of violent symbols as bait to attract more followers.
“As seen on the ATP and Zona Nacionaliste pages, maintaining anonymity is not something neutral – it is accompanied by aggressive imagery. Placing skulls in place of faces is a mask used to exert psychological terror against their ‘enemies,’” said Bego. “From a more general standpoint, covering the face, fash-wave aesthetics, or baroque pseudonyms can be ways to give oneself a touch of mystery, to look ‘cool,’ and to attract followers,” he added.
For Michael Colborne, a journalist at Bellingcat specializing in the transnational far right, the functioning of these groups as informal networks without a clear hierarchy is not unique to Albania. According to him, such groups aim to normalize anti-democratic tendencies in society, even when they operate within the bounds of the law.
“They aim to make anti-democratic, anti-LGBT+, and anti-immigration tendencies, among others, more accepted in mainstream social and political discourse,” Colborne said.
ATP rejects any link to the far right and claimed it was being blindly attacked by ultra-leftist media, in an online exchange with BIRN. ATP also claimed that its symbols had no connection to Nazi or fascist armies, but symbolized a “reconnection with tradition, its restoration, and the identity-based roots of Albania.”
“ATP’s ideological stance is the Political Third Position, a worldview rooted in the national tradition as well as in the European one, from which our country originates and to which it belongs,” ATP declared. “The Third Position is opposed to the modern world and to the modern democratic political spectrum, and consequently rejects the positions of both the communist left and the capitalist right,” it added.
Inspired by MAGA
Some representatives of these groups told BIRN that developments in the United States under President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement were helping them express themselves more freely in the public sphere, while others are considering structuring their groups into a political project.
Erjon*, in his 30s, spoke with BIRN on condition of anonymity and said that despite the country’s history and political circumstances, fascist ideas are today more widespread than one might think in Albanian society. He himself is part of a small group of friends who supported the protests led by the “Pro Family and Life” Coalition headed by Pastor Akil Pano against the adoption of the “Gender Equality” law in November 2025. Erjon also says he positively follows initiatives in defense of the Illyrian-Albanian heritage and those for the de-communization of social, cultural, and educational life.
“Today we are only small groups of friends – cells of four, five, or ten companions – with no structural connection between us, who share the same vision and political ideology,” he told BIRN. “Patriotism, traditionalism, family, morality, and religion are still very strong in Albania,” he emphasized.
Bakalli founded “Brerore” in 2018, after returning from the United States and deciding to bring the policymaking model of the MAGA movement to Albania. Recently, he has formed an alliance with “Young & Conservative” – a conservative youth organization whose members are linked to the Democratic Party Youth Forum and to the Student Council at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Bakalli says that his movement’s political stance is entirely in line with the MAGA movement and consistent with the U.S. State Department document reissued by Marco Rubio.
“Until yesterday, talking about what President Trump talks about in America was something that could put you in jail, while Trump today, after three assassination attempts, became president,” Bakalli said, while claiming that he himself had been targeted by the “security apparatus.” “So, the point is that now we have more opportunity to express ourselves, because there had been censorship of dissenting thought,” he added.
Transnational Connections
The informal Albanian groups that embrace far-right ideologies are divided among themselves, but they are not isolated from contacts or connections with similar groups operating in Europe. Albanian Third Position (ATP) has itself promoted ties with the Ukrainian group Avantguardia, while it was represented at a meeting called “Nation Europa” in August 2024 in Lviv, Ukraine. “Nation Europa” is described as a pan-European network of neo-Nazi organizations in Europe.
Journalist Michael Colborne has also identified informal connections with individuals from Croatia, Poland, and Italy – the latter not at all surprising, in his view, given that the Albanian groups are particularly influenced by Italian fascism and far-right tendencies in Italy.
“Moreover, some of these informal connections appear to be linked to football hooliganism and to ‘allied’ groups or individuals from other countries, although it should be emphasized that these connections are not as deep and strong as those that may exist in other countries, such as Serbia,” Colborne said.
Colborne is of the view that if such groups are allowed to flourish without attention from the media and other actors, then there is a risk that their ideas will gain greater resonance in society, particularly among young men.
“While their activities may currently take place within the bounds of the law, their ideas are essentially violent and ultimately centered on violence,” Colborne said. “Therefore, I think there is an obligation to pay attention to these groups and not ignore them simply because they appear ‘marginal’ or small,” he concluded.
*The name has been changed to preserve anonymity.
