Not approving Gabriel Poghosyan’s appointment as the director of the Khosrov Reserve testifies once again to the fact that social movements in Armenia have good prospects. The trust toward their members is substantially more than toward political units. We are inclined to trust those who are not from someone’s clan, are not engaged in political games, don’t wish to govern. Those who undertake concrete and realistic tasks.
It is obvious that the government pays more attention to the public opinion today than it did, say, 5 years ago. Perhaps it is conditional to a certain extent on the fact that the government has become a bit more rational and adequate. Social networks where there are basically no restrictions on free exchange of information also play an important role. Imagine there had been no YouTube, and one couldn’t have put Gabriel Poghosyan’s “speeches” on the web and make them accessible for thousands of people. In that case, how would we have become aware of the level of this person’s intellect and literacy? Probably, the government would have been able to forbid showing the videos and avoid showing them on TV. Similarly, if some “cheeky” MP, prosecutor or policeman tries to show that he is a “tough guy,” it is very probably that a certain citizen will shoot his “adventures” on the phone, after which, within a few seconds, that video will appear on YouTube. However, the society itself – I should say the part of it that doesn’t have any expectations from the traditional institutions anymore and has started to define its tasks itself – plays the most important role here.
Those tasks are multifold. To me, for one, it is essential that Tigran Arakelyan is released. I don’t attach importance to whether he is a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) or an Eagle of Syunik – people must not be imprisoned for their political views. I would also like it very much, if, to put it mildly, controversial claims did not appear in history books. Certainly, everyone, including a historian, has a right to express his opinion, but when it comes to a textbook, i.e. the culture to be handed over to the generations to come, it seems to me that one must measure ten times and cut once. Certainly, there may be many other primary tasks.
Now the government pays attention to the public opinion, conditionally, by 5 percent. When that percentage reaches 70%-80%, as it is in the West, the political games – negotiations, arrangements, bargaining, the government of such and such – will not be of essential importance anymore. The important thing is that the politician on the platform doesn’t begin his speech with the words “dear folks,” but with the words “honorable citizens.”
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
