70 years we are living in a country whose national anthem (the ruling and the only party’s national anthem since 1944) began with the following words, “Arise, ye branded with a curse.” To the point, the text was translated into Armenian by Yeghishe Charents, so the quality of the translation causes no doubts. In Russia, if you remember, it sounded like this, «вставай, проклятьем заклейменный», and the French original reads, «debout! les damnes de la terre». As you can see, the notion of “curse” is found in all the versions. This, I think, is an overly desperate self-appraisal and it seems to me that starting a song or a fight with this sad “presumption” is not rational. In other words, you admit in advance that you or your land is cursed.
It is very hard to move in any direction from this “starting position”, if not impossible. If some magical forces have left a mark of curses on you, then your actions particularly have no sense, other magical forces are necessary, which will take this curse away from you.
It is not enough that you are cursed in your country, there are plenty of other cursed in many other countries, who united against the leech rich will curse them … after which, probably, everyone will be poor. A new world will be formed in this global happiness, where “there are neither slaves nor complaints”. In Russian, it sounds a lot more ominous, «кто был ничем, тот станет всем» (in French, it is roughly the same idea, «nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout»). Of course, we know cases when people come up from the lowest layers and rise to the heights of wealth and power, but in this case, the matter is about getting rid of the curse and distributing the goods of the world equally.
During the times of Charents, people were believing in these notions, in my lifetime, no one took it seriously. But these words have a magical effect, on listening to these wordings about the “curse” over the radio and television a hundred times, an idea began perhaps “circulating” in our subconscious that people who have not achieved success in their life, in their opinion, appear in this type of mental state because of some curse, and destroying the rich is the best way to get rid of this curse.
I have repeatedly heard from the people who are offended with our country and gone away that “Armenia is a cursed country.” Perhaps in childhood and teenage years, they have often listened to the “International”, therefore, they are “defiling their lips with the curse”.
…When I was working at the president’s office, the name of the buffet manager was called Vesmir, весь мир насилья мы разрушим (We will destroy this world of violence). He was a very modest man with no such ambitions.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
