Article 29 of the draft Constitution reads, “Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, affiliation of national minority, property, birth, disability, age or other personal or social circumstances shall be prohibited.” You would say, which of the article of the current or future Constitution functions that this one should function. Definitely, you are right. But such articles underlies a whole value system, which we either accept or reject. On this issue, we seem to have the right to claim that we deal not only with illegalities of the public authorities but also with the psychology of the society opposing this Article.
Eventually, what is a prohibition of discrimination? I think it is a very simple thing. If you, let’s say, are Armenian, Christian and Republican Party member, then you are no more or less than, let’s say, a Yezidi, pagan and ANC member. If someone is sitting in the chair and type a text on a computer, he/she has no advantage over the one who approaches the computer in a wheelchair. And shouldn’t it be essential for the employer only to have the text look good. If I am a son of a professor, it does not mean that the cleaner’s son yields to me in anything.
Who are advocating discrimination? It is done by those who want to constrain people’s mind and their freedom. The mechanism is very simple. The party leader says, “The party that I lead is righteous, therefore, those who are not from our party are wrong. Therefore, you should say and do only right things and what I dictate to you without deviating here and there. Otherwise, we with all party members will attack you and destroy you morally.” And people abide by the “party discipline”, it is much easier. If something fails all of a sudden, it is not your problem, you’re doing assignments, you were a party soldier. (This psychology, in fact, underlies the authoritarian regimes).
When a priest or a pontiff says, “I forbid you to marry men or women of other belief,” herewith he puts the people of his faith in certain frames. Who should draw these frames? Of course, he, the pontiff. Thus, you feel yourself, first of all, a member of given part, religious organization, “national team”, social group and then only a human being.
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This does not mean, of course, you cannot affiliate to any organization. But becoming a member, you should do only what you admit by heart and soul. In other words, not the pontiff has instructed me to do this or that thing, but I have decided to do this or that thing for this and this reasons. And if something does not work, I am only responsible for it.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
