The expression “the revolution has won” seems extremely optimistic. If on May 8, Nikol Pashinyan is elected as Prime Minister, even in that case I would not hurry to record the victory of the revolution. It will be possible to speak about success if we can have a better state and society. As we have already gone through all of this, let me make two remarks.
1/We should not wait for fast results. After May 8 (if everything ends well) thousands of people who have been dealing with injustice over the past 25 years or believe that they have, will come to the government building with their fair or unfair claims. Or those who are more advanced will formulate these requirements in the form of “open letters”. Most of our citizens do not really believe in institutions, the prosecutor’s office, the police, and of course the court, they attach their hopes to the leader of the country, especially in this case when they trust him. To convince people to apply to the relevant state bodies, at this point, seems impossible. Of course, these institutions should be changed. I doubt that it is possible to do in a couple of days, and in that sense, citizens should be a little bit patient. But I do not doubt that it is possible to change these institutions. Hundreds of thousands of honest, kind, respectful and loving people have gone out to the streets, it remains that they also display these praiseworthy features in their workplace. How to do it, experts will say, there is also international experience.
2/The “movement guys” are not superior to the rest of the citizens. The following logic: “I am a movement participant, I have struggled, suffered deprivations, and been arrested, so I deserve a nice position”, leads to sad consequences. The experience of decades shows that many of the “movement guys” can become exactly the same characters who have been denied during the revolution within 2-3 years. Another manifestation of that same logic is that “this guy is from our team, we cannot punish him”. Or another version, “where were you when I was blocking the streets?”. Revolutionary romance often turns into an exchange rate that, as we say, is capitalized in quite pragmatic ways.
I do not want to spoil anybody’s mood. I just recall what happened 30 years ago and after that.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
