George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” has been quoted often in connection to the current authorities. It describes the revolutionaries who, after coming to power, did a 180 from their revolutionary slogans. For example, they said that 4 legs are good and 2 legs are bad. After the revolution, the slogan sounded like this: four feet are good, but two are better. Now it is the same story. It was the initial slogan – no business owner should be in the National Assembly, but then the slogan changed. If the businessman is a “good person” and “ours,” then their entry into parliament is quite acceptable.
Hanging portraits of the leader on the walls of officials is from the same series. Do you remember how the revolutionaries fought against hanging pictures of Serzh Sargsyan? There was a case when one of the activists took the picture and threw it out of the window. But now, it is encouraged to hang up a picture of Pashinyan because he is a popular, legitimate leader. Or, for example, during the “previous criminal regime,” speedometers and street cameras were a way to “oppress the people” (thus “pouring oil on the hearts of unruly drivers”), and now, it is a way to restore order on the roads.
But all of this, let me say, is nothing in comparison to emigration. During the first half of this year, the number of passenger flows reached 94,000. In other words, that is how many citizens of Armenia left but did not return. Such indicators existed only during the first Artsakh war, in 1992-94. Of course, this does not mean that so many people have emigrated, but it speaks of extremely dangerous tendencies. It is quite realistic that the number of emigrants will approach 100,000 this year. In the past, people with oppositional views (in politics, in the public sphere, and on Facebook) clapped their hands and cried every day about emigration, but now they do not speak out about it. Probably because now people are leaving “new Armenia” where “there is a future.” But no matter what tricks the authorities and pro-government circles use to deny or explain this phenomenon, this is a fact that you cannot escape from anywhere.
… An old story about double standards. Jean-Baptiste Bernadot was the founder of the present-day Swedish royal family. He began his career as a soldier in the French army, then “advanced” during the Revolution and Napoleon’s time and became a general. In 1818, he ascended the Swedish throne. And when the king died in 1844, a tattoo was noticed on his hand before his funeral. It said in French, “Death to kings.”
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Aram Abrahamyan
