At the end of the 19th century, in the territory of what is now Belarus, there were both Orthodox and Catholics, and there were also mixed communities. It is said that a Catholic bishop used to instruct his priests in a very specific way: where you are a minority, fight for your rights—democracy, equality. Where you are equal in numbers to the Orthodox, fight for advantages and privileges. And where you are the majority, ban all other faiths.
It doesn’t really matter that it was a Catholic saying this—I’m sure the Orthodox thought the same way. And this is how most political figures, or those close to politics, think all over the world. They have always thought this way. Martin Luther, at first, fought so that his books would not be burned. But once his movement spread and became influential, he began fighting for the books of the Anabaptists to be burned—along with their authors and supporters. In terms of ideas, Lutherans differed from Catholics; in terms of methods, they did not.
People often ask me: how did it happen that former champions of free speech (including some former journalists) are now fighting against free speech—both at the legislative level and through the law enforcement bodies and courts they keep in their pocket? For example, the most anti-democratic amendments to the media law adopted in 2003 were made after 2018. There is no mystery here: people seek power not to make the world a better place, but for the sake of social revenge.
What were today’s rulers fighting for in the streets? So that they would no longer be in the streets—so that they would be in “palaces.” So that they could live in luxury apartments, have chauffeur-driven cars, and many of them also seize profitable businesses. Yes, envelopes of cash have been replaced with “bonuses.” But who decides on those bonuses?
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If the motivation of the new government (whenever it is formed) is rejection, revenge, “starting from zero,” then sooner or later it will end up resembling the current Nikolist government.
…And who was it that used to sneer at European institutions as “Euro-alfalfa,” accusing them of turning a blind eye to human rights violations in Armenia?
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
The image was created using artificial intelligence
