“Cowardice asks: is it safe?
Expediency asks: is it prudent?
Vanity asks: is it popular?
But conscience asks: is it right?
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And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor prudent, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”
These words were spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. — a great American and clergyman who helped transform his country.
What he said does not necessarily apply to statesmen, who are obliged to be, at the very least, prudent. But when we speak, in a broader sense, about public figures — people whose voices are heard beyond their private circles— such people have a responsibility to speak out. And now is precisely the time in Armenia to do so.
Among such people, there are certainly some “honestly misguided” individuals, whom I will set aside because they are not significant in number. My focus is on those who clearly see and fully understand where Pashinyan is leading our country, what awaits us in the coming years if this government remains in power, yet either say things that are the opposite of what they truly believe or remain silent under the excuse that they “do not engage in politics” — which is just as bad as speaking against one’s own beliefs.
There are two main reasons for such a stance — or rather, “non-stance”:
a/ fear, including the fear of being in the minority,
b/ benefits received from the authorities, including through Western grant providers that support Pashinyan.
There are several common excuses for effectively avoiding taking a position.
1/ “I don’t want to become a servant of Russia.” This is an imaginary danger invented by the current authorities. Russia’s positions in the South Caucasus have significantly weakened and will continue to weaken — and this is happening not because of Pashinyan’s heroic efforts, but because of Putin’s reckless policies.
2/ “I don’t want Kocharyan to return.” That, too, is just empty talk. The second president, even if his political force enters parliament, has no chance of returning to power.
3/ “They are all the same; I don’t see a single worthy person.” But today the issue is not about finding a “worthy person”; it is about stopping Armenia’s free fall.
I repeat: the real tragedy is that those who resort to these and other similar “cop-outs” know the reality perfectly well.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
