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Pathetic Policy, Protest, Progress

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  • Pathetic Policy, Protest, Progress

    Pathetic Policy, Protest, Progress


    Garen Yegparian

    BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

    If you own some property and lease it to someone else for some
    activity, usually, but not necessarily economic, you expect the lessee
    to clean up after her/him/it-self, right? You don't expect garbage
    lying around. You don't expect mounds of poisonous stuff that will
    persist, effectively, forever. You expect the property to be returned
    to you in essentially the same condition as you gave it out. And, you
    certainly wouldn't knowingly create a state of affairs that would
    result in anything but such a respectable restoration of your
    property.

    If only the government of the Republic of Armenia had that much good
    sense! In pursuing an economic development strategy that emphasizes
    extractive industry, i.e. mining in this case, they have adopted a
    very penny-wise-pound-foolish policy. They have invited the world's
    miners, not a very well behaved bunch to start with (think of all the
    needless deaths you read about from the U.S. to China), to come to the
    country to rape, ravage, and pillage the land. The government has
    accepted responsibility for watching all the mining wastes - tailings
    to toxic ponds - forever. Doesn't that sound a bit fishy to you? The
    government that comes up with the infamous Protocols with Turkey, that
    conducts election after crooked election, and that enables a savage
    bunch of oligarchs to run roughshod over the country, is going to see
    to the safe maintenance of incredibly poisonous materials. Not very
    plausible in my book!

    But when people realize they're being screwed, especially by their
    `own' government, a deep revulsion stirs. They are moved to act. They
    take back control of their lives. This process may not be rapid, but
    it becomes unstoppable in due time. An example of this is Kacharan.
    Next to this village, located on the Azerbaijani-occupied-Nakhichevan
    border (therefore holding great military value), is a mine that has
    been exploited since the 1960s. Now, despite the fact that the current
    mine has decades more to go before the end of it is played out, the
    owners want to `move' Kacharan because it sits on more, near-surface,
    ore deposits. What unspeakable, irresponsible, and treasonous greed!
    Fortunately, spearheaded by the village leader, the locals are
    standing firm on their historic homeland. They're asking for help in
    upgrading the road into Kacharan, all of two kilometers long (1.25
    miles) so the economy can develop. It seems that `their' government,
    i.e. Yerevan, is not doing this. Does it take much to guess why?
    Remember, state policy is `mining = path to development', and it's
    likely the relevant authorities are in the miners' pockets, or worse,
    are might themselves be the miners.

    Let's take a look at that developmental premise. It's true that
    natural resources, harvested wisely and the moneys they generate
    invested back into the economy, can spur development. But remember, a
    few months back, I'd written about how only two cents of every dollar
    from the Teghood mine were going to end up serving the country and
    people. The rest? Who knows? Probably in the pocket of some leering
    lout of an oligarch. What makes anyone believe that Kacharan is any
    different? Or, for that matter, any of the others of the hundreds of
    active and proposed mines effectively covering the RoA (Artsakh is no
    better it seems).
    Judging by the reaction to Yeghia Nersesian's, the eco-activist who
    toured the Los Angeles area, presentations last week and the nascent
    organizing in the Diaspora to support those doing battle with the
    minions of miners in the fields, forests, mountains, and streets of
    our homeland, we may be on the verge of seeing some positive movement.

    Remember, in the background to all this looms the RoA's presidential
    election, just over two months from now. Add to that the lawsuit being
    pursued by the activists that was to be announced in Yerevan as this
    piece is being written. Factor in the `proto-parliament' that some
    sectors of society are trying to get off the ground as an alternative
    to the current government. Consider the growing awareness of the
    villagers in Teghood and elsewhere that they're being screwed.
    Clearly, there is a potent mix of ingredients that may lead to
    significant progress being made.

    If what little of our homeland we have left gets ravaged by
    unscrupulous, reckless, exclusively-money-grubbing miners, what legs
    will we have to stand on to demand the rest of it back from Turkey and
    Azerbaijan? Ankara and Baku must by in tears from the laughs they're
    getting at our expense as they watch the prospect of turning our
    gorgeous homeland into a desolate, uninhabitable, wasteland.

    Please, hitch your wagon to the movement to save Teghood. That's the
    first level. The second level is to fight to have sensible,
    sustainable, publicly beneficial mining operations in the country. And
    the third level is to learn from this environmental activism how to be
    full-fledged, engaged citizens and stakeholders of our homeland.

    Jump in, this is a grave time. You might become the John Muir of Armenia.

    http://asbarez.com/107295/pathetic-policy-protest-progress/

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