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THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS TO LEARN A LESSON
April 11 2013
Regardless of who will be the president of Armenia and who will be
the "chief oppositionist," who will be radical and revolutionary,
and who will be conservative or indecisive, the worst result these
post-election developments can yield is disappointment. That word is
pronounced more often after April 9. It's a great pity. I have said
many times already that one should not be excited to such an extent
that one can give way to major depression afterwards, furthermore,
one shouldn't pin any hopes on this or that date. Tomorrow I will
lose 10 kilograms, on May 11, I will speak Japanese fluently, and,
say, on October 16, the rule of law and democracy will be established
in Armenia. And once these things don't happen, "uh-oh" starts - I am
getting my stuff together, this is not a country, let me go and come
back when it improves. The issue is that such phenomena cannot happen
"now, now, now," they happen "always, always, always," but if you
don't put effort every day, there will be a regress, and if you put
that effort, there won't be the shining of a fertile lightning, but
traditions and culture will be formed that is a continuous process,
not a final result. One cannot be disappointed with that kind of
thinking, realizing that you progress building something at every
moment. To be ready, as Kipling said, that you can lose and start
again at your beginnings. And, certainly, to learn your lessons. The
main lesson that the opposition - not only Raffi Hovhannisyan -
should learn from April 9 is that in order to hold a rally or any
other event, one should have a clear program and clear organizational
structure. The model "my people and I" doesn't work; it leads to a
situation, when a part of the people goes to 26 Baghramyan, another
part to the Armenian Genocide Memorial, another one may wish to go
to, say, the Garni Temple. The demonstration or the march of the
opposition, as far as I can understand, is to show the strength,
the decisiveness, and the unity of its ranks. In that sense, it
seems to me that it is more meaningful to take the route agreed on
with the police, but together, in a dense mass, than to improvise and
instigate meaningless clashes. No matter how unlawful the actions taken
by the police were, the propaganda effect of those is less powerful
than that of a really strong march. However, if the goal of different
opposition forces is a change of power, as a result of which, in their
opinion, justice and well-being will be established, they should not
be torn apart. In particular, the criticism of Raffi Hovhannisyan
should not be malicious. That is what is called "playing into the
regime's hands." About 10 years ago, during a press conference, when
impatient journalists were asking Stepan Demirchyan questions about
his tactical mistakes, one of experienced politicians of Armenia,
Babken Ararktsyan, remembered the well-known proverb "Don't shoot
the piano player, he's doing the best he can." ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/11/153563/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
April 11 2013
Regardless of who will be the president of Armenia and who will be
the "chief oppositionist," who will be radical and revolutionary,
and who will be conservative or indecisive, the worst result these
post-election developments can yield is disappointment. That word is
pronounced more often after April 9. It's a great pity. I have said
many times already that one should not be excited to such an extent
that one can give way to major depression afterwards, furthermore,
one shouldn't pin any hopes on this or that date. Tomorrow I will
lose 10 kilograms, on May 11, I will speak Japanese fluently, and,
say, on October 16, the rule of law and democracy will be established
in Armenia. And once these things don't happen, "uh-oh" starts - I am
getting my stuff together, this is not a country, let me go and come
back when it improves. The issue is that such phenomena cannot happen
"now, now, now," they happen "always, always, always," but if you
don't put effort every day, there will be a regress, and if you put
that effort, there won't be the shining of a fertile lightning, but
traditions and culture will be formed that is a continuous process,
not a final result. One cannot be disappointed with that kind of
thinking, realizing that you progress building something at every
moment. To be ready, as Kipling said, that you can lose and start
again at your beginnings. And, certainly, to learn your lessons. The
main lesson that the opposition - not only Raffi Hovhannisyan -
should learn from April 9 is that in order to hold a rally or any
other event, one should have a clear program and clear organizational
structure. The model "my people and I" doesn't work; it leads to a
situation, when a part of the people goes to 26 Baghramyan, another
part to the Armenian Genocide Memorial, another one may wish to go
to, say, the Garni Temple. The demonstration or the march of the
opposition, as far as I can understand, is to show the strength,
the decisiveness, and the unity of its ranks. In that sense, it
seems to me that it is more meaningful to take the route agreed on
with the police, but together, in a dense mass, than to improvise and
instigate meaningless clashes. No matter how unlawful the actions taken
by the police were, the propaganda effect of those is less powerful
than that of a really strong march. However, if the goal of different
opposition forces is a change of power, as a result of which, in their
opinion, justice and well-being will be established, they should not
be torn apart. In particular, the criticism of Raffi Hovhannisyan
should not be malicious. That is what is called "playing into the
regime's hands." About 10 years ago, during a press conference, when
impatient journalists were asking Stepan Demirchyan questions about
his tactical mistakes, one of experienced politicians of Armenia,
Babken Ararktsyan, remembered the well-known proverb "Don't shoot
the piano player, he's doing the best he can." ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/04/11/153563/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia