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When Criminal System Loses Legitimacy
The recent shooting incident in Gyumri was shocking. It had been a
long time Gyumri did not hear shootings though there is always such
risk there. I was in Gyumri on those days and I felt the atmosphere
and heard local conversations.
Such incidents, alas, are something usual in Gyumri. This time,
however, there was something unusual. The attitude of the people of
Gyumri to such a state of things has changed, so has the official
position, the mass media widely covered the incident as well.
First, the incident, as anything related to Gyumri, is interpreted in
certain coloring, comparing the town to Sicily, for instance. It is
possible that those involved in the incident used to be linked to
criminal culture but their presence in the government and business, as
well as the fact that the incident overlapped with the process of
fight for power means we should forget about `coloring'.
Everything is indeed exotic and it is very fashionable to use the
criminal term `vendetta' but everything is happening exceptionally
within the process of the scramble of power, and if there is something
traditional and exotic, then it is the shots before and after the
elections. It is impossible to look for any logic, tradition and
ethics in such cases because first it is lawlessness and only then
politics.
This assumption could be questioned, of course, because in the latest
incident, for example, there are no political grounds. Perhaps, there
is none at first sight let alone the fact that the participants are
members of the PAP or Republicans. In fact, however, the clash was
reported when Vardan Ghukasyan and Martun Grigoryan started their
political competition.
The incident is worrying because even the Chief of Police of Armenia
spoke about the criminal world. True, in Gyumri, the influence of the
criminal world has been huge but the government represented by the
chief of Police didn't hesitate to use the services and favors of the
criminal world, taking care of it and hence legitimizing it too.
Usually criminal systems succeed when the police are unable to ensure
people's security. When the police are corrupt, the society creates
myths to feel safe which sometimes contradict the laws. Once the
police system is established, the criminal world automatically
retreats. There is no difference if Gyumri people have a criminal
thinking or not in case they continue firing at each other. By the
way, those having criminal thinking seem to be very close to
governmental resources and they are quite visible. The police are
supposed to prevent crimes and not find moral-psychological and
cultural reasons once a crime is committed and then blame the society.
It is already a tradition to blame the society for their own
shortcomings. It turns out that the government is very educated, moral
and law-abiding, while the society is ignorant, criminal and piggy
which likes breaking statues and firing at one another.
What is now happening in Gyumri is the expression of advantages and
disadvantages of the system. It would have been hard to predict such a
situation several years ago: the power preferred supporting the winner
in such situations before. But much has changed: the criminal is
losing its influence and legitimacy first of all because life has
changed. Then, in a period when peace, security and compromise become
priorities, violence and the criminal world can't be legitimate. On
the other hand, the new technologies have shattered the grounds on
which the criminal is based - consanguinity, community etc.
The official position on the incident differs from the previous ones
too. Once police troops were taken to Gyumri from Yerevan to defend
Vardan Ghukasyan, while today Ghukasyan himself is taken to the
police.
The position during the presidential elections showed that the
criminal resource either didn't participate or lost. Now the criminal
world has reached a point when the authorities and the society need to
set legally what happened on the public and political levels. One of
the important grounds of change of public consciousness and
marginalization of the criminal world is the results of the
presidential election in Gyumri, which Raffi Hovannisian unfortunately
failed to capitalize. Nonetheless, they have brought about some
changes.
Levon Margaryan
11:41 27/04/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/comments/view/29744
The recent shooting incident in Gyumri was shocking. It had been a
long time Gyumri did not hear shootings though there is always such
risk there. I was in Gyumri on those days and I felt the atmosphere
and heard local conversations.
Such incidents, alas, are something usual in Gyumri. This time,
however, there was something unusual. The attitude of the people of
Gyumri to such a state of things has changed, so has the official
position, the mass media widely covered the incident as well.
First, the incident, as anything related to Gyumri, is interpreted in
certain coloring, comparing the town to Sicily, for instance. It is
possible that those involved in the incident used to be linked to
criminal culture but their presence in the government and business, as
well as the fact that the incident overlapped with the process of
fight for power means we should forget about `coloring'.
Everything is indeed exotic and it is very fashionable to use the
criminal term `vendetta' but everything is happening exceptionally
within the process of the scramble of power, and if there is something
traditional and exotic, then it is the shots before and after the
elections. It is impossible to look for any logic, tradition and
ethics in such cases because first it is lawlessness and only then
politics.
This assumption could be questioned, of course, because in the latest
incident, for example, there are no political grounds. Perhaps, there
is none at first sight let alone the fact that the participants are
members of the PAP or Republicans. In fact, however, the clash was
reported when Vardan Ghukasyan and Martun Grigoryan started their
political competition.
The incident is worrying because even the Chief of Police of Armenia
spoke about the criminal world. True, in Gyumri, the influence of the
criminal world has been huge but the government represented by the
chief of Police didn't hesitate to use the services and favors of the
criminal world, taking care of it and hence legitimizing it too.
Usually criminal systems succeed when the police are unable to ensure
people's security. When the police are corrupt, the society creates
myths to feel safe which sometimes contradict the laws. Once the
police system is established, the criminal world automatically
retreats. There is no difference if Gyumri people have a criminal
thinking or not in case they continue firing at each other. By the
way, those having criminal thinking seem to be very close to
governmental resources and they are quite visible. The police are
supposed to prevent crimes and not find moral-psychological and
cultural reasons once a crime is committed and then blame the society.
It is already a tradition to blame the society for their own
shortcomings. It turns out that the government is very educated, moral
and law-abiding, while the society is ignorant, criminal and piggy
which likes breaking statues and firing at one another.
What is now happening in Gyumri is the expression of advantages and
disadvantages of the system. It would have been hard to predict such a
situation several years ago: the power preferred supporting the winner
in such situations before. But much has changed: the criminal is
losing its influence and legitimacy first of all because life has
changed. Then, in a period when peace, security and compromise become
priorities, violence and the criminal world can't be legitimate. On
the other hand, the new technologies have shattered the grounds on
which the criminal is based - consanguinity, community etc.
The official position on the incident differs from the previous ones
too. Once police troops were taken to Gyumri from Yerevan to defend
Vardan Ghukasyan, while today Ghukasyan himself is taken to the
police.
The position during the presidential elections showed that the
criminal resource either didn't participate or lost. Now the criminal
world has reached a point when the authorities and the society need to
set legally what happened on the public and political levels. One of
the important grounds of change of public consciousness and
marginalization of the criminal world is the results of the
presidential election in Gyumri, which Raffi Hovannisian unfortunately
failed to capitalize. Nonetheless, they have brought about some
changes.
Levon Margaryan
11:41 27/04/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index.php/eng/0/comments/view/29744