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DIASPORA ADRIFT
Mirror Spectator
Editorial 6-21
By Edmond Y. Azadian
We live in a world of instant gratification. Life, death, calamities
and pleasures happen instantly before our eyes, leading us on a course
of fatalism.
The Middle Eastern Armenian communities are quickly depopulated by
political and military upheavals. Armenia is being depopulated after
the six-century dream of an independent homeland has fallen short
of providing all the answers. On the other hand, new communities are
formed in the West and especially in North America, with a different
complexion.
In short, a lopsided existence has been created with more Armenians
living outside than inside Armenia. As such, values also have undergone
an intense process of transformation.
Drifting apart from our home bases in Armenia and the Middle East,
we have come together in other parts of the world as a consequence of
globalization. We are apart yet we are bound together in a nebulous
existence.
Following the Genocide, as the survivors settled down in the New
World, the common prophecy was that within 50 years, there would
be no Armenians left in the diaspora. One hundred years after that
prediction, today, the prophesy remains the same, leading us to believe
that the momentum will carry us still for some time in the future.
But as time passes, the global Armenian community will be reduced
to an amorphous state, where the anchor of our existence, Armenia,
will have less and less relevance.
The process has already begun; indifference, hatred and animosity
have been plaguing Diaspora Armenians every time Armenia becomes a
subject of discussion.
Incidentally, now there are two strains in the diaspora. The
traditional one, which has existed for at least a century, if not
more, some even dating back to the fall of Ani, comes with a built-in
resistance to assimilation, and a new one, formed by the waves of
economic immigrants from Armenia who carry no immunity to alienation
and assimilation.
These new immigrants are forming self-contained communities in
communion and osmosis more with the outside world than the existing
Armenian communities in North America and Europe. For example, the
new 25,000-30,000-strong Armenian community in Greece has almost no
interaction with the 10,000-strong older Armenian community there,
which has struggled for a century to preserve its damaged identity
and create mechanisms for self-preservation.
The same confusing picture emerges in California, where new immigrants
have created a world of their own, their Soviet values incompatible
with the host environment: where former academicians have become
taxi drivers, others freshly arrived who believe they are entitled to
welfare, where the youth culture prides itself on its jailbirds and
where former opera singers and ballet dancers entertain the nouveaux
riches at obnoxiously opulent weddings while intellectuals form a
separate caste, seldom contributing to the overall Armenian culture.
Most of them exhibit a dangerous anti-Armenia streak, perhaps derived
from pangs of guilt at having abandoned the homeland.
The traditional diaspora, in its turn, continues its degradation,
with its institutions becoming mere shells of their former selves.
The churches have assumed a new social role, shedding their traditional
missions. Throughout history, wherever the belfry of a church arose,
a school was built adjacent to it. On the East Coast, the church has
completely shirked that responsibility and our clergy members do not
opt for a change. On the West Coast, the picture is not very different;
the Diocese only has a single school, while the Prelacy sponsors a
network of schools mostly on a utilitarian agenda, to indoctrinate
a new generation with political dogmas.
The diaspora survived for centuries because of its institutions and
charismatic leaders. Today, it is hard to pinpoint leaders who can
command the overall respect of the diaspora and mobilize communities
for a noble cause.
We have not yet succeeded in galvanizing the million-plus-member
diaspora into a political force. While politics -- domestic or foreign
-- determine our existence and destiny, we have a tendency to resist
the issues, instead depoliticizing the community with an atavistic
fear inherited from the Ottoman times. Many local and community
agendas could be achieved by engaging in the democratic process of
this country.
There is an indifference, a sense of ennui, with regard to the loss
of some values and institutions. No one is alarmed by the loss of
the language. It is true that the spirit can carry us some distance,
but language has an important traditional value; it is the key to our
heritage, to the sources of our history. Responsible people rationalize
that language is doomed to be lost, sooner or later, so why struggle,
why worry -- let it happen sooner rather than later.
The centennial of the Genocide is around the corner. The US Armenian
community has yet to chart a course. No one is outraged that the
Genocide Museum project failed because of our general apathy and
perhaps also because of a political conspiracy. The Russian-Armenian
community has become the largest Armenian Diaspora, though it is
still in its infancy, with almost no schools, just taking pride in
putting up new churches.
Ironically, there are more Armenians in Russia than Armenia, but the
community is still in a flux to define and to determine its identity,
to be useful to itself, to the world Armenian community and especially
to our ancestral homeland.
Facing disaster, we live in a Panglossian world. The French
philosopher Voltaire published the classic satire of the Age of
Enlightenment, Candide. In the book, the protagonist, Candide, is
the disciple of Dr. Pangloss, whose optimism won't be dampened by
any disaster. Armenians around the world live in that Panglossian
world, the motto of which is: "All is for the best in the best of
all possible worlds."
From: A. Papazian
Mirror Spectator
Editorial 6-21
By Edmond Y. Azadian
We live in a world of instant gratification. Life, death, calamities
and pleasures happen instantly before our eyes, leading us on a course
of fatalism.
The Middle Eastern Armenian communities are quickly depopulated by
political and military upheavals. Armenia is being depopulated after
the six-century dream of an independent homeland has fallen short
of providing all the answers. On the other hand, new communities are
formed in the West and especially in North America, with a different
complexion.
In short, a lopsided existence has been created with more Armenians
living outside than inside Armenia. As such, values also have undergone
an intense process of transformation.
Drifting apart from our home bases in Armenia and the Middle East,
we have come together in other parts of the world as a consequence of
globalization. We are apart yet we are bound together in a nebulous
existence.
Following the Genocide, as the survivors settled down in the New
World, the common prophecy was that within 50 years, there would
be no Armenians left in the diaspora. One hundred years after that
prediction, today, the prophesy remains the same, leading us to believe
that the momentum will carry us still for some time in the future.
But as time passes, the global Armenian community will be reduced
to an amorphous state, where the anchor of our existence, Armenia,
will have less and less relevance.
The process has already begun; indifference, hatred and animosity
have been plaguing Diaspora Armenians every time Armenia becomes a
subject of discussion.
Incidentally, now there are two strains in the diaspora. The
traditional one, which has existed for at least a century, if not
more, some even dating back to the fall of Ani, comes with a built-in
resistance to assimilation, and a new one, formed by the waves of
economic immigrants from Armenia who carry no immunity to alienation
and assimilation.
These new immigrants are forming self-contained communities in
communion and osmosis more with the outside world than the existing
Armenian communities in North America and Europe. For example, the
new 25,000-30,000-strong Armenian community in Greece has almost no
interaction with the 10,000-strong older Armenian community there,
which has struggled for a century to preserve its damaged identity
and create mechanisms for self-preservation.
The same confusing picture emerges in California, where new immigrants
have created a world of their own, their Soviet values incompatible
with the host environment: where former academicians have become
taxi drivers, others freshly arrived who believe they are entitled to
welfare, where the youth culture prides itself on its jailbirds and
where former opera singers and ballet dancers entertain the nouveaux
riches at obnoxiously opulent weddings while intellectuals form a
separate caste, seldom contributing to the overall Armenian culture.
Most of them exhibit a dangerous anti-Armenia streak, perhaps derived
from pangs of guilt at having abandoned the homeland.
The traditional diaspora, in its turn, continues its degradation,
with its institutions becoming mere shells of their former selves.
The churches have assumed a new social role, shedding their traditional
missions. Throughout history, wherever the belfry of a church arose,
a school was built adjacent to it. On the East Coast, the church has
completely shirked that responsibility and our clergy members do not
opt for a change. On the West Coast, the picture is not very different;
the Diocese only has a single school, while the Prelacy sponsors a
network of schools mostly on a utilitarian agenda, to indoctrinate
a new generation with political dogmas.
The diaspora survived for centuries because of its institutions and
charismatic leaders. Today, it is hard to pinpoint leaders who can
command the overall respect of the diaspora and mobilize communities
for a noble cause.
We have not yet succeeded in galvanizing the million-plus-member
diaspora into a political force. While politics -- domestic or foreign
-- determine our existence and destiny, we have a tendency to resist
the issues, instead depoliticizing the community with an atavistic
fear inherited from the Ottoman times. Many local and community
agendas could be achieved by engaging in the democratic process of
this country.
There is an indifference, a sense of ennui, with regard to the loss
of some values and institutions. No one is alarmed by the loss of
the language. It is true that the spirit can carry us some distance,
but language has an important traditional value; it is the key to our
heritage, to the sources of our history. Responsible people rationalize
that language is doomed to be lost, sooner or later, so why struggle,
why worry -- let it happen sooner rather than later.
The centennial of the Genocide is around the corner. The US Armenian
community has yet to chart a course. No one is outraged that the
Genocide Museum project failed because of our general apathy and
perhaps also because of a political conspiracy. The Russian-Armenian
community has become the largest Armenian Diaspora, though it is
still in its infancy, with almost no schools, just taking pride in
putting up new churches.
Ironically, there are more Armenians in Russia than Armenia, but the
community is still in a flux to define and to determine its identity,
to be useful to itself, to the world Armenian community and especially
to our ancestral homeland.
Facing disaster, we live in a Panglossian world. The French
philosopher Voltaire published the classic satire of the Age of
Enlightenment, Candide. In the book, the protagonist, Candide, is
the disciple of Dr. Pangloss, whose optimism won't be dampened by
any disaster. Armenians around the world live in that Panglossian
world, the motto of which is: "All is for the best in the best of
all possible worlds."
From: A. Papazian