Diasporan Armenian Politics... the means, or an end?

I have never been a fan of the political parties in the Armenian Diaspora, nor of the various other Armenian political entities which have the audacity to presume that they represent Diasporan Armenians; these groups, in some cases, impose their own criteria and definitions of what it is to be Armenian, who is a good Armenian, and the strict rules which must be followed in order to be accepted as an Armenian - a Diasporan Armenian - rules, roles, and identities which are in so many ways disconnected from just an identity, and from Armenia.
But the main players for the majority of my life have been the Dashnaks, the Ramgavars, the ANC, AAA etc... These groups often act in a way which would make an outsider think that the group itself is the end, and being Armenian, or the country of Armenia itself, just a means, or a tool.
I have been impressed by the third main party, however, which at least from my perspective, has resurfaced more recently, the Hnchaks. When I scan the main papers of all of these groups, I've noticed it is the Hnchakian publications that have events in Armenia on the front page, as issues of main concern. That's as opposed to many of the other groups, where Armenia may or may not show up in an issue, other than as related to a fundraiser, or other non-headlining, relatively unimportant topic. Issues in Armenia do come up in these other publications, but they are often downplayed, with what I am starting to think is an intentional quietude and minimality of information, meant to keep readers wondering more about the next banquet or social gathering, than about unemployment and economics, healthcare and education in Armenia, not to mention, regardless of what side one takes, the issue of Democracy in Armenia.
For example, on January 26th, the day PACE met, Nouvelles D'Armenie published an article cosigned by several groups, including the Hntchakians, not only eloquently summarizing the current state of human rights and democracy in Armenia, but urging PACE to actually hold Armenia responsible for their commitment to Human Rights and Democracy in Armenia, as they obliged to with their membership in the Council of Europe.
On the other hand, the Armenian Assembly of America has decided to hold their yearly Washington D.C. Advocacy Conference on March 1-3 this year. Regardless of whether you think there are or are not political prisoners, you like SS or LTP or Muk or whomever, it seems more than a tad disrespectful to cover up that day of incredible violence and sadness with meetings, and a banquet. Not to say that advocacy has not played an important role -- I do appreciate some of their work. So, along with SAAG, I emailed them, and made a suggestion. I have yet to hear a response. I sent it on January 17th. Below is the email, which I sent to the following email addresses (the last one bounced back):

bardouny@aaainc.org (Bryan Ardouny, executive director);
mzachariades@aaainc.org (Michael Zachariades, Director of Communications- his name
is on the press release);
Ykeshishian@aaainc.org (Yeghig Keshishian, Director Western Office);
info@aaainc.org ;
centoff@arminco.com
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Dear Armenian Assembly of America,

For years I have appreciated the work you have done for the Armenians of the United States, and around the world. I learned recently that the annual Advocacy Conference will be taking place on March 1-3 this year; this is clearly a change from the past, when the Conference was held sometime in late March to May. I am sure there must be unavoidable scheduling conflicts which have forced the AAA to hold the Conference on such a sad day for the people of Armenia, a day marking the loss of 10 Armenian lives. I wonder if you might consider, on the first anniversary of the death of those 10 Armenians, having a table available where your participants may donate money to help support the families of those 10, if not require a small donation in addition to the $300 fee for the Conference and Banquet.

Sincerely,

Tzitzernak and SAAG (Save Armenia Action Group)



P.S. As a number of others have wondered about this same issue, I may make your response public.

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