Liberty Square freed, and now, a circus...

This is where we are now.
Instead of celebrating the liberation of Liberty Square, we're watching HHK mock the opposition; its painful and that's an understatement. I kept waiting to write, hoping things would calm down. But they're not calming down. And what we have is a theatre. A joke where HHK is literally sitting back and laughing at the opposition, at Heritage, at HAK, and just laughing at the arguing between them, and literally asking them to unite, just for more kicks and giggles. Whatever the cause of this drama, where reporting and focus on the true criminals of the regime is overshadowed by the obsession about a "snubbing," whatever the cause, it has to stop.

That's the short version.

I've had many thoughts other than that. I don't know if its worth it anymore to write them down, but since they keep swimming around in my head, I may as well.

First, as I noted above, we should be celebrating the re-entry into Liberty Square (and we would be if it weren't for this other drama). It is an ENORMOUS step, a great success, thanks to the hard work of many for so many years. I know some think that Raffi Hovannisyan's hunger strike there paved the way. I dont have all of the information, but I tend to think that this is not the case. A huge success, and a huge thank you, at least on my part, to those who made it happen.

This leads to a question I have had for a while, that I have discussed with numerous friends, and still have - what to do once the opposition is in Liberty Square? What to do, what to do... And after much thought and discussion, what I realized is that I think that there generally are/were two options -

1)Once Liberty Square is occupied, it becomes a stronghold for a revolution. Perhaps violent, perhaps bloody, perhaps fruitful, perhaps not.

2)once Liberty square is occupied, it becomes a symbol of success for slow change. Perhaps too slow for some. Perhaps fruitful, perhaps not. But non-violent.

Some say that nothing positive or no real change has ever come of revolutions - I've seen a lot of that on numerous sites (FB, twitter, news/blogs), especially since the massive upheaval that started with Tunisia. But I think it can be stepping stone. To think that revolution is an end in and of itself is naive, but to think that it can allow a partial tabula rasa (if you can have such a thing) from which to rethink, redesign, re-form and reform, is probably true. And while the change-over is fast, when (and if) the actual desired end-product, the desired type of government and society, is actually achieved, could be a long time off. In the meantime, there is usually a lot of violence and bloodshed.

Slow change is just that, slow, possibly painstakingly slow. Perhaps requiring political pressure, negotiations, and a number of small shifts rather than a big jump. There is no guarantee as to the end point, if it will happen, or how long it will take.

It seems to me that, despite the misrepresentations of some journals (including a recent article by the Washington Post) and some political parties, such as the ARF, LTP and HAK want the latter. Nonviolent, a velvet, soft, revolution, and if necessary, slow, as it were. In fact, if LTP wanted violence and revolution, he could have had it in 2008, and many times since. But such political behavior is not his modus operandi, he does not want to be the leader of a violent revolution. But where does that leave him, and HAK, and so much of the opposition?

Well, it seems to have gotten them this far: many (but far from all) of the political prisoners are out, Liberty Square is free. Yes, its been 3 years, but it has been bloodless, and now fruitful.

As to the Raffi Hovannisyan/Zharangutyun - LTP/HAK issue:
I have my opinions, obviously. Suffice it to say, for now, that justified or not, its sad that once again the opposition cannot cooperate. Justified or not. Any further ramblings of mine at this time add only to the ongoing circus.

And in the meantime, Pashinyan still can't get letters out. Here is a press conference given by his lawyer:

There are a number of articles in English and Armenian on numerous sites, including epress, for those interesting in more details.

The next demonstration is on April 8th. I'm sure the news media will be covering. Follow on twitter or facebook if you're so inclined.

Addendum: While I'm not going to delve into my thoughts on the RH-LTP issue for now, I can't help but add that titles such as the one given by ArmeniaNow to an article about the ongoing circus, are not only in poor taste, misrepresentations (potentially intentional), and false, but just downright poor journalism. If i tell a friend that slow and steady wins a race, referring to the Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare, it doesn't mean I'm telling him he should grow a shell and turn green, and predicting that he will outrun a furry rabbit. Be biased, but stick to a representation somewhere in this galaxy, please.

On self-restraint, sitting on concrete, and lay-ins

While the FIDH conference was happening, the police tried to behave themselves. They managed to do so on the first day, though they didn't do as well on the second. I imagine folks like Bazaz were bursting at the seams to just go beat up someone, or at least something. But, for those two days, or at least the first one, he just wasn't around. Which may be the only way someone like him can resist abusing and attacking peaceful protesters, by just not being around them.

Soon after, Pashinyan's appeal regarding the January Parliamentary seat election went back to court. Of course, he wasn't allowed to be there - that would just be a crazy idea. Pashinyan's supporters were outside, and it seems the police who were there were probably using one of their new "techniques" to keep the peace: they kept repeating that they were trying to keep things calm, and didn't want disruptions, and wanted people to move onto the sidewalk. Sounds good, right? Except that they weren't making any disturbance, and were ALREADY on the sidewalk.

For those who watch the web videos, the face and voice of former political prisoner Vardges Gaspari has become quite familiar. He is quite impassioned, and can often be seen chanting even when others have stopped. And I remember at least one occasion where he staged his own lay-in - he just lay right down on the ground amongst the protesters, refusing to move. And this is just what he did outside of Pashinyan's case just last week, with a huge picture of Pashinyan draped on top of him, refusing to move.

I think that, for many reasons, people just have no idea what to do with this. Sitting, much less laying, on the street in Armenian culture is very, very, odd - its just not done. Next time you are in Armenia, sit on the pavement -people will walk past you and just look at you like you're absolutely crazy. And having a man, especially an older man, laying on the street makes many, as can be seen in the videos, very uncomfortable, apart from what he is yelling and why he is doing it.

The police are in an even tougher spot when he does this. Because they too feel uncomfortable with the site, but they also know they're supposed to do something about it. But what? What do you do with someone lying down on the ground?

And that is exactly the point. Sit-ins, or lay-ins, are a great way to make life peacefully difficult for those who want to harass or beat you. It is civil disobedience at its best.

[photo from Aravot]

Congrats to HZH

Haykakan Zhamanak (aka Armenian Times) now has many of its articles in English and Russian as well!
For those who don't know, this is just about as oppositionist (and therefore persecuted) as papers in Armenia come. The editor-in-chief, Nikol Pashinyan, is a political prisoner today in Armenia due to his very active and vocal role in the opposition to Serge Sargsyan during the February 2008 presidential elections. He has a long history of being both loathed and feared by the regime, however, as his first daily newspaper "Oragir" was also shut down, and he was a founding member of the political movement "Alternative," which became part of the "Impeachment" bloc. He continued to write in the period after March 1, 2008, while he was in hiding, and continues to write from prison even to this day.

Recently, the newspaper itself was fined for publishing a piece about former President Kocharyan's son - another attempt to harass and intimidate that most journalists in Armenia have become very familiar with by now.

And it would seem that much of the staff of Armenian Times is politically active, as reading the news, I often run into interviews or statements by others from Armenian Times. Though I'm not sure which is more frequent, the interviews, or how often the police harass, beat and detain the youth who are politically active and have ties to the paper.

The more information that more people can read, the harder it becomes to hide from the truth.

[picture is the logo from HZH website]

Charged for stealing dolma!

Pashinyan's case was just at the appeals court for the last two days. A1plus, HZH, and other sources have some articles, and RFE/RL has some snippets of the court proceedings. Fortunately, a1plus has also posted a couple of videos, from which I have transcribed/translated a few choice pieces... Why would I do this? Because Pashinyan has a way of distilling reality to fundamental truths and reason, without oversimplifying... and of finding humor in even the gravest injustices...

From a1plus article in English:

"I am charged with the murders that took place on March 1. Everyone knows that Robert Kocharyan gave the command to open fire on March 1. The government needed as much verdicts for March 1 as possible. Serzh Sargsyan didn't collect as much votes during the February 19 elections as the verdicts on March 1 were reached.”
"According to the verdict against me, I am the commander of Commanders Sasun Mikayelyan, Myasnik Malkhasyan and Hakob Hakobyan. That is a great honor for me, but such a formulation is ridiculous."

From the March 5 19:00 RFE/RL broadcast:

"Why are the ten victims included in the judgements against me? If this is part of the judgement against me, then Gor Kloyans father should not be sitting in the back rows of the courtroom, but rather he should be a plaintiff in this case… as well as the families of the other victims…
Why is this in the sentence against me, and in the others being charged as well…
Three of the ten victims were killed as a result of police operations.
Why should I stand here in court today, and read about the death of the ten victims in the sentencing against me, about the victims of Robert Kocharyan and his ruling regime ; why should I read about the victims of Kocharyan’s murdering skinheads in my judgement?
Can anyone answer that question?"
…
"In the name of lawfulness, in the name of constitutional order, for the future of our children…
And in the name of having our children have a homeland where they can all stand equal before the law…
In the name of democracy, freedom of expression, of human rights,
I will struggle until the end, whether I am in freedom, or in prison."

And from the A1 plus video above:
“The police standing there knew why the people were standing there; the police understand that we were struggling for the future of all of our children”

Gor Kloyan's Father Sargis Kloyan, interjects into Pashinyan’s statement when Pashinyan begins to speak of the ruling authorities during March 1:
“The terrorists!… The scavenging animals! The scoundrel! The scum! The bandits! The masters of the crooks! I am the father of Gor Kloyan, victim of March 1… they fired on the people, on our children – the bandits!" At that point, Mr. Kloyan was escorted out of the courtoom...

Pashinyan continues:

"I think nobody can deny, especially the authorities, that during the past ten years, that they [the authorities] have used every means at their disposal to try have me join their, to put it bluntly, plundering brigade... They used every means you could think of… They brought criminal charges against me, they tried to bribe me, they tried to blackmail me; they did everything to try to get me to join their plundering ranks… They are plundering the country with each other, let them plunder… And having been unable to reach their goal, they are coming and accusing me of having broken some glass to steal some dolma…"

There is a lot more, hopefully i'll get a chance to post it soon.