Worried about the Future
I’ve been away from this blog since the birth of our son Alex.
It’s been a wonderful experience to see our son grow and grow so fast. He had doubled in birth-weight before he was 3 months old and at his rate of growth, could triple it in no time. He has been for the most part sleeping through the night for over a month and really understands most everything that is going on around him and who is who.
Since the March 1st morning attack on the peaceful demonstrators in Yerevan, I have been watching closely what is going on and as to reactions from all walks of Armenians around the world. For this reason I’ve had very little sleep for the last 20 days, since what I have observed starting on March 2nd and up until now is very disturbing.
For one thing, in Armenia for the most part, it’s business as usual. I witnessed this same type of indifference following a slew of fraudulent elections starting as far back as 1996; the 1996 use of the military to put an end to a demonstration apposing Levon’s blatantly fixed re-election; the October 27, 1999 Parliament killing; the April 13, 2004 violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and of course now we have the use of excessive force on the peaceful demonstrators on the morning of March 1, 2008, followed by a larger protest that ended up in the killing of at least 8 people by what I believe was a special military unit (see the video clip below).
All of what I've referenced above was in the best case scenario denounced by many, but in the end, indifference, "national unity" and memory loss smooths everything over and life went on as normal, just like it seems to be for most in Armenia and the Diaspora today.
And of course since this is the way it always seems to ends, then it also happens again, as the criminal element that got away with it the last time thanks to us not protesting and standing to their illegal acts, learns that there is no punishment for their actions. Oh and I can tell you that if there is a next time, it won't stop at 8 deaths, but would dare to guess it will top 100 (not to say that in reality we didn't come close to that number on March 1st, seeing that there are still people unaccounted for and knowing this government if they killed those people, they will try to cover that up too).
The one thing that really concerned me was the recent Joint Statement from a number of leading Armenian organizations, including the Church (mine included) that denounces what happened on March 1st, and in the last sentence recognizes the recent fraudulent elections, which were the cause for March 1st, as legitimate. These kinds of stances can only further divide us. I for one believe in my religion, but question our Church leaders who if I were them, would have kept my mouth shut and only after the dust settled would I take any concrete stance, especially if I'm going to approve of an election which the many Armenians and the international community is questioning.
Until we embrace reality and stop kissing the asses of the criminals who have hijacked our nation (Levon included) and demand that they serve the people who they have elected themselves into office to serve, Armenia will not become the stable country we need for it to be so it will have a promising future that we all can be proud of.
I am really concerned that if we don’t shake off this denial that clouds our vision, my son’s generation is going to have much more serious problems to deal with when we pass the nation off to them, that is if there is a nation to pass on to them.
For those of you who are wondering what else I have been up to for the last few months, I can now tell you that I've joined a think-tank called Policy Forum Armenia and have been writing reports for the human rights chapter of our semi-annual state of the nation report.
It’s been a wonderful experience to see our son grow and grow so fast. He had doubled in birth-weight before he was 3 months old and at his rate of growth, could triple it in no time. He has been for the most part sleeping through the night for over a month and really understands most everything that is going on around him and who is who.
Since the March 1st morning attack on the peaceful demonstrators in Yerevan, I have been watching closely what is going on and as to reactions from all walks of Armenians around the world. For this reason I’ve had very little sleep for the last 20 days, since what I have observed starting on March 2nd and up until now is very disturbing.
For one thing, in Armenia for the most part, it’s business as usual. I witnessed this same type of indifference following a slew of fraudulent elections starting as far back as 1996; the 1996 use of the military to put an end to a demonstration apposing Levon’s blatantly fixed re-election; the October 27, 1999 Parliament killing; the April 13, 2004 violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and of course now we have the use of excessive force on the peaceful demonstrators on the morning of March 1, 2008, followed by a larger protest that ended up in the killing of at least 8 people by what I believe was a special military unit (see the video clip below).
All of what I've referenced above was in the best case scenario denounced by many, but in the end, indifference, "national unity" and memory loss smooths everything over and life went on as normal, just like it seems to be for most in Armenia and the Diaspora today.
And of course since this is the way it always seems to ends, then it also happens again, as the criminal element that got away with it the last time thanks to us not protesting and standing to their illegal acts, learns that there is no punishment for their actions. Oh and I can tell you that if there is a next time, it won't stop at 8 deaths, but would dare to guess it will top 100 (not to say that in reality we didn't come close to that number on March 1st, seeing that there are still people unaccounted for and knowing this government if they killed those people, they will try to cover that up too).
The one thing that really concerned me was the recent Joint Statement from a number of leading Armenian organizations, including the Church (mine included) that denounces what happened on March 1st, and in the last sentence recognizes the recent fraudulent elections, which were the cause for March 1st, as legitimate. These kinds of stances can only further divide us. I for one believe in my religion, but question our Church leaders who if I were them, would have kept my mouth shut and only after the dust settled would I take any concrete stance, especially if I'm going to approve of an election which the many Armenians and the international community is questioning.
Until we embrace reality and stop kissing the asses of the criminals who have hijacked our nation (Levon included) and demand that they serve the people who they have elected themselves into office to serve, Armenia will not become the stable country we need for it to be so it will have a promising future that we all can be proud of.
I am really concerned that if we don’t shake off this denial that clouds our vision, my son’s generation is going to have much more serious problems to deal with when we pass the nation off to them, that is if there is a nation to pass on to them.
For those of you who are wondering what else I have been up to for the last few months, I can now tell you that I've joined a think-tank called Policy Forum Armenia and have been writing reports for the human rights chapter of our semi-annual state of the nation report.
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