STATE BUILDING IS PERHAPS SHELVED
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir, Armenia
July 31 2007
The self-hired taxi drivers and their families will by all means vote
for Serge Sargsyan in the presidential election of 2008. If they also
manage to persuade at least half of their passengers to vote for the
Republican candidate, Serge Sargsyan is definitely already president,
and the ARF Dashnaktsutyun need not put up its "own" candidate, and
the opposition need not put up its "common candidate". While they are
solving the problem of own and common, Serge Sargsyan solves definite
problems, such as the order of licensing taxis, which had caused taxi
drivers to go on protest. After a few days of protest Prime Minister
Serge Sargsyan appeared to the taxi drivers. It is notable that the
media had reported a few days before that the prime minister refused
to review the order of licensing and did not wish to meet with the
drivers. And now it suddenly becomes known that Serge Sargsyan is
not indifferent towards the problem of taxis. The prime minister
left his office, the building, went up to the taxi drivers, talked
to them and promised that the application of the new order will be
delayed until April 1. By April 1 the prime minister will probably
have become president because Dashnaktsutyun’s own candidate will
have become alternative to all the candidates of the world, and the
opposition will still be on the quest for the common candidate.
Serge Sargsyan will be president because he will have solved many more
other problems. And if all the problems happen to be solved long before
the presidential election, new ones will be caused, more protestors
and underprivileged people will go to the government, Serge Sargsyan
will meet them, as a modest remedy and solve their problems, or will
delay the solution of these problems, which is easier. He will delay,
become president, then come what may. Then let the person who wants
to be the next president think about the delayed problems. Such as
Raffi Hovannisian. Although it is necessary that Serge Sargsyan as a
president appoint Hovannisian prime minister for him to be able to
delay the decisions of the government on one sphere or another. As
to what the taxi drivers will be doing after April 1, 2008, who will
meet them when they go on protest, none of them knows.
Will time forgive them because "they do not understand what they are
doing" when they thank the prime minister for delaying their problem?
And does anyone understand how it happens that part of the disorganized
society is organized so quickly and goes on protest several days
running in several cities of Armenia? Finally, it started in Gyumri,
then the wave moved to Yerevan. Meanwhile, we should not forget
that we deal with self-hired tax drivers. They are not the staff
of a company, members of an NGO, a party or a civil movement. And
here we see an enviable organization and consistency until the prime
minister meets them, they thank him publicly, which is televised,
and leave until April 1. Amazing, enviable organization! Apparently,
the vision of an organized state is in reliable hands, and is gradually
becoming real. But in order not to let the process get out of control,
and not to let anyone know that they can already become organized,
it is necessary to regulate mass events by license. Otherwise, such
a queue of protestors may occur in front of the government that time
will not be enough to discuss their problems, and it will be necessary
to shelve the presidential election of 2008 until it becomes clear
who is who and what is what.