Author: Emil Lazarian

EDUCATIONNEWS

Tony Kinnett 

Several fights broke out between Antifa and parental rights activists Tuesday night outside the Glendale Unified School District’s administration building in Glendale, California, during a school board meeting discussing LGBTQ+ curriculum.

Law enforcement arrested three individuals amid the mayhem after the protest “exceeded the bounds of peaceful assembly,” the Glendale Police Department announced Tuesday night.

Following the Glendale school board’s decision to incorporate LGBTQ+ “Pride” festivals and celebrations into June school days, dozens of parents pulled students from classrooms—with some elementary schools seeing only 40% of students show up for class on June 2.

Additional documents revealed that Glendale staff have attempted to incorporate LGBTQ+ materials and ideology into other curriculum. One assistant principal even told staff to teach children that every person is, by default, “queer” and “socialist.”

Parents from the traditionally conservative Armenian and Hispanic communities in Glendale planned to protest the board’s decisions at an upcoming school board meeting. Antifa Southern California called for activists to counter protest against these parents, whom they labeled “hate groups.”

Several parents told Glendale’s board that they were concerned with Glendale’s transgender policies, such as allowing students of the opposite sex to use the same bathrooms and locker rooms, putting their children at risk.

One father told the board:

I graduated from Glendale in ‘96, and I have two daughters. My daughter is afraid to change in the locker room because she knows another guy could come into the room. When I asked the principal, he told me there were no cross-gender bathroom policies.

Other parents previously told The Daily Signal that their children changed in locker rooms with students of the opposite sex multiple times, and that this is standard practice in Glendale.

The father finished by telling the Glendale board: “All of these fake people [pointing to several masked crowd members] are going to go away, and we’re going to vote every one of you [pointing to the school board] out.”

About 42 minutes into the meeting, Board President Nayiri Nahabedian stopped the public comment session as law enforcement locked down the building due to disturbances outside. The board meeting went into recess for almost 20 minutes while police attempted to manage the situation. 

According to footage from Los Angeles news networks and on-site independent journalists, masked progressive protesters in pink bandanas and progress flags traded blows with Armenian and Hispanic parents.

Glendale police then announced over loudspeakers that the assembly was now considered “unlawful” and ordered the crowds of protesters to disperse. They then arrested at least three members of the crowd on “various charges.” The department did not specify either the affiliations of the suspects or the charges involved.

Many of the speakers claim it is essential to teach children about LGBTQ+ topics, even though critics claim some of the materials are sexually explicit, even pornographic.

“Schools should teach kids to grow up in a diverse world, with different colors, religions, and sexualities,” one woman shouted at the board. Most of the pro-LGBTQ+ speakers shouted into the microphone, causing it to short out momentarily.

Several of the speakers turned their attention towards the parents protesting Glendale’s LGBTQ+ policies.

A man in a skirt, high-heel boots, and a women’s leather jacket who claimed to have three daughters told the board: “Their ideology is the same as the Proud Boys. Hiding their hate behind their kids just as Proud Boys hide behind their masks.”

A speaker claiming to be a representative from the “Revolutionary Communists” told the board that all socialists had a duty to protect LGBTQ+ students from “Christofascism.”

One Glendale teacher used her time to lecture white and Armenian Americans:

[I volunteer] extensively in South LA and work with the children’s hospital of Los Angeles with queer/trans youth in large groups, and so I deal with a lot of their trauma related to the hetero-normative, Judeo-Christian, patriarchal, imperialist, capitalist system that oppresses them. 

And so, I’m not just here in support of our LGBTQ youths, it’s all connected. I’m here in support of Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training because white people participate, for example, in the largest social welfare program in the history of the United States, and yet—now they put their hands up in the air and look at our housing crisis.

Armenians talk about the genocide that they received SSI, but they don’t want to talk about the indigenous genocide in 1850, and the lack of reparations for indigenous and black people in this country.

They don’t want to talk about—how dare you talk about how marginalized people come here…and you don’t want to talk about the oppressed trans youth who… you know those kids aren’t even learning to learn in this.

[At this point a bell sounded as her time speaking was up]

One in two will commit—attempt suicide and 95% know that they are “trans” when they are three, four, and five.

While the teacher didn’t explain what genocide occurred in 1850, what “SSI” was, or from what social welfare program “white” people supposedly benefit, progressive members of the crowd cheered as she sat down.

As of 9 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, crowds outside had not yet dispersed, though Glendale police were ordering all to leave or face arrest for unlawful assembly. 

The Glendale Unified School District did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on the events of June 6 or the district’s LGBTQ+ policies.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/06/06/antifa-armenian-parents-clash-california-school-board-meeting-required-lgbtq-activities/

• Caucasus countries Georgia and Armenia, whose economies unexpectedly boomed in the wake of the war in Ukraine, are now facing the prospect of Western retaliation following a spike in trade with Russia.
• Russia has emerged as Georgia’s second-largest trading partner by imports and its third-largest trading partner by exports in 2023. The isolated state is Armenia’s largest trading partner in terms of imports and exports.
• The IMF said the spike represents an “opportunity, but also a risk” for the Caucasus and Central Asia region as the EU and G7 allies consider new sanctions targeting sanctions circumvention.

The history of internationally brokered negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been a happy one. So far, the most that has been achieved are ceasefires after military victories by one side or the other: Armenian victory in the war of 1992-94, Azerbaijani victory in the war of 2020.

However, a radical change of stance by the government of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan now appears to offer a new opportunity for peace — but only if the rights and physical security of the Karabakh Armenians can be guaranteed. This presents a challenge and an opportunity for the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations.

Pashinyan, who came to power following the 2018 “Velvet Revolution,” effected a major shift in Armenia’s position on a final settlement by offering to recognize the territorial boundaries of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh  — something his predecessors had always sought to avoid.

While speaking to reporters on May 22 in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, Pashinyan noted that he is seeking an “international mechanism” for dialogue between Baku and the Karabakh Armenians to ensure the latter’s rights and security if and when an agreement is signed.

Recent weeks have indeed seen a flurry of separate high-level talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, brokered by the United States, the European Union, and Russia — none of which has yet produced the much-sought-after comprehensive peace deal. The ultimate success of any agreement is also a domestic issue for the United States and France, given the large and politically powerful Armenian diasporas in both countries.

Tens of thousands of indigenous Armenians remain in Nagorno-Karabakh, despite the second war over the disputed region when Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, conquered some territory in the enclave itself, as well as the surrounding regions that Armenian forces had captured during the first war. This was then consummated in a Russian-brokered ceasefire in November 2020 which guaranteed further territorial gains for Azerbaijan in and around the enclave. Since then, the remainder of Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh has been protected, albeit inadequately, by Russian peacekeepers under the oft-violated ceasefire. 

Getting to a final peace accord on Pashinyan’s terms won’t be easy. Since last December, Azerbaijan, first through state–backed “eco-activists” and more recently with the construction of a checkpoint, has been effectively blockading the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. This action, widely condemned (including by the International Court of Justice), has resulted in an already-threatened population suffering severe shortages of energy, medicine, and food. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which was still able to enter Nagorno-Karabakh before Azerbaijan installed the checkpoint, is now reporting difficulties in entering the enclave and delivering essential aid, although medical evacuations appear to be resuming. 

Washington should now consider how it can facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Karabakh Armenians, whether via an airlift or other means.

It is crucial that the United States and the EU — having already chosen to reinvigorate the diplomatic process between the two nations — press for an agreement that will secure the appropriate protection of the indigenous population through internationally-backed dialogue between Karabakh Armenians’ leaders and Azerbaijani authorities. If the re-incorporation of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan were to lead to the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population, Armenians both in the Republic of Armenia itself and in the diaspora would never accept the result. Armenia would most likely do what Azerbaijan did between 1994 and 2020 — re-arm in order to resume the war at some favorable moment in the future.

The consequences (not least for the U.S.) of an agreement that fails to at least include guarantees that Pashinyan is seeking for the Karabakh Armenians will almost certainly result in further bloodshed that could eventually draw in other regional powers, including Iran, Turkey, Israel, and, of course, Russia, which is not keen to see its presence in the South Caucasus diminished.

Already, and despite the obvious current reality of Azerbaijani military superiority and Russia’s apparent inability to strictly enforce the 2020 ceasefire terms, Pashinyan is taking a colossal political risk by his shift in Armenian policy. Given that previous governments in Yerevan pursued a policy akin to strategic ambiguity – never officially recognizing the de facto state in Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenians call the Republic of Artsakh, while also acting as its main patron and guarantor – Pashinyan’s new proposal has come as a most unwelcome surprise to his population.

According to a recent poll by the International Republican Institute, almost seven in ten Armenians disapprove of their government’s policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh. In another poll taken last November, virtually no one supported the incorporation of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan. For its part, the de facto government in Nagorno-Karabakh has voiced its strong opposition to Pashinyan’s policy.

It will be the responsibility of Pashinyan and his government to explain to Armenians why the current reality is not in their country’s favor and how to reconcile this situation with their previous policy declarations. But Washington, along with the EU and the UN, should test the viability of Pashinyan’s initiative by pressing Azerbaijan for the guarantees he seeks regarding the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians so as to push forward the overall negotiations and the anticipated agreement’s approval by Armenia’s state structures if and when one is reached.

According to Benyamin Poghosyan, Chairman of the Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies and Senior Research Fellow at APRI, a Yerevan-based think tank, the only way to achieve stability is by convincing Azerbaijan to accept an “international presence” in Nagorno-Karabakh. Indeed, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO from 2009 to 2014, during a recent visit to Armenia stated that “we will need to have a kind of an international mechanism to monitor, control and guarantee those rights and security for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

While Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev insists that Karabakh Armenians will be given the same rights as all Azerbaijani citizens – not the most enticing assurance given his regime’s notoriously repressive human rights record – he has opposed an international presence on the grounds that any discussion regarding Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes interference in Baku’s internal affairs. Aliyev’s recent comments on the subject epitomize his maximalist position.

However, the U.S. possesses diplomatic and economic leverage – such as the ability to revoke the Section 907 waiver, suspend Department of Defense military sales and support to Azerbaijan, and impose visa bans  – over Aliyev and his cronies that could be utilized as a stick behind closed doors to encourage Baku’s cooperation.

Given the increased attention to the conflict by the EU, which recently sent a two-year civilian monitoring mission to the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan, Brussels has an opportunity to assume more responsibility in the region, with U.S. backing. Given the increase in tensions between Moscow and the West, Russia is highly likely to oppose any Western-dominated peacekeeping operation. Thus, the Biden administration should consider advocating for the deployment of a long-term UN peacekeeping force recruited of neutral states to act as guarantors of a final peace accord and the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians.

A neutral UN presence is necessitated by Russia’s position. Having inserted its peacekeeping forces into Nagorno-Karabakh with a five-year mandate, as stipulated by the ceasefire agreement, Russia’s leadership accuses the West of pushing for an agreement between the two parties designed to remove Russia’s presence and influence from the South Caucasus while it is distracted by its war in Ukraine. In subsequent deliberations, the West should make clear that this is not its intention given that facilitating a final settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is challenging enough as it is.

Armine*, a woman from the north of Armenia, lost a baby seven years ago. She gave birth to twin girls, but her doctor told her one had been born with a life-threatening illness and would die if she took her home. She signed a consent form to give the baby up to the state.

Now, however, Armine believes she was lied to and targeted by an alleged network of 11 well-connected officials and doctors who have been charged with illegally selling 20 Armenian children to Italian adoptive parents between 2015 and 2018.

Her fears come after a year-long investigation by openDemocracy and irpiMedia found that many of those awaiting trial for their involvement in the illegal adoptions – including the network’s alleged leader – are still working in the government, maternal care, and child welfare.

We also uncovered that three adoptions from Armenia to Italy took place last year, despite the Italian Commission for International Adoptions, which licences Italian adoption agencies and oversees their work, suspending adoptions from Armenia in 2019.

The revelations have led to concerns from rights campaigners that women in the country remain vulnerable to potential abuses, particularly since international adoptions from Armenia to other countries have not been frozen.

Armine had no idea that doctors could have lied to her until 2019, three years after she gave birth, when the Armenian Investigative Committee – an official body for conducting preliminary criminal investigations – asked her to give evidence as part of information-gathering on possible illegal adoption cases.

The investigators claimed Armine’s child had survived and might have been adopted by foreigners, although a lack of evidence means hers is not one of the 20 cases included in the current criminal investigation. In March, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that more adoptions would be examined, including those to other countries.

In 2022, Armine discovered a possible paper trail when she applied for state welfare benefits. She discovered that a girl with an Italian name had been registered at her home address. The child’s birth date matched that of her daughter, who would have been six years old at the time.

According to the documents, the child had been registered to her address in 2017, a year after her twins’ birth, without Armine’s or her husband’s knowledge.

“At that very moment, I understood what had happened,” she said. “They [the alleged illegal network] had planned everything beforehand.”

After seven years of fertility treatments, Armine gave birth to twin girls at a maternity hospital in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, in 2016.

“We were so happy when the twins were born,” she recalled. “The caesarean section was successful and I was feeling very well.”

But the babies had health problems. They had low birth weights and low oxygen levels so they were kept in incubators. Doctors discharged Armine a few days after giving birth, and she visited the twins at the hospital every day for two months.

During all that time, she said, the doctors did not allow her to hold, breastfeed or even take pictures of her babies. She said doctors told her that “radiation [from cameras] would be harmful to them”, even as she watched other parents photographing their babies.

Armine lives more than three hours north of Yerevan, but while her daughters were in hospital she rented an apartment in the capital to be near them. Money became tight, and her family had to take out a bank loan to buy formula, nappies and clothing.

Soon, the doctors had worrying news for Armine. She recalled them telling her that one of the twins “was not gaining weight and might not survive”. Finally, the hospital told her and her family that the baby had “diseases incompatible with life”.

After they received the news, Armine was in a vulnerable position, and her partner and mother-in-law handled conversations with the doctors. They asked about files or documents confirming the diagnosis, but the doctors explained that “in the era of current technology, the documents are no longer on paper, but on the phone”. The doctors eventually showed Armine’s mother-in-law a scan of the baby’s brain on a phone, but she later said she hadn’t understood the image.

Armine said that at the time she completely trusted the medical advice and didn’t question what she was told. “I was not an uncaring mother, but they [doctors] are capable of completely hypnotising a person,” she explained. “How on earth could I think that a doctor who took the Hippocratic oath would deceive me?”

Armine said medical staff told her that her daughter would not survive if she took her home, and she felt pressured to sign a consent form giving up her parental rights.

After two months, Armine’s other daughter was well enough to be discharged from hospital. She took her home, and repeatedly phoned the hospital to ask after her other baby – but was told she had no right to as she’d given her up. The hospital then stopped answering her calls.

She still doesn’t know her daughter’s whereabouts and told openDemocracy she is desperate to find her but doesn’t know how to start the search.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I have no rest, neither day nor night. My only hope is that at least my daughter will find her sister one day.”

But this may be difficult. Though Armenia has a procedure to allow biological parents and their children to find each other, it requires both parties to apply to the state authorities, explained Mushegh Hovsepyan, the president of Disability Rights Agenda, an Armenian NGO.

Hovsepyan, a former official in the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, who helped collect evidence for the ongoing criminal case, added: “The fact is, it is common for one party to be unaware of the adoption, making it difficult to initiate the process. Consequently, this mechanism often fails to resolve the issue that many people face.”

openDemocracy has not been able to reach the hospital Armine gave birth in for comment, though it has previously denied any involvement in the alleged illegal adoption network.

Armine is not alone in worrying about what could have happened to her baby. Dozens more Armenian mothers fear they could have been victims of the alleged crime ring and in March the prosecutor general’s office announced that it believes at least 437 Armenian children have been sold for €25,000 each to both foreigners and ethnic Armenians living overseas.

The trial against the 11 suspects accused of running the alleged illegal adoption network has started, with publicly available information suggesting the most recent hearing took place behind closed doors on 31 March. Those charged deny any wrongdoing.

Armine is hopeful that the investigators might finally give her some answers to the mystery that has haunted her for years.

*Armine’s name has been changed to protect her identity

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/armenia-illegal-adoption-italy-legal-indictment-one-woman-story/

June 8, 2023 05:38 PM