ARMENIA: YOUTH GROUP SPARKS DEBATE ABOUT IDENTITY IN THE FACEBOOK AGE
Marianna Grigoryan
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 23 2011
NY
An online “youth group initiative” set up by four 20-somethings
in Armenia is illustrating how far Facebook can go in maximizing
political influence while concealing identity.
The group, We Won’t Stay Quiet (Chenk Lrelu), registered its first
success in mid-July with a video report that documented the decrepit
state of the 10th century Sanahin monastery, a UNESCO-registered site
in northern Armenia. Following an outcry, the government allotted 90
million drams, more than $240,000, for repairs.
Another video report followed about an army officer’s harassment of
recruits; the officer was dismissed. Then came the story of a soldier
(set to the theme music of Schindler’s List) who allegedly entered a
psychiatric hospital after being beaten and threatened with rape by
army officers. The military prosecutor started a criminal investigation
on September 6, the same day the video was posted online.
Success on less dramatic issues also has been made; the Defense
Ministry on September 19 sent a “special committee” to look into
reports of alleged army violations of furlough rules after We Won’t
Stay Quiet issued a report about such practices, News.am reported.
That record of government response is unprecedented for an Armenian
youth group; particularly one that has no public presence apart from
the Internet. Pro-government television stations have been quick to
disseminate its materials as well.
It is a record that has fueled speculation that the group actually
functions as a “cat’s paw” for the government; posing as a grassroots
organization, which advances issues for the government to address
that score emotional points with ordinary Armenians.
“The group seems to voice urgent issues, but it is a bit strange that
nobody knows who they really are,” commented human rights activist
Arthur Sakunts, head of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly’s office in
the northern town of Vanadzor.
“Otherwise, how come those issues raised by many other groups did
not attract the same sort of attention?” Sakunts asked.
The psychiatric hospital soldier offers a case in point, skeptics say.
Over the course of two months, the Ministry of Defense did not respond
to human rights organizations’ appeals about the soldier, Armenian
Helsinki Committee Chairperson Avetik Ishkhanian told reporters. The
ministry did not respond to requests from EurasiaNet.org for comment.
But, according to one organizer, We Won’t Stay Quiet gets a response
simply because its four organizers, aged 22 to 27 years old, know
how to make proper use of the Internet’s “tools” and “opportunities.”
“Armenians tend to believe various conspiracy theories,” said Ashot
Poghosian, one of the group’s founders, in a phone interview with
EurasiaNet.org. He described allegations that the group is linked to
the government as “ridiculous.”
“[T]he country is in a shameful situation, and it’s not difficult to
find people suffering from injustices,” he added.
The group’s Facebook profile, which boasts 4,226 “likes,” declares
that it is made up of politically independent young people who want
to “bring the most urgent issues up for public discussion through
the media.” Organizers say they do not publicize their names
and professions or release photographs of themselves as a safety
precaution.
It asserts that its videos “were shot by amateur camera and edited
with the simplest software,” telling subscribers “You can do the same.”
Public relations consultant Armen Badalian dismisses the argument
that We Won’t Stay Quiet is colluding with the government.
“I see no logic in it; our authorities would hardly talk about problems
in order to solve them,” said Badalian. “Maybe this is a group of
people who are experts in PR and the Internet, who, contrary to many
other similar groups, manage to make their voices heard?”
Internews Armenia Production Manager Harutiun Mansurian shares that
opinion; he says he shared one of the group’s videos on Facebook
because they had done “a tasteful job.” “They try to use the right
tools properly, and they succeed,” Mansurian said.
The army appears to attract the bulk of the four organizers’ interest,
but Poghosian asserts that it is only because “it causes much debate”
in the public sphere. A video about a baby who died from medical
neglect in a regional maternity hospital arguably gained a similarly
emotional response, and triggered a health ministry investigation.
But some of the videos appear to parallel neatly with government
policy interests. Videotaped statements by residents of breakaway
Nagorno Karabakh about their refusal to recognize the sovereignty of
Azerbaijan were sent to Western embassies and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe in Yerevan, for instance. An appeal
was also released for the Russian city of Sochi to stop the demolition
of a statue to Armenian General Andranik Ozanian, a World-War-I-era
national hero who led volunteer fighters against Ottoman Turkey.
Still, group co-leader Poghosian underlines that it is not fulfilling
any official commission. “Nobody finances us, but we are ready to
hear the viewpoints of people who share our concerns and worry about
their home country,” he said.
Editor’s note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in
Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am.