A DEFEATIST NATION
BY CHRISTIAN GARBIS
asbarez
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
Nearly everyone has told me the same thing: The laws don’t work or
there are no laws, and the judicial system is corrupted. They are
desperate, hopeless, and dwell in a self-imposed realm of defeatism,
each playing the role of the eternal victim.
With the Armenian National Assembly elections slated for May 6, I
am obliged to reflect upon the political situation of the last four
years and contemplate where Armenia is headed. These elections will
be the most important in this republic’s brief history as a test for
the functioning of democracy, yet most people don’t realize it.
Nearly everyone has told me the same thing: The laws don’t work or
there are no laws, and the judicial system is corrupted. They are
desperate, hopeless, and dwell in a self-imposed realm of defeatism,
each playing the role of the eternal victim.
Whenever I meet someone for the first time in Armenia, a minute doesn’t
pass before politics comes up. For the last seven or eight years,
I have heard countless people express their disgust in the Armenian
government and authorities, that the country is not a country,
there is no justice, the oligarchs do whatever they want and take
advantage, and so forth. Indeed, not once have I met anyone who has
told me that they approve of the regime in power-either backed (in
Robert Kocharian’s case) or fully controlled by the Republican Party
(along with its coalition partner parties).
They expect governmental reform without having to work for it, as
if the authorities will one day magically realize that they should
no longer lie to and cheat their citizens. They want justice and good
governance, but no one can agree on how it will be achieved or who will
lead that reform movement. Meanwhile, the Armenian Diaspora remains
silent, continuing to turn a blind eye to the lack of democracy and
governmental irresponsibility.
Given the negative mindset in the motherland, one should come to the
logical conclusion that the Republican Party will win less votes
than it has in the past-despite election fraud that is bound to
occur-making way for a new National Assembly controlled by a union
of parties, albeit fragile, that have been in opposition. This ideal
union would likely be comprised of the Armenian National Congress,
ARF-Dashnaktsutyun, the Heritage Party, and Free Democrats alliance,
and the Prosperous Armenia Party, which has been keen to distance
itself from the authorities in recent weeks, although it refuses
to officially break away from the pro-government coalition. This
fresh National Assembly will also signal a new era in government,
one where the demands of the people will conceivably be met and,
as Raffi Hovannisian put it in his interview with me, emigration is
reversed so that a wave of immigration displaces it. Nevertheless,
the Republican Party’s notorious pre-election terror campaign of
intimidation and harassment that has already been unleashed is bound
to coerce many voters to cast ballots in their favor. The authorities
are also counting on disenchanted citizens to sell them their votes
for 20 bucks apiece.
The issues plaguing Armenia are too numerous to list. But the most
relevant points to tackle, in random order, are the following: a
reformed, competent, and properly trained police force; an independent
judicial system; a substantial increase in funding for social services,
including doubling the minimum wage and pensions (which all contending
opposition parties are pushing); the renovation of schools and
hospitals nationwide, starting with the most remote areas first; the
reconstruction of roads and infrastructure, again with the most remote
villages a priority; encouragement for civil society to flourish; the
break up of the trade monopolies, especially on staple foodstuffs,
to promote competition in the marketplace; incentives for small-
and medium-sized business ventures to start up; a four-fold increase
in efforts to encourage foreign investment in the thriving Armenian
IT sector; additional investments in the tourism industry; and the
immediate cancellation of long-term environmentally devastating mining
projects that would only benefit foreign investors (the local economy
would not be positively affected by any means). The list can go on and
on, but tacking the aforementioned issues is a good start to getting
things on track in Armenia and reversing the trends of narcissism
and greed that have been strangling this country for far too long.
Some argue that it will take decades and several generations to pass
before the aforementioned issues even begin to be properly addressed.
Unfortunately, we don’t have that long to wait. It’s been nearly 21
years since Armenia declared independence, and most citizens are no
better off than they were then. Unofficial population estimates in
Armenia are between 2-2.5 million. Entire villages have picked up and
moved to remote parts of Russia where they have been provided housing
and employment as part of a rural colonization scheme. The talented,
technology-savvy youth are leaving for the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere
(I personally know five software engineers who have emigrated during
the last three years). And Artsakh is continuously being emptied of
its populace: Only around 2,700 people are left in Shushi alone.
The new wealth and economic growth that is noticeable to foreigners
and Armenians from the Diaspora is concentrated in central Yerevan-it
is a mirage, a smokescreen obscuring what things are really like here.
The sooner the diaspora comprehends this and puts pressure on the
Armenian government to get its act together, the more secure and, yes,
entrepreneurial Armenian citizens will become. But that reshaping
cannot happen on its own. It needs stimulus. It requires motivation
and dedicated hard work. It is dependent upon foresight and ingenuity.
And it has to start right now.
Christian Garbis is a freelance writer based in Yerevan, where he has
been living for four years. He has been a regular contributor to the
Armenian Weekly since 1994. He has served as an assistant editor for
the paper as well as in several other capacities. Christian has also
written articles for Hetq Online. Accounts of his personal experiences
and social critiques of life in Armenia can be read on his blog Notes