Maria Titizian
A friend who recently returned from abroad conveyed that many
Armenians in the Diaspora are frustrated and fed-up with the shenanigans
of our government. They are tired of hearing about corruption,
monopolies, poor governance, rigged elections and an overall lack of
vision and policy.
National pride it seems is eroding, after all, no one wants to be
associated with a country that is failing its people and its potential.
That frame of mind, if it is true, is not only troubling, it is also
counter-productive to the work at hand. Living and working thousands of
miles away from Armenia probably makes it much easier to disengage from
the processes necessary for nation-building but no one said it was going
to be easy.
And meantime in Armenia, the Soviet experience still continues to
exact its damage on the very concept of statehood. The independence
generation is trying to break free from those chains by devising,
imagining and writing a new narrative. They are doing so in a vacuum,
without guidance and leadership, without a compass or a historical
experience of statehood. They don’t have the luxury of a healthy
political discourse from which to draw upon and form their own personal
beliefs; there is a distorted value system that places money and power
ahead of integrity and honor; there is intolerance and bigotry
everywhere.
Even in this conglomeration of skewed perceptions and systems, there
is so much passion and sense of ownership among the new generation of
activists in our country. I have the privilege of knowing and working
with many of them. I often watch them with awe and amazement. Sometimes
they are right on the mark in terms of their demands and actions and
sometimes they are led astray by a lack of understanding. I told one
young activist that I would die for her passion, but that she had to be
able to differentiate between her desire for the collapse of this regime
and the very concept of statehood.
When we reject the national anthem because we associate it with those
who hold the levers of power, when we refuse to take part in the
celebration of the 2795th anniversary of Yerevan because it was
spearheaded by Taron Margaryan, a mayor we presumably do not accept, it
means that something is skewed in our thinking. Taron Margaryan is NOT
Yerevan…Yerevan is our capital city, a place where for the past 3000
years we have existed. Yerevan and the very concept of Yerevan is much
greater than a temporary politician or apparatchik who happens to be
mayor. And the very symbols of statehood – the national anthem, the
flag, the coat of arms and the constitution are supreme and
indefensible. They do not belong nor are they the property of the ruling
Republican Party, they belong to all Armenians, everywhere.
In democracies, the government is the servant of the state. Thereby,
there is an inherent difference between the government or the regime and
the state or statehood. Regimes do not possess sovereignty (the state
is sovereign) nor do they hold original authority (authority lies in the
constitution). Rather they have derivative powers delegated by the
state via its constitution. Any power that a regime or a government
possesses therefore is delegated and limited and more importantly,
temporary.
What we are seeing more and more is the blurring of this very
important distinction both in Armenia and the Diaspora. We are failing
to see that Armenian statehood or the State of Armenia is an absolute
value, far greater and of more value than the current ruling regime.
Perhaps the day we stop calling the Armenian government a regime is the
day we can say we are on the path to enlightenment.
The national symbols of statehood – the anthem, flag, coat of arms –
are what bind us to our history and heritage. They represent us as a
collectivity, an entity with shared values and common goals. They are
icons of our existence and represent who we are as a nation. They can
never be usurped by a group of individuals, or a political force or a
specific interest group. They belong to each and every one of us.
Protecting and cherishing those symbols therefore falls on all of our
shoulders.
What I fear is that this new generation of activists, or perhaps the
more appropriate term for them is citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
are so disenchanted with the regime, are so angry with the state of
their lives, are so frustrated at the slow pace of change, that their
very mission might go astray.
It is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that they stay on
message, that they differentiate who the so-called enemy is from the
value of statehood. None of us living here in Armenia or in the Diaspora
have the luxury of knowing how to govern ourselves within a sovereign
state. We do not have the legacy, heritage and experience that would
have given us the tools to ensure our survival and the very viability of
our republic. It just means we have to work harder, be more patient,
more adamant, more committed, less full of blame at each other and the
region or the world. It means we have to roll up our sleeves, employ all
of our energy and potential to make this experiment called Armenia
work. After all, nation-building is not a spectator sport.
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