Serzh Sargssyan’s “inauguration”

Some photos taken behind the scenes.

 
Serzh arrives

Serzh gives an oath to his supporters.

Will Levon’s (purportedly distancing) stance on Diaspora prevent him from winning over the Raffi Hovhanissian crumpet?

From the outset of the presidential campaigning rat-race it was obvious that Raffi Hovannisian will not be able to stand as a presidential candidate due to the 10-year citizenship and residency criterion. Yet Raffi Hovhanissian, apart from having the Heritage party behind him (which also has a parliamentary presence), is an important force for his party holds a significant electorate loyalty. What’s more is that Raffi Hovhanissian is well regarded in the non-Dashnak and non-partisan sections of very influential Diaspora, and that may be a barrier for Levon to overcome. It is now becoming obvious that Raffi Hovhanissian will be supporting one of the eligible candidates. But who will it be?

An act of a responsible politician…

Levon Ter-Petrosyan has already issued 2 political surprises: first by announcing his candidacy, and secondly, announcing that after 3 years of being elected he will resign and withdraw from Armenian political life forever.  Levon has delivered 2.5 speeches projecting an image of a responsible, skilled, clever and mature politician - it’s precisely because of this that the statement regarding the 3 year period came out.  It is because Levon Ter-Petrosyan recognises the need to restore people’s confidence in him that he issued to some extent allusions to admitting mistakes and responsibility for some of his actions in the past.  In the meanwhile there is a lot of talk in the media about Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s possible relationship with Raffi Hovhanissian and Vazgen Manoukyan. 

So here is what I believe would be an action of responsibility and integrity by Levon Ter-Petrosyan:

To continue campaigning and gathering support around him, AND THEN surprise us all  yet again by announcing his support for Vazgen Manukyan!

What’s the explanation behind the recent rise in price levels?

I remember a couple of weeks ago A1+ website posted a poll “Which one in your opinion is the reason behind the recent rise in prices?”  and there were some answers to choose from like “increase in taxes”, “price fixation” etc, yet none of these options seemed to pin the problem down.  So, what are the reasons behind these sharp increases in prices? 

The simple answer is WAR, or more precisely, WARS!!!  Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Armenia and Artsakh should issue a precedent over any possible military action from Azerbaijan

An important thing to understand about conflicts and disputes such as Nagorno-Karabakh is that “terms and conditions” for any possible settlement do change as time goes by.  For instance, just five years after Arafat and Barak failed to come to a settlement in Camp David the American and Israeli rhetoric changed - as Condoleezza Rice said “Palestinians had their chance to take the peace deal and they didn’t. Now the terms have changed”.  As far as USA and Israel are concerned today, by failing to take the deal at the right time and due to the violent events that followed afterwards the Palestinians have lost their cance to ever going back to 1967 border.  This is just an example of how these “terms and conditions” are not fixed but ever-changing.  These changes occur due to multilayered processes of diplomacy, civil action, civil disobedience, lobbying, civil society evolution, shifts in interests of imperialist powers and so forth.  Another important aspect in these is a direct military action and acts of violence by any of the concerned parties. 

Sketches toward a search for a just and ethical solution to Nagorno-Karabakh deadlock

  (These are my own reflections on what I think would be a just and ethical resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, even though some of my comrades might disagree.)

The debate on Nagorno-Karabakh has hitherto been informed by 2 conflicting principles: Self-Determination vs State-Integrity. Both principles are embodied in the UN charter; neither of the two principles is privileged; they obviously clash with each other and are often resolved by powers that be.  The Armenian side supports the former and the Azeris formulate their arguments taking as a priori the latter.  This dichotomy between Self-Determination and State-Integrity, between Armenianness and Azerinness has been around since day one of the times when the search began for a non-military solution.  In this quick article I argue that the principle of Self-Determination offers an ethical and just solution to this deadlock, but for reasons other than those of Armenian “national interests”.

The principle of State-Integrity is a totally wrong way to go about this conflict for a number of reasons.  First of all

Is Levon Ter-Petrossyan & Cln really the answer?

Bonaparte is back. And suddenly there is a lot of hype about Levon Ter-Petrossyan’s almost unexpected re-emergence on the political scene.  This hype is also worrying as it is indicative of how volatile and *individual-orientated* the political atmosphere in Armenia is. Levon has made a 90min speech mostly criticising the existing regime, he has shown us no real alternative and no real manifesto or directions as of yet, though what is really worrying is that suddenly the public is already all hyped up about his re-emergence.  Armenian politics is still about particular individuals, rather than concrete policies and directions.   So I thought I’d throw in some of my reflections and analysis to clarify my position especially since we’ve been previously accused of being LTP supporters mainly by the writers from the Russophone blogosphere.

Levon Ter-Petrossyan’s arrival on the political scene is no doubt

The term “Oligarkhiya” is an apologetic term to conceal the true state of things

This is the video of Gagik Tsarukian’s “house”. (if you have issues with high blood pressure or anger management, then don’t watch)

But what you see there is only the front reception room… I know that there is a whole huge palace complex with latin-american style piazza behind it.

When I first watched this video, the first instinct was Anger – pure anger!  But then one needs to sober up and look at all this in calm analytical and historical perspectives.  This is not Oligarchy!!! “Oligarkhia” is a stupid apologetic term applied by the social scientists to some post-Soviet republics, with a connotation of “a peculiar case of capitalist development that went *slightly* off track” … as if Capitalism is designed to deliver general prosperity and long-term balance for all, but in some rare cases small anomalies such as oligarkia are possible.  Bullfuckingshit.  This is Capitalism, and that’s all there is to it.  And oligarchy is the integral and inseparable part in its development.

From this point onwards I refuse to use the term “Oligarkhiya“.  Let’s name things as they are: this is Capitalism!  Yes, it’s a simple and banal point, but nevertheless an important one: revolution must start from a refusal to participate in the usage of the terminology and the language of the enemy.  And Gagik, Serzhik, Robik, they are not oligarchs - they are Capitalists — the rulling elite of this capitalist regime — the Labrador Class acting on behalf of Global Capital.  There is nothing new or original in the way that capitalist structures develop and integrate in Armenia — a same old story that we have witnessed time and time again.

As I watched this video the second time, I couldn’t help but recall the videos from pre-Castro Cuba… it was all the same. Cuba was a satellite puppy of America with very small white minority owning everything there was to own and indulging themselves in endless endeavours of bourgeois decadence, while the vast majority of population was living in shanty-towns and townships with no education, healthcare, regular food - toiling in sugar cane plantations and tobacco fields.  And sooner or later people did rebel - people rebelled and as we have seen in so many other places the Communist forces hijacked the revolution.

My instinct is to wait - wait until the conditions have matured to the point when people will see that it is not the Individual leader or the Will to do good that is the question, but the Structure of the economical system that cultivates these material and cultural conditions, and the social and political contradictions and paradoxes.  Until people themselves realise it that capitalism is not the right path to democracy, free-entrepreneurship and participatory-politics, until that day revolutions will either be shipwrecked or replaced by dictatorships.

I wonder what would happen if a video like this was broadcasted on Armenian TV?  Yes, Armenia definitely needs alternative channels of Information whereby the info can flow openly and with no restrictions or privileges.

Why does the world hate America???

Subversive Flash as Art and social criticism

I haven’t been posting here for a while now.  I start doing soon, hopefully — just been busy with many other things.  I just bumped into a set of flash art pieces, which I thought are too good not to ne shared with wider audiences.  Whoever did these must be a bloody genius http://ml.hoogerbrugge.com/  The way that I see it it’s subversive situationist art transformed into modern Flash.

Enjoy!

Фашизм сегодня

Считается, что фашизм – это прошлое нашей истории. Прошлое, которого нет сейчас, и не будет в будущем. Представляя эту «кроваво – черную» идеологию пережитком исторического развития человечества на пути к созданию правового общества, в сравнении с различными другими этапами развития: государства и общества, а также права: как первобытного, рабовладельческого, феодального и других форм. Но это мнение людей, не озадаченных разумом и логикой, или по крайней мере заблуждающих в оценке событий происходящих как в мире, так и конкретно в Армении.

Ведь, что есть фашизм кроме государственного строя, имевшего силу в историческом прошлом Германии содействиями таких, как: Эрнст Рем, Адольф Шикльгрубер (Гитлер), Генрих Гиммлер, Герман Геринг и других идеологов «тотальной чистки» и «расслоения» людей на этнические группы, а в дальнейшем их полного истребления. Разве по сути геноцид Армян в Османской Империи не было своебразным действием фашистского характера? Или на современном этапе истории: действия азербайджанцев против армян проживающих в Сумгаите, действия арабов против евреев, конфликты между Сербией и Албанией. Разве они не носили глубоко шовинистический, зачатую религиозный характер нетерпимости, доходящей до массовых убийств населения, конкретных этнических или религиозных групп. Хотя конечно же агрессоры и преступники изо всех сил стремились дать политическую оценку и окраску своим действиям, оперируя необходимостью данных шагов.

Читайте далее на сайте http://freenet.am/~arc

Daily Radio broadcasts from G8 protests

Flash Radio is going to be broadcasting directly from Rostock from anti-G8 protests: 1 podcast per day. Since none of these events are given any significance whatsoever in Armenian media (even the ones who parade themselves as “Alternative” or “Radical”), I decided to post these daily Podcasts as soon as the arrive from location.

I will keep updating this post each day with new podcasts.

No.	Date	just click the Play button	Duration	Save Target As
9	10/06/07		52mins	Download
8	09/06/07		46mins	Download
7	08/06/07		47mins	Download
6	07/06/07		34mins	Download
5	06/06/07		23mins	Download
4	05/06/07		18 mins	Download
3	04/06/07		20 mins	Download
2	27/05/07		30 mins	Download
1	21/05/07		9 mins	Download
00	intro		1 min	Download

G8 protests in Germany heating up

Yesterday on the 2nd of June the first major G8 2007 clashes occurred in Restock, Germany. As usual the clashes were perpetrated by the fascist police units who attacked the protestors indiscriminately and brutally. As the protestors are branded as ‘terrorists’ I guess there is a new State policy of ’shoot anything that moves’. The same thing is in practice in Iraq.
Now the question is: be beaten and arrested or protect yourself and others. I go with the second option where as a united group you can resist the beating and arrests. That’s the core of the Black blocs re-introduced in Seattle.
 
Black Bloc.                                        I also like the clown tactics.

 read more at http://de.indymedia.org/2007/06/180311.shtml

www.esin.ws - приглашаем Вас на наш новый форум Солидарности, Плюрализма и Автонома

Дорогие Читатели,
 Хотим пригласить Вас на наш новый форум, который находится по адрессу www.esin.ws .  Форум посвящён обсуждению всего политического как в Армении так и на Кавказе.  Можно сказать мы отрицаыем “Политику” Спектакля, и ищем настоящую Политику.  Форум основан на принцыпах Солидарности, Плюрализма, Уважения, Содействия, Разнобразности и Автонома.  Мы призываем всех кто слева как и всех кто не желает быть классифицирован(ной), но требует свободы и Радикальнои Демократии.  Мы зазываем на наш новый ФОРУМ всех груп, организации и индивидов не-конформистов кто желает Свободу и Равенство - давайте садиться за круглуй стол (или скорее, за много разных круглых столов) и делиться идеями.
Этот проект основан на организационных принцыпах Автономного движения, Анти-Глобалистского движения и Мирового Общественного Форума.  Наша организация имеет федеративную структуру, исключающую руководство и иерархию, отрицающую неравенство участников, централизм, жесткое разделение функций, которые губят инициативу, разрушают нашу автономию и подавляют личность.  Наши идейные и орнанизационные принцыпы достаточно широки чтобы не сделать из этого движения секту, и в тоже самоые время позволить каждому извлечь что-то полезное в практическом плане и интересное. 

esin.ws - our new forum. A call for Solidarity, Pluralism, Diversity and Autonomy

Dear All,

In recent days the team has been busy building a new forum, and finally I would like to announce and welcome all of you to this amazing state-of-art new OPEN forum - a forum that resists “Politics of the Spectacle”, but is dedicated to everything Political - a forum that rejects the conventional stabilised and monopolized notions of “Politics”, and chooses to be in search of Politics.  www.esin.ws  is not just an internet forum, but more like a beginning of a new open Project based on the model of collaborating Autonomous groups and initiatives, principles of anti-globalization (or Global-Justice, or Alter-globalization) movement and the organizational model of World Social Forum.  In other words, it is by far not an exclusively anarchist or syndicalist club.  Rather, we intend it to be a forum for all groups and individuals with generally left-leanings and demands for Social Justice as well as those with demands for Real Democracy, Radical Democracy, Freedom, Self-Governance and economic Empowerment.  Our ideological and organizational principles are wide enough for everybody to find something interesting and useful (both ideologically and practically).  We are asking people to forget about their “sects” and “clans” and ideological inhibition (political parties and exclusive ideologies are things of the past century), and to unite around a discussion table in search of serious and practical solutions to the current problems at hand.  Unlike Party models (which are inherently a Fascist model in the way that it enforces unity through Unanimity) we want to celebrate and embrace difference/diversity and to invite practical cooperation, unified resistance and the culture of Solidarity precisely because of difference (watch Michael Hardt’s lecture below to see what I mean).

Armenia today finds itself in the midst of what can be best termed as “Desert of Ideas“.  The recent elections and the paucity of the campaigns, if anything, have highlighted precisely that condition of contemporary Armenian political scene.  A radical transformation in a multitude of spheres

1+

Indymedia in Armenia???

A few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a short-lived Indymedia in Armenia approximately 2 years ago.  Needless to say IMC Armenia was one of only 4 IMCs in Middle East (the others being in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon) and the only one in Caucasus.  I was intrigued to say the least, so I embarked on a quest to find out more about this much-needed form of information gathering and distribution, and media source in Armenia and Caucasus today.  If you know more about what happened to Indymedia in Armenia please-please write it in comments.

I know that Onnik from Oneworld Multimedia blog knows about Indymedia in Armenia because he referenced them few times, so I hope to hear from Onnik.  I would imagine that bloggers who have been around for a while, might know more about what happened to this short-lived IMC-Armenia. So please write.

This is what I’ve found so far:

“Impeachment” bloc won in “Parliamentary Elections in Armenia” SMS-voting

The elections have just finished.  There were no exit-polls conducted due to lack of human resource.   The administration that planned the orininal exit-polls decided to focus on “quick response” to violation alerts. The second NGO expected to conduct exit polls was the Center of Efficient Policy and Political Studies. But it too abandoned the idea due to lack of human resources. The number of volunteers was too small.  Thus, it was decided to hold exit polls via SMS and announce the results at 8.30 p.m. local time.

Волна репрессий против анти-G8 структур в Германии

Gipfelsoli Info Group, Campinski Press Group 09.05.2007

* Волна репрессий против анти-G8 структур*
* Обыски в Гамбурге, Бремене, Берлине*
* Основная мишень – коммуникационная структура движения против
“большой восьмерки”*

Пресс-релиз