An act of a responsible politician…
Posted by kronstadt on November 22, 2007
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!
If Levon’s ultimate desire is to counter the existing regime rather then the pursuit of power and personal ambitions, then he should be able to find it within himself to be able to do this. This would be both an act of a admiting the mistakes and taking responsibility as a mature politician, who admits his mistakes and goes back in history to correct them – a proof that is expressed not in words and promises, but in action. This would also be an act of acknowledging his greatest mistake and the act of greatest injustice and brutality that he committed in 1996, which redefined the standards of what is acceptable political behaviour in Armenia; and which had put in motion the chain of events that brought the country to this political impasse. He must realise that his name is tarnished by many years of propaganda and history re-interpretation – some of his legacy and image is still recoverable, but most of that tarnish is beyond such recovery as to guarantee a decisive victory ( which is needed in the age when election frauds are a standard), while the future path of the country remains at stake.
The action of his support for Vazgen Manukian would not only dispel all the doubts about leadership’s stance on Artsakh, but would also clear Levon’s legacy as a political figure in Armenia’s history.
Armenian Libertarian-Socialist Movement 
Observer said
Interesting suggestions. However, I am surprised at your choice of politician for Levon to support. Why Vazgen? He is pretty much a spent bullet – and nobody seriously thinks he might stand a chance.
However, I’d be really intersted to hear your arguments in support of Vazgen Manukyan, either then uging Levon to correct yet another mistake of the past?
The Armenian Observer Blog said
“Heritage” Spamming Its Way Into Presidential Elections
As it has been noted earlier on several occasions on this blog, the leader of the opposition Heritage party, Former Foreign Minister of Armenia Raffi Hovhannisyan, has been applying for Armenian citizenship since 1991, however, it was only granted to h…
Armenia Election Monitor 2008 » Blog Archive » Raffi Hovannisian’s Candidacy said
[…] for the opposition to unite around a common candidate. The site suggests that Ter Petrosian should eventually withdraw from the race and urge his supporters to vote for another candidate instead. If Levon’s ultimate desire is to counter the existing regime rather then the pursuit of […]
kronstadt said
Hi Observer,
My support of Vazgen Manukian is not the central issue here. In fact, even though I see him as one of the most intelligent and insightful politicians on the scene and even though I see more potential in his stance on Artsakh than what LTP or Serj have got to offer, I don’t really support Vazgen. I wouldn’t say that Vazgen is a “spent bullet”, as you put it, yet the purpose of this post was to ponder what would be a truely responsible act (an act of political integrity and virtue) on behalf of such a politician as Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
You see, it’s not about “going back in history and correcting a mistake” — that’s would be impossible. Rather, it’s about “doing the impossible” or at least the improbable… it’s about stunning us all with a seemingly paradoxical, and yet ultimately Dramatic and powerful move — a kind of action of selflessness and political self-sacrifice that could inspire us all for generations to come — something that would suggest to us what politics of responsibility might look like.
After all why does history remember Napoleon and not Jimmy Carter?
Of course, these might be deemed as nothing more than philosophical ideas, but I think this is precisely what is missing in Armenian politics today. Politics came out of Philosophy, which in turn is a child of Drama and Tragedy, my comrade. Today we don’t have Politics! We have Politilogy, Technology and Technocracy, but not Politics! — not Politics with a capital “P”. We have formulas, think-tanks, careerist politicians who look for comfortable alliances, white-papers, predictive strategies, statistics, “experts” and “politologists” who act more like robots… we have all these, but not Politics! And mark my words — every great Polity and every great Politician recogises that these pale in insigificance and will soon be forgotten by history when compared against acts of *Politics* !!!
I watched a TV program today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhKDfNrBQ8g I suggest you watch all 9 parts of it. Quite seriously it nearly made me loose faith…
kronstadt said
As for my support, strictly speaking I don’t believe in the institution of Presidency, at least not in current terms, so I shouldn’t be supporting anyone. But, like Chomsky, I believe that voting and supporting of particular candidates is sometimes necessary when considering the situation in long-term politically evolutionary terms.
And for that reason I should note that I see some virtues in LTP that I don’t see in other prominent political figures. I also see that the Vazgen Manukian’s stance on Artsakh, economy and social justice are the most constructive and creative ones when compared to others.
At the same time I think opposition SHOULD unite, BUT only on the basis of *ideological* compatibility! It seriously makes a mockery out of politics when National-Socialists (Dashnaks) are uniting with Ramkavars and when Social-Democrats are uniting with National-Liberals.
And I welcome the candidature of David Hakobyan because it is the only candidature of a proper Left wing and of at least a clear ideology, rather than that of a populist obsurantism constructed around some individual figurehead. Hakobyan said that he is supporting LTP in spirit, but he is going to stand as a candidate, even though he knows that he will not win. Nevertheless, he sais that it is important to always have a candidate that represents the proper Left… and I agree… it’s a symbolic jesture, which is necessary and which I welcome as a healthy political development.
Observer said
Kronstadt – thanx for the clarifications. And you are in fact right – I had misunderstood your original idea, that of “stunning” everybody. In fact, that is also a point I’ve made on my blog re the TV appearance Vazgen Manukyan had here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blJ2diw2AWQ:
Observer said
looks like the contents of the blockquote tag is lost, so I’m repasting it here:
He doesn’t represent any danger to the current authorities, and he doesn’t really harm the former ones either. What he has just said – could be said are common truths floating around, and could be formulated by any decent journalist or a passer by – and it would have the same type of effect. The moment a politician deals with such concepts, he becomes a simple repeater (parrot), or a demagogue or a simple passer by. He does not shape political agenda anymore, he does not contribute to it in any way – he doesn’t even shift the balance from one way to another.
kronstadt said
Well, on this one I beg to differ. There are loads of great ideas floating around among passerbyes or among scholars and intellectuals, but little attention is paid to them. (for instance I find that often I can have more insight by having a frank conversation with a worker in a factory or a peasant, then from reading books and articles, though of course some background knowledge of the latter is necessary to make sense of and appreciate the latter). However, once a political figure makes those points, however banal, it immediately has impact on ratings.
Whatever sympathy I have for LTP is that I see that the situation is really dire and continuing in this veign is already leading the country into a catastrophy. Obviously, I don’t agree with his views on capitalism and liberal free-market economy and the rest of these fashionable ideas, but for now I see an immediate need for some serious cleaning of those “Augean stables” and restoration of some basic elements of democratic life. And one person who can really do that kind of cleaning in *practical* terms is Levon Ter-Petrosyan (and this is more of an *executive* task). However, if you remember during the first major speech of LTP the crowd was not particularly excited about LTP throwing in his ideas about the Artsakh issue. I did like the “smell” of that “beating around the bush” either. And my views on Artsakh issue at this time happen to close to those of Davit Hakobyan (see http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=pol&id=4671 ), which is why when I heard Vazgen expressing these seemingly banal and commonsensical stance on Artsakh, I found it to be something that I’m more sympathetic than what LTP has got to offer.
But if any re-union between these 2 politicians is possible at all, it has to be Levon going to Vazgen and not the other way around…. not after 1996 and not after the extent of propaganda and history reinterpretation that has been conducted in the last 10 years.
Vazgen might be a “spent bullet” for now, but he is anything but that with LTP’s forces gathered behind him. Once this alliance is made, Hovhannisian would have more reason to join in as well.
Observer said
Hmm! I didn’t know Davit Hakobyan has a position on Karabakh issue :))) thanx for the link!
tetete asdasdkas | tondrak.com said
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Китайский пресс said
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