In the previous article I promised to present the methods and strategy of the fight for freedom of mass media, but before getting into that, I can’t not refer to the screams let out by the male and female friends of an ancient political party which, I am sure you can see, refer only to Armenian national and state honor.
“A country that makes an attempt to straighten its back with dignity, a country that wants to develop as an independent, legal state, etc. may not end the functioning of any radio station, even if it is “Liberty”; in other words, considering the shutting down or not shutting down as merely fate,” says Alvard Petrosyan. As for Hrant Margaryan, who wants to put freedom of speech in the right place, taking into account the space between the ears of the leaders of mass media and the words from the presidential staff, continues his female friend’s thought:
“I wouldn’t want our state to provide a radio network to another state for materialistic reasons. This, I think, is an issue of state dignity and not freedom of speech.”
Another similar thought was expressed by prose writer-turned-deputy-turned-prose writer, our friend Ruben Hovsepyan, who was recently awarded the president’s award and who is not behind in the struggle for dignity.
However, in their rush to serve their coalition colleague and the president of the Republic, the “friends” have forgotten that the country trying to straighten its back with “dignity” gets benefits from the international community and the United States, yet they are trying to shut down the U.S. funded “Liberty” radio.
When internationals give money to Armenia for fighting against corruption, trafficking, poverty and similar things, when the aborigines with their four thousand-year culture give transparent voting boxes as presents, the friends Hrant, Ruben and girlfriend Alvard don’t remember the dignity; but when the issue concerns the radio station broadcasting subjective information, they start caring about dignity.
Of course, “Liberty” is dangerous not only to the dignity of the state and the nation, but also the reputation of the Dashnaktsutyun. The “Yerkir Media” television station belonging to that party goes ahead and strikes out at Gyumri mayor Vardan Ghukasyan. It strikes at it in a way that it doesn’t even cross the mind of the listener that there is a Dashnak in control. The other mass media (with an exception of some newspapers) not only evoke the hierarchy of the local government, but also they don’t publish the illegalities committed by the Dashnak Marzbed. In this case, all that is left is “Liberty” – the microphone that humiliates the dignity of the nation and the state with funding from America.
When the Marzbed of Gegharkunik, a position given to the Dashnaktsutyun on the “quota” system, was ignoring the selection made by the residents of the village of Norabnak for two and a half months, and wasn’t presenting the elected village head and the decision of the court to the community, the friends and girlfriends weren’t really worried. We can go on and list the reasons why they hate “Liberty”, but it is time to move on to the methods and strategy for the fight for freedom of speech. What I have to say is not complicated and doesn’t require material expenses. We must take a paper and pen to write the following sentence:
“There are no equal conditions for expressing viewpoints in Armenia. The authorities and certain political parties control the influential mass media. In these conditions, we refuse to participate in the upcoming presidential elections and propose to our electorate to vote for the government candidate, thus quickening the process of the natural collapse of the totalitarian system.”
Those who have already made an announcement to run for president and those who are inclined to be candidates, including Vazgen Manukyan, Artashes Geghamyan, Stepan Demirchyan, Raffi Hovhannisian, Aram Sargsyan, Aram Karapetyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan, etc, can sign this text. Everyone can unite around this pivot, leaving aside personal ambitions around this pivot. I am not talking about the possibility of free self-expression during the elections, rather the opposite. Even the best campaign is doomed to failure in the case of not having freedom of speech in Armenia. If the politicians don’t unite around this pivot, then this means that they accept the rules of the game constituted by the authorities and should not be surprised when the international observers qualify the presidential elections in the spring as free, fair and transparent. They make the decisions based on the moods of the public and the expression of will and so far, that will is the state and national dignity shouted out by the Dashnaktsutyun.