Why say “yes” and why say “no”

30/10/2005 Rafael TEIMURAZYAN

It has been a while since the propaganda for the constitutional amendments has begun. The authorities and the opposition are involved in finding reasons for saying “yes” or saying “no”. Let’s take into account the fact that there is really no difference in the reasons.

The people in favor of either “yes” or “no” base their opinions on the necessity of our country’s development. The European organizations are the ones who lend a helping hand to the people in favor of “yes”. “We are not the only ones who claim that the draft is good. Even Europeans think so.” This is how we can sum up the basis for saying “yes” to the constitutional amendments. However, what does not worry them is the fact that foreigners have joined the “yes” propaganda by violating the laws of our country at the same time. The opposition places importance on who the authors of the constitutional amendments are when giving a basis for saying “no” to the constitution. The “Republic” political party is the one most concerned about this. The party considers the people who proposed this draft as prostitutes and drug addicts. “It seems as if the prostitutes and drug addicts are here to teach us lessons on morality,” say members of the political party. The members find it unnecessary to go deep into the contents of the constitutional amendments and they have come up with an excuse for saying “no” to the constitution, and that has to do with the authors of the amendments. “You can’t read the Holy Bible with dirty hands. One must be pure in body and soul,” says leader of the political party Aram Sargsyan as he refers to their decision to say “no”. In his words, by saying “no” to the constitutional amendments, they are saying “no” to the authorities, “no” to all our losses, “no” to intolerance, to criminals, to using our country as a foreign product and “no” to the manipulation of our authorities by other countries. “By saying “no”, we are saying “no” to falsifications, murder, provinciality, stupidity, poverty and injustice,” says A. Sargsyan. He emphasizes the importance that saying “no” has and he sees no difference in saying “no” to the referendum and boycotting the whole thing. The leader of the “Republic” political party encourages all voters to go to the polls on November 27 and turn the ballots into a kind letter. “Write love letters to a girl or a boy, to the Prime Minister and the president on those ballots,” says Sargsyan as he goes further in detail. According to Sargsyan, there is no need to do propaganda for saying “no” because the character and behavior of the people propagandizing “yes” are enough for the people to reject them. However, according to “yes” propagandist, president of the Foreign Relations committee of the National Assembly and federalist Armen Rustamyan, there are many reasons for saying “yes” and many ways of propaganda. A. Rustamyan emphasizes the role that television and press play in propaganda. “There will be many forms of propaganda and provision of information in the regions and the advantages of this constitution will be made clear on a wide scale,” says A. Rustamyan. What he didn’t answer was the question as to what his basis was for saying “yes”. In his words, he plans on making the draft accessible to society. By this we can presume that A. Rustamyan believes that the draft plays a bigger role than the constitution itself. The only thing is that the draft must be accessible to everyone and people will go and say “yes” after being informed.