Creative Democratization in Armenia
When the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) – a political party in Armenia – held an open-to-all pre-election vote to decide which of their leaders should run for presidency in 2008, I jokingly told my sister this was the first transparent and democratic presidential election in Armenia’s entire history.
It is quite funny and somewhat ironic, but the nationalist ARF or Dashnak party is introducing democracy in Armenia through very creative and unique ways.
The Armenian Observer informs of the newest ARF method to gain votes:
[T]he party now has printed out 400,000 ‘contracts’ with Vahan Hovhannisyan – the ARF candidate [decided by the open-to-all vote].
According to this contract, the presidential candidate promises to make social changes, maintain political stability, contribute to the unification of Armenians in the homeland, establish social solidarity, ensure free elections.
Everybody that reads and signs the agreement will receive a small card with the picture of Vahan Hovhannisyan and will join the movement “I am with Vahan”. […]
[…]
I have also heard rumours, that ARF are planning yet another major PR event, specifically targeting young people – Serj Tankian
, the lead vocalist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative metal band System of a Down
I don’t think I’d vote for the ARF candidate if I lived in Armenia (in fact, I might boycott the elections), but I can’t hide my support for the healthy campaign they have been doing so far for the 2008 elections. They are clearly introducing a culture of fair and fun politics in Armenia which supports the democratization and builds general trust for elections.
Despite many dark aspects of the ARF history, I think they are making history today by creating a culture of transparency and trust through simple campaign strategies.
And it is not all about gaining power this time, it seems ARF is delivering a Ralph-Nader-kind of message.
5 Responses to “Creative Democratization in Armenia”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Observer on 26 Dec 2007 at 2:36 pm #
As with the Parliamentary elections, I’m working on the election day, so I probably won’t have time to travel from Yerevan to Gyumri just to vote. However, if the trends we have been observing so far continue, I’ll encourage everyone to vote ARF, and noone else.
Dashnaktsutyun today are so much different from Dashnaktsutyun of 15 years ago, that at this point I see them as the only healthy political party in Armenia, who have the capacity of acheiving anything.
PS: Simon – I hadn’t noticed that you’ve changed your blog’s theme. Pretty cool! 🙂
Blogian on 26 Dec 2007 at 6:38 pm #
Thanks for the comment! By the way within a week or so the the entire design of blogian will be changed. Hayastan.com has hired a professional designer to create a unique theme for this blog. So stay tuned!
another observer on 06 Jan 2008 at 12:00 am #
I think the ARF is a very outdated party and its a shame they are still in such large numbers globally. The root of the problem is their ideology and the fact that they press this 19th century political thought of what armenia should be, onto their youth even to this modern day. Look, their is nothing wrong with being patriotic, but there is something wrong with the “either you’re with us or against us”. Many dashnaks will not even consider another viewpoint and think they are the true saviors of armenia. How can people want to vote for a socialist group that accused members of other political parties of being communist during the soviet era with their only objective being slander, have killed their own people on the battle grounds of kharabagh, sold guns out of a church, continue to divide powers of the church, and have slammed armenians who are not “with them” – into power? If you are looking to create a new armenia, thats fine, create one, but dont clense your own people in the process.
China, one of the last “communist” powers are better capitalist than the USA…Russia, turning to free market capitalism is home to the most billionaires in a city….USA developed its legging through its capitalist roots…and now with armenia having some political and economic sustainablity is in a situation where it can progress into bringing in more multinational corps and thrive.
The dashnags have stayed the same over the past 30 years. The only thing thats changed is their facade. They use political lobbying groups now, they create modern plays and music to promote their propeganda, they do nothing different than any party to win influence. The only diff is that we’ve seen what has been done in the past at their hands and frankly thats not an armenia i want to associate with.
Now that armenias free, dashnags are looking for new ways to capitalise on peoples Nostalgia for their motherland. You want to see people excited to return somewhere or to keep a person around? Find a way to bring jobs and money there. The west of the USA was developed due to a gold rush. Dubai has turned into one of the richest (and fastest growing) places in the world due to money and flexible policy to spur growth. Armenia has an opportunity and i hope the people make the right choice.
vartan on 08 Jan 2008 at 5:39 am #
It’s good to see AARF’s new election campaign methods in Armenia which imply transparency and trust…BUT … i wished that the same ARF used the same good governance methods in the diaspora in the last 80 years or at least the last 20 years…for the benefit of diaspora armenians
where is the democracy and transparency in the diaspora, where are the democractic and “clean” national structures that ARF had built???? why should I believe that they will succeed in spreading those ideas in Armenia when they failed in doing the same in diaspora?
What i see is a NOT-renewed ARF who, instead of taking over and carrying on, its duties and responsibilities in the diaspora, has turned into Armenia’s power struggle and inter-party strifes for the sake of that same old lovely “ishkhanutyun” rule…
Levon on 26 Jan 2008 at 1:35 am #
It’s interesting that the two anti-ARF commentators here resort to using recycled attacks on the ARF. I will group them into one because in all likelihood the two are the same person.
What do you mean when you say the “dark aspect” of ARF history? You may not have agreed with the decisions that the ARF has made during its over 100 years of service to the Armenian nation, however you can not arbitrarily decide that such decisions and actions formed a “dark aspect”. Do you know any organization that has existed for over 100 years that has never made any mistakes. Any person or organization that does work and more importantly as much work as the ARF will make mistakes.
Secondly, the ARF has never had an “you are with us or against us” mentality. It has been quite the contrary in my opinion. Segments of the Armenian community who hold strong beliefs that are not in line with the ideology of the ARF tend to make it seem like their beliefs are the “pan-Armenian” ones whereas the ARF’s are the ARF’s. I would challenge any unbiased person to objectively look at the ARF’s goals, beliefs, and methods and I can guarantee that 90% of Armenians would find themselves agreeing with the ARF.
You speak of the ARF as un “outdated” organization. Its obvious you do not follow the news nor have your followed history. The ARF has always been at the forefront of Armenian issues and has changed significantly throughout the over one hundred years of its existence. You’re talking about an organization that was formed in Tbilisi in 1890 and functioned in the parochial landscape that was Armenia in the early 20th century. Today, the party is worldwide. You can not have stayed the same and have grown to be the largest and most effective Armenian organization history has ever known.
What has not changed about the ARF are its goals and why should they? Wouldn’t any self-respecting Armenian strive for a united and democratic Armenia? Wouldn’t any righteous human being strive for social economic equality? These are the exact goals put forth by the ARF.
In fact, I would say that the ARF’s vision and mission for Armenia and the Armenian people one hundred years ago was ahead of its time. When Dashnaks were promoting the concepts of social equality and democracy, Communists were praising the oppressive and inherently undemocratic system of the Soviet Union.
I would urge you to study the ARF more closely and not rely on rumors and falsities that you have been fed through Communist, pan-Turkist, and hryakan sources.
If you want to trully understand how important the ARF is for the Armenian people, all you need to do is look at who the enemies of the Armenian people (ie Turks and others) focus most of their energies attacking.