Serzh reacts to «ՄերժիրՍերժին»: My heart and love goes out to all in Armenia who are struggling for a prosperous future

I went to Armenia this time last year along with my good friends Atom Egoyan, Arsinee Khanjian and Eric Nazarian representing Justice Within Armenia to monitor the Parliamentary elections there.

We knew that the dangers of a mostly one party system would render the benefits of a new constitutional framework of a parliamentary democracy null and void.

With a Putin-Medvedev musical chairs type of scenario coming to fruition now, the former President (a new one was just recently appointed by Parliament) has changed his mind and decided to take the newly created post of Prime Minister with the same powers as his old job as President.

His reason for doing so, national security concerns, is a bit unbelievable though quite Paternal (common among Republicans) as he could have easily secured his old post as Defense Minister if that was his only concern.

Protests have ensued with the only real opposition party left in Parliament, the Yelk Alliance, calling for street protests and closures to stop the dissonant musical chairs. The contract between the gov’t and the governed has been broken in Armenia for a long time and empathy has replaced hope.

Votes have been sold at wholesale for as little as $20 during all major elections. I appreciate that the protests are peaceful as this fledging Republic cannot afford any more bloodshed.

That said this country will not truly realize its full potential until citizens en mass stand up for their rights and dignity in massive labor strikes like those seen before the Karabagh War, resist their unlikely fate, and yell “We don’t want to be the bitch of any superpowers, color revolutions fade, we want cheap power. We say no to corruption and no to plunder, billionaire playgrounds are going under.”