The Zhoghovurd (People) paper reports Ruben Hayrapetyan’s bodyguards continue assaulting people. A couple of days ago they beat up a driver of a minibus, and threatened the other drivers of this bus company not to show up in Avan district of Yerevan.
Public discussions on oligarchy continue. Many think not the oligarchy but their so-called head Serzh Sargsyan should be the main target. In this context, the following question arises - it is necessary to set forth a public demand for eradication of not the oligarchy but Serzh Sargsyan.
They suppose the oligarchy will thus be automatically removed.
The opinion that Serzh Sargsyan should leave is true just because he is a president who occupied this position through vote buying and other electoral fraud. Serzh Sargsyan became president in 2008 by means of fraud, violence and shooting at citizens. It would be at least weird to state that oligarchy must leave while Serzh Sargsyan may stay.
But these issues should not be viewed only as rally slogans but also practical politics and citizenship. In this case, it is evident that presently there is not enough potential to remove both instead the society has a real chance to reduce impunity of oligarchy. Rejecting this opportunity and focusing on Serzh Sargsyan’s removal would mean destroying a statue, while keeping the pedestal.
The criminal-oligarchic system of Armenia resembles a statue on the pedestal. The statue is the president, which is standing on a pedestal of criminals and oligarchs. After removing the statue a lot will continue to be the same because the pedestal is a self-sufficient system which is able to attend to the missing statue. So, it is ingenuous to think the criminal-oligarchic system may be eliminated by eliminating Serzh Sargsyan.
This system is composed of half-literate, sometimes illiterate odious figures that have nothing to do with intellect but have a perfect understanding of their own interests. They do not care who will be standing on the pedestal because they care only for their interests.
Meanwhile, once the pedestal is destroyed or at least shattered, the statue on it will also weaken and appear to be dependent on the society having to make concessions not only to the criminal-oligarchic pedestal but also to the society.
If it is impossible to resolve both issues at once in Armenia, if no political force is able to propose and apply relevant mechanisms, these questions become rally rhetoric which does not change the situation. More, this rhetoric strengthens the oligarchy and makes the statue be more dependent on the criminal and oligarchic system, leaving the system more unrestrained and uncontrollable.
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