Dirty Impact Of Festival

The story of the Festival of the Azerbaijani films which thwarted in Gyumri and Vanadzor left some dirty footprints. On the one hand, it is not clear what Georgy Vanyan is trying to achieve. On the other hand, it is evident that the energy of young people is wasted on such doubtful actions.

What is Georgy Vanyan trying to achieve? This man was awarded a grant and now he needs to do some work. It is also clear that if the festival of the Azerbaijani films had met no resistance, no one would have learned that ten people got together to watch the films, criticized them, drank a cup of coffee apiece and went home. But Georgy Vanyan wanted to do everything loudly. Perhaps, this was one of the grant requirements. And the others were indeed helpful.

Vanyan is not stupid and has never concealed his views. Once he proposed to create the Caucasus Home, at another time he proposed to the world reconciliation of peoples and peace without borders and without nations. Shortly, a cosmopolitan. But Vanyan’s appeals are directed only to Armenians, “the tolerant and the peaceful”. Let’s open the borders, says cosmopolitan Georgy Vanyan. Just like the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Azubalis called on the Armenians to withdraw the snipers unilaterally from the front line.

It will hardly be possible to convince Vanyan not to call on people to do things that are dangerous for their life. Meanwhile, the Caucasian reconciliation is, unfortunately, more dangerous for the Armenians than the closed borders. Any issue that threatens national security had better be dealt with by the government bodies.

But it is more dangerous to waste energy on the fight with the voiceless films which are not guilty of anything. The fight against films showed that the Armenian youth has a quite good patriotic potential of mobilization and that inappropriate people are now using this potential the way they want.

The Eagles of Syunik which have already grown into the Eagles of Armenia bring together thousands of young people in Yerevan to support Serzh Sargsyan and divide the society between insiders and outsiders, in the result of which the attitude of the society to patriotic actions is as negative as to the Azerbaijani film festival. Perhaps, it is even worse, since the Azerbaijani films will hardly change anything in the psychology of those who will watch them but the patriotic bravado and division into friends and foes may play a big role.

Surely, Georgy Vanyan and others are right to call for cosmopolitanism, just like others are right to protest against these appeals. But it is easier to fight against a virtual rival than your own, and the use of the colossal potential of the youth to fight against such a rival could be a lesson for young people who should ask whether the Azerbaijani films and Georgy Vanyan are to blame that it is becoming more and more difficult to live in Armenia and always more young people, having served in the army, immediately go to the airport. And whether Serzh Sargsyan is right when he says that people leave Armenia to avoid military service.