Conscience In Black vs Whites

On the day of the weekly meeting the house of government resembles a chess board with white and black pieces. On the one side are the white pieces which start the game and win, on the other side are women in black who don’t want any games. They want back their killed sons, they want fair trial to punish those guilty, they want to end impunity of infringement of rights of others.

The doorstep of the house of government is a place where people try to make their voice heard by the authorities. There is nothing else they can do. They do not trust courts and law enforcement agencies, the ombudsman says it is beyond his mandate, the Armenian National Congress makes friends with the PAP, there are no trade unions, the press is free but cannot influence decision making.

In brief, the institutions which are called to protect citizens from the government’s arbitrariness are not operational. And there is nothing else the citizens can do but go to the house of government and chant their protest and accusations to the ministers fleeing from the house to avoid encounters with them.

Perhaps, this is something unique in the world. In no country are the meetings of government accompanied by black clothes protests lasting for months. Meanwhile, the Armenian ministers have already got used to this, and most of them come and leave through the back door not to come across these people.

Some ministers have a human feeling of compassion for these people. Others call them women of bazaar, yet others think this is a put-up job.

Obviously, the women in front of the government are the embodiment of conscience for most ministers who do not want to come face to face with it. The women in black remind them of the price they have to pay for the white smoking, restaurants, accounts in Swiss bank and property abroad.

Today the women in black were able to enter through the door of the government demanding a meeting with the prime minister. However, the police pushed the “conscience” out of the government not to remind the ministers of their own miserable and meaningless existence and responsibility.