You may have seen or read that explosives were detonated after protesters clashed with police in Yerevan today.
This is the level of maturity of “revolutionaries” in Armenia. The moronic, self-styled cigarette-hanging-from-his-mouth-Guy-Fawkes-mask-wearing-stick-wielding-resident-hooligan-“revolutionary Shant Harutiunian, decides to detonate flash (magnesium) bombs in a crowd of people, injuring several who were marching with him and at least 8 police officers.
No rhyme, no reason, no target. The best I can come up with for his motivation is, “I’m mad so I’m going to blow shit up – even if I might hurt innocent people.”
“Revolutionary” rushing and taking down a female bystander (News.am)
“Revolutionaries” beating a man with sticks (Armenpress)
By the way, for all the media outlets that are reporting that there were riot police:
An Armenian opposition activist and more than three dozen of his supporters were detained in downtown Yerevan on Tuesday in violent clashes with riot police that followed what he called an attempt to carry out an anti-government “revolution.”
A maverick Armenian opposition activist and more than three dozen of his supporters were detained in downtown Yerevan on Tuesday in violent clashes with riot police that followed what he called an attempt to carry out an anti-government “revolution.”
WHAT RIOT POLICE?
This is what riot police look like in my crazy imagination:
And they don’t seem to be anywhere in the videos of what happened in Yerevan, as one acquaintance astutely pointed out to me.
Ironically, now the police have probable cause to believe that seemingly peaceful protesters might be equipped with explosive devices. And the reason was some purposeless action. The only thing that will be revolutionized because of this is how law enforcement officials deal with public protests.
Way to go, dumbass.
If this is the type of revolution people want to have – unfocused, pointless, indiscriminate – then they don’t deserve to have one at all.
By: William Bairamian
[twitter-follow screen_name=’bairamian’]
Although I mostly agree with your post, it’s ridiculous to judge others sitting in your cozy apartment in Glendale/Burbank. Why don’t you go to Armenia and start a more focused, meaningful, and discriminate revolution?
Thank you for your comment, however much it plays a tired tune.
It’s not a ridiculous thought that I don’t need to be in Armenia (or any country in particular) to judge that a man idiotically endangered the well-being of others for what is yet to be proved as anything other than an exercise in insanity.
And although I’ve no plans to start a more “focused, meaningful, and discriminate revolution,” you might do well to read up on the history of revolutions before you dole out advice.
Thanks again.
Thanks for your reply.
I am not saying you necessarily need to be in Armenia to judge but I am convinced you don’t know what it feels like to live on $2 per day and have no hope for the future. When people have no hope, trying to do ANYthing to improve their well-being is not idiotic – it’s just a sign of desperation and I am not sure that you and I can fully comprehend their situation.
It’s silly to think that people who grew up in poverty and didn’t get a chance to get good education can start a meaningful revolution. That’s why people like you need to do more than just write blog posts, if they don’t want to see the same fatuous attempts at overthrowing the government.
Kevin, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who wrote about the plight of the oppressed, poor masses, were both well-educated, relatively wealthy individuals. Did they need to know what it felt like to “live on $2 per day” to think and write about something that eventually would changes the lives of millions?
As for the second part of your comment: almost everyone in Armenia has an education, particularly people in Yerevan. And not just reading-level education – a college education. So that argument doesn’t hold much water. It’s also convenient to forget in this instance all those individuals who are purportedly leaders of the people who are in-country but don’t bother with substantive thought – it’s not election season, after all.
Finally, as for the jab about me blogging, I will again refer you to history. Blogs are the self-published articles and pamphlets of yesteryear. Poignantly, your insistence on me doing something other than blogging, which is a method of communication, discussion, debate, and thinking, is actually indicative of the putrid mindset that got Harutiunian to “do something” and has a number of people cheering him on. ‘Don’t think and all that shit, you with your fancy words, go out and do something!”
Notwithstanding, of course, that I have indeed done more than “just write blog posts.”
Thanks again.
kevin’s response of “easy for you to complain since you have a comfortable life” could be valid (however overused) if the argument that Mr. Bairamian was making sounded along the lines of “why are these people not satisfied with their lives? they are just overgratified etc.”, but in this case Mr. Bairamian is not criticising people’s motivations for protesting, but rather the methods, which I agree were unecessary. If anything, actions by Shant Harutiunian, or speeches by Zaruhi Postanjian (which i discuss here: http://mshak.org/2013/10/04/why-zaruhi-postandjyans-comments-were-dumb-and-potentially-hurtful-to-the-opposition/) only serve to perpetuate the image of a disorganised, and unmotivated opposition movement, and send the message that, no matter how corrupt and ineffective the current government is..the alternative might even be worse…this also makes it easier for the government to legitimise crackdowns of peaceful protestors (now forced to rally around Harutyunian as a new ’cause celebre’, as not to appear divided), in a period where Armenia’s return into Russia’s orbit will only exasperate.