Saying 'no' to constitutional reforms no sign of being smart – ARF-D member
In an interview with Tert.am, an opposition politician from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) commented upon the upcoming constitutional referendum and the current campaign, expressing his disagreements to the opponents’ criticism.
Describing the ‘no campaign’ as absolutely unjustified and without any logic, Spartak Seyranyan cited Eleanor Rousvelt’s well known remark saying “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
Mr Seryanyan, the ARF-D is among [the political forces] saying ‘yes’ to the [new] Constitution. Don’t you think that a change in the government model in the country [the proposed transition to the parliamentary government as an alternative to the current semi-presidential model] would be ineffective against the society’s distrust in the same [political] figures and forces?
The appearance of new figures in politics, and everywhere else - in culture and economy – is motivated by the changes and challenges necessitating that or creating such a demand. If life continues with its normal routine, with no landmark development occurring, the appearance of new figures has neither a motivation nor a public demand. And nor even are there any mechanisms and conditions [to make that happen]. So from that point of view, I fully agree that there is a complete distrust in the society in the public-political processes. But such a distrust does, of course, have objective reasons. The society’s distrust is not in just a political force or only the authorities. There is also distrust in the opposition, which I state with regret. To overcome that distrust to achieve changes in the country or to introduce innovations is quite easy if that’s just a technological process. And it’s very difficult when it has to do with political processes. But that’s very important. Now back to your question again: the whole problem is that nothing new can happen in the country if there is no ground for that. Hence, the constitutional reforms are not thought to be the magic stick to resolve all the problems. But they open a political landscape for new ideas, programs and approaches. So within this logic, new characters’ appearance is absolutely likely. I don’t insist that it must happen by all means, as a prerequisite is different from the reality. There is nothing easier than writing a law regardless of whether it is the Constitution or a simpler law. What makes all that difficult is how to bring it to life. But if we, as politicians, journalists and a society, think that that those supposed to implement the laws are people we know nothing about, we won’t have any success. The authorities are of course the major role-player in that implementation process. But the society too, has to understand well that the law in question is not for the authorities. They have to protect those laws to the extent that they demand that anyone in the government respect or prioritize them. The other problem you mentioned is whether the constitutional changes should be the landmark event to awaken hopes for changes in every member of the society.
That’s what the advocates of “yes” say.
Let me note, first of all, that there are differences. Not everybody advocates the ‘yes’ the way its logic dictates. I don’t speak about the ARF-D’s “Resolute Yes”; nor do I single out any political force. I speak on the level of just an individual. It’s one thing when one advocates something driven by beliefs and quite a different thing when one does something falling within the logic of the general campaign . It’s one thing when you say “no”, motivated by personal ideas, programs and approaches and another thing when you do so because you do not like those saying ‘yes’. Eleanor Rousvelt has a very smart motto saying “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” What I want to say is that regardless of saying ‘yes’, smart people today discuss the Constitution, its content and positive and negative aspects, and ideas. There are, of course, people who discuss the Constitution from the point of view of events and individuals. What those people do is demagogy; they say, “we say no because we don’t like the initiators”. It’s the easiest thing to say “I don’t like this person.' I understand that certain political forces use this campaign as a preparatory round for the 2017 [parliamentary] election. This is logical too, as the political forces use all the possible tools, not having anything to say or lacking the necessary word stock to win the society’s sympathy. If you closely follow the developments, this campaign focuses on topics unrelated to the constitutional changes.
There is another justification the ARF-D members speak of, particularly the fact that a collective government model would have ruled out the September 3 [2013] pressure upon [President] Serzh Sargsyan [his statement in Moscow expressing Armenia’s interest to join the Eurasian Economic Union]. But your opponents say Serzh Sargsyan said ‘yes’ under pressure in Moscow, and the collective body, i.e. – the National Assembly, later ratified it.
The whole problem is that whenever we present an argument, its entire logic should either be affirmed or opposed to. Whenever we say the government model essentially decreases, among other things, the possibility and likelihood of external impacts, we say that it applies to the entire system, not just one individual. So if one person decides the political processes, relying one political system – the semi-presidential one – not only that person but also the entire political system becomes vulnerable. We say that pressure, in essence, is an objective phenomenon we can never eliminate; it can be undermined due to collective administration.
So, given that we have an opportunity to solve the problem now, saying ‘no’ is no sign of being smart; it implies remaining what you used to be. I think that all those people who say that the constitutional changes should not be adopted have to admit that they act as supporters of the current regime. So unless there is something new, no further changes will be possible.
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