Գուցե այն պատճառով, որ ԱՄՆ-ի պատմության մեջ առաջին սեւամորթ նախագահը պատրաստվում է կրկին առաջադրել իր թեկնածությունն այդ պաշտոնում եւ վստահ է, որ ժողովրդավարությունն իր  երկրում կրկին հաղթելու է: Մինչդեռ բավականին հետաքրքիր արդյունք կստացվեր, եթե նույն ուսումնասիրությունը կատարվեր հենց ԱՄՆ-ի վերաբերյալ:

Ինդոնեզիայի բնակիչները բողոքում են ԱՄՆ-ում Ղուրանի օրինակն այրելու առնչությամբ

Պետքարտուղարությունն իր զեկույցում մեղադրել է մի շարք երկրներին` նաեւ Հայաստանին, կրոնական անազատության համար: Խիստ քննադատվել է Ֆրանսիան դեմքը ծածկող հագուստը հասարակական վայրերում կրելն արգելող օրենքի համար: Վաշինգտոնը գտնում է, որ շատ եվորպական երկրներ կրոնական ինքնարտահայտման իրավունքը սահմանափակող կոպիտ քաղաքականություն են վարում, ինչը կարող է հանգեցնել լուրջ հետեւանքների: Չմոռանանք այն լուրջ հետեւանքների մասին, որոնք ծայր առան արաբական աշխարհում զանգվածային ընդվզումների տեսքով`  Միացյալ Նահանգներում մահմեդականների սուրբ գրքի` Ղուրանի օրինակը վերջերս այրելուց հետո: Վաշինգտոնն իհարկե, դատապարտեց

ամերիկացի հոգեւորական Թերի Ջոնսի այս արարքը: Սակայն հետո նույն Թերի Ջոնսը` նույն հաստատակամությամբ կրկին հանդես եկավ Ղուրան այրելու  նախաձեռնությամբ: Որպես հետեւանք մի շարք երկրներում զանգվածային բողոքի ակցիաներ ու բռնություններ տեղի ունեցան: Աֆղանստանում նույնիսկ զայրացած ամբոխը գլխատել էր ՄԱԿ-ի մի քանի աշխատակցի:

Զեկույցում քննադատվում է տարբեր երկրների բանտերի վիճակը, մինչդեռ ամերիկյան Գուանտանամոն հայտնի է կալանավորների նկատմամբ իրականացված խայտառակ բռնություններով ու ծաղրանքներով: Ի դեպ, կալանավորների մեծ մասը մահմեդականներ են, ովքեր  կալանավորված են ահաբեկչության կասկածանքով` առանց եղադրանքի առաջադրման:

Իրաքյան պատերազմում զոհված ամերիկացի զինծառայողների աճյունները

Վաշինգտոնի ռազմական նկրտումները, հակառակ ամերիկացիների պահանջներին, չվերացան նաեւ Ջորջ Բուշ կրտսերից հետո: Օբաման խոստացել էր  ընտրողներին վերջ տալ իրաքյան պատերազմին ու թերեւս սա էր նրա ամենամեծ հաղթաթուղթը, մինչդեռ ամրիկացի զինվորները դեռեւս դուրս չեն գալու Իրաքից: Ավելին:  Ամերիկացի զինծառայողների մի մասն արդեն պատերազմում է  նավթով հարուստ մեկ այլ երկրում` Լիբիայում: Միջազգային ասպարեզում գերիշխող դիրք ունենալու, մեծ գումարներ դիզելու ամերիկյան անհագ  ախորժակին միայն իրաքյան պատերազմում զոհ գնաց  4431 ամերիկացի  զինծառայող: Ու չի բացառվում, որ ամերիկացի նորակոչիկները հերոսի մահով  կզոհվեն նաեւ այլ երկրներում, միայն որովհետեւ Վաշինգտոնը բարի կամք ունի օգնելու ժողովուրդներին դեմորկրատական կարգեր հաստատելու հարցում:  Եվ  հոգ չէ, որ զոհվում են նաեւ հազարավոր խաղաղ բնակիչներ` այս դեպքում առաքելություն իրականացնողն ավելի բարձր է գնահատում իր գործունեության կարեւորությունը: Պաշտոնական Վաշինգոտնը շարունակելու է խոսել մյուս պետություններում ժողովրդավարական կարգեր հաստատելու իր պատրաստակամության մասին` վկայակոչելով այս ոլորտում ունեցած իր մեծ փորձը:

Photo by Photolur

The US embassy in Yerevan made a statement that, “The Secretary made a private visit to the memoiral with the intention to give her respects for the 1.5 million Armenians that lost their lives in 1915”.

The official scheduale of the Secretary did not include a visit to the memorial. Regardless of whether or not the trip was planned, Secretary Clinton and the Embassy did not infrom Armenian broadcasters and news reporters of her visit.

Clinton was present at Tsitsernakaberd without any Armenian representatives guiding her and showing her around the area, because the visit was not official. However, it is odd that the US embassy considers the visit private if the funeral wreath placed at the memorial had written out ,

“From the United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.”

Photo by Photolur

Her tribute to the Armenian Genoicide memorial created a riddle-like issue days before her visit even occured. Not a single announcement was made that she was going to  visit .

Firstly, they released that Clinton will leave for the Tsitsernakaberd at 7 am, when she left Marriot only at 9:45. Everyone who visits the Memorial , especially on official bussiness , usually brings a funeral wreath and adjusts the wreath banner. Secretary Clinton did not approach the wreath or the banner. Hilary Clinton did not plant an evergreen tree as it is usually done and did not visit Genocide Museum either.

The Armenian National Committee of America’s Exective Director, Aram Hamparian analysed the sitation. “Given the secrecy surrounding this visit, and the absence of any publicly released remarks – much less a full and formal statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Secretary – it would seem at this point, sadly, that this visit, while holding certain special importance in its own right – does not represent material movement toward proper U.S. condemnation and commemoration of this crime.
This visit truly was a missed opportunity for the Secretary and for America,” said Aram Hambaryan.
Acting from the perspectives of the American diplomacy, the Obama administration once again avoided not to openly offend both Armenia and Turkey.  The Turkish side seams to be satissfied with this jesture, as it usually  comes up with harsh critisism against anyone who visits the memorial.

School # 104 February 5, 2008 photo by Gayaneh Avetisyan

The number of pupils enrolled in Armenian schools in Georgia is steadily declining, as Georgian-Armenians send their children to Russian, and sometimes to Georgian schools.

According to Georgian Ministry of Education and Science there were 150 Armenian schools in Georgia in 2004, with the majority — 120 — in Samtskhe Javakheti, which is largedly populated by Armenians. But now the number of Armenian schools has dropped to 140.

Tbilisi had eight Armenian schools in 2004, but now two of the “mixed” Armenian schools (with Georgian or Russian sectors) have been closed. Of the six remaining Armenian schools in Tblisi, only No.95 and No.104 are solely Armenian.

In Georgia, schools are financed by the government, which provides vouchers to each school for each pupil enrolled. The amount of these vouchers ranges from 350 lari ($211) to 575 lari ($346) per year. If the number of pupils is not enough for a school to exist, it is closed.

Many of Georgian schools are subdivided into ethnic sectors: Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Azarbaijanian and Ossetian.

In the 4 mixed Armenian schools of Tbilisi, which are subdivided into Georgian, Russian and Armenian sectors, in Russian sectors more Armenian pupils study than in the Armenian sectors. Totally in Russian sectors of these 4 schools there are 700 Armenian pupils, whilst in Armenian sectors study only 268 Armenians.

David Rashoyan, 8th class pupil of School No. 131 of Tbilisi (with both Russian and Armenian sectors), can only speak Armenian jargon, which is common among Georgian-Armenians.

“I love Armenia, it is my country,” says the boy.

But he can’t write or read in his mother tongue because he studies at a Russian school.

Inga Kosyan, Dvid Rashoyan’s mother, who speaks Armenian with great difficulty, explains that she was afraid they could have difficulties in helping their child with lessons, because she and her husband do not have an Armenian education.

School # 104 February 5, 2009 photo by Gayaneh Avetisyan

School # 104, which is fully Armenian, had 270 students 10 years ago, but today has only 169 children. For the 2008-2009 academic year, just nine children entered the first class, whilst in the upper classes the number of pupils is more than double that.

School #86 in Tbilisi’s Havlabar district, home to many Armenians, was closed two years ago because number of pupils had dropped too low for the school to continue. Now this school has only Russian and Georgian sectors, where 427 study; 354 of these are Armenians. Among the Armenians, 334 of those study in the Russian sector and 20 in the Georgian section.

The headmistress of the school, Sussanna Gevorgyan, has her own theory about the reasons for this.

“First of all, Armenians prefer Russian, and sometimes Georgian schools because a great amount of Armenians leave Georgia to earn their living in Russia, speak Russian and want their children to help them in their work later. Besides, many Armenians are sure after graduating Armenian schools their children will have difficulties to find job in Georgia,” she said.

Mrs. Gevorgyan complained that those who teach in Georgia’s Armenian schools do not go to Armenia often enough to have new and fresh information from their Armenian colleagues, because teachers have to bear part of the cost of their re-training themselves.

According to Tamara Zalinyan, specialist in International Cooperation and Diaspora Affairs for Armenia’s Ministry of Education and Science, teachers from the Armenian Diaspora must  “requalify,” or study the latest developments in Armenian education, in Armenia instead of the country where they live. But Armenian government pays only their living expenses when they return to study in Armenia, not their transportation costs. But she said there are plans for the Armenian government plans to send Armenian specialists to Georgia.

Roza Zohrabyan, a teacher of Armenian language and literature at School # 95, thinks the reason that more Georgian-Armenians don’t send their children to Armenian schools is not in the quality of the teachers. She recalls that during the Soviet era, the quality of Russian schools was high and many people in Georgia still regard Russian schools as higher qualified than, for example, Armenian schools. But she believes that Armenian schools are equal to Russian ones in quality.

Sevan and Gevorg Aghajanyan, who are brothers, are proud that they have graduated from Armenian School # 95. This school today has 87 pupils, down from 119 students in 2004.  The Aghajanyan brothers now study at Yerevan State University. They plan to move their parents, grandmother and grandfather to Armenia.

“Though there are many people who do not have that opportunity to study in Armenia and move there. So they don’t have any choice,” said Sevan Aghajanyan.

The brothers think that those who get Armenian education can have difficulties entering high educational Institutions in Tbilisi and later on can face difficulties finding jobs, because Georgian is the official educational language in high educational Institutions, so those who do not know the language well may be at a disadvantage when it taking entrance tests.

According to a law adopted in 2005, Georgian is the instructional language in all educational institutions. Citizens whose mother tongue is not Georgian have the right to get a secondary education in their mother tongue, but they also must study Georgian, as a state language.

Some Armenians believe that the decline in Armenian education in Georgia will affect other cultural areas.

“By losing schools, we have a risk to lose Armenian theater,” says Armen Bayandouryan, art director of Tbilisi State Armenian Drama Theatre,, explaining that many Georgian-Armenians don’t understand plays performed in Armenian.

There are 248,929 Armenians in Georgia, out of which 82,586 live in Tbilisi.

Manana Karapetyan, a teacher of Armenian language and literature at school # 131, is concerned that if this tendency continues in the future as well, Armenian schools in Georgia will soon become very few.

Garbage in front of Parliament, April 10, 2009. Photo by Gayaneh Avetisyan

Who would have thought that the countless empty bottles, plastic bags, cigarette butts, McDonalds wrappers, newspapers, and other detritus thrown carelessly on the streets by big crowds would become a political instrument, rather than a chance to address the very serious environmental problem?

When the opposition accused a city street-cleaning team of vandalizing their sound system late Saturday night, April 11, Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava sarcastically retorted the protesters could clean up the demonstration sites themselves, and the city would be happy to give them the “all important tools for cleaning.”

Some activists responded Sunday by sweeping up trash on Rustaveli Avenue and dumping it in front of the mayor’s office. According to official sources, when they left the sight, the garbage was taken away.

Was this a great “expression of protest?” I think the bigger point was missed in the political one-upmanship. It’s common around the world for big crowds to leave trash on the streets, without a thought about the consequences of leaving all that garbage lying around the street, polluting the environment.

People just go out to talk out their demands turning the streets in a mass. “Never mind, do your protest, but couldn’t do it without spoiling your own city?” complained a protester, Gia Gobejishvili, who was standing in front of Parliament on Friday afternoon, April 10, the second day of the protests. Yet no one seems to be taking the responsibility to keep the streets seriously.

On these days one can see many vendors who sell different products around the protesters. A quite good opportunity for people who do their business better in crowded places.

A seed vendor amidst the filth near Parliament. April 11, 2009. Photo by Marika Kochiashvili

“It’s not my responsibility to make sure people clean up their mess, we just do our job,” says one of those sellers, Lali Karumidze, who moved to the Parliament protest site to sell her churchkela, a regional treat made of grape juice, flour and walnuts.

Demonstrators themselves explain that they are standing all day long, and although they are extremely resolute about their goal, it sometimes can be too hard to stand, listening to all their leaders speeches. They should have something to eat, to drink; they need to do something, and who bothers about where to throw the garbage.

It’s not only the political leaders, both opposition and administration, who have a mess to clean up. Demonstrators themselves, while demanding a responsive political leadership, should also think about what they can do to be responsible citizens. It starts with picking up the trash, and disposing of it properly.