WORLD WORLDWIDE RUSSIA YEREVAN News Journal Update - (en) Russia, Avtonom: The situation around Artsakh and protests in Yerevan: reflections of an anarchist (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation

 We are publishing a note about yesterday's events, which was sent to us

by one of the anarchists living in Yerevan. In the photo - protesters
near the Russian embassy (1, 2, 3) and the Armenian government building
(4, 5). ---- So. On September 19, Azerbaijan launched its
"anti-terrorist" operation against Artsakh. There is already data on
civilian deaths. Perhaps (what we would like to hope for now) is a
repetition of August last year, when, during another provocation, Aliyev
announced Operation Retribution, which stopped after a series of
shellings. Perhaps this is the resumption of full-scale hostilities from
2020 during this conflict.
One way or another, the current situation provoked a huge reaction both
in Armenian society and at the international level.

The Turkish dictator, who has flooded Afrin, Serekaniye, as well as
Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan with blood, and his Minister of War have
already managed to express their official support for Baku's
"anti-terrorism measures."

Europe, the US and Russia expressed their "extreme concern". Moreover,
in the latter case, the piquant thing is not only the fact that the
"peacekeeping" forces did nothing, but also at the official level
defended the position that "as long as no one threatens this very corps,
weapons should not be used."

Needless to say, such... not that cynical, but simply idiotic, both in
terms of logic and their image, actions and words, led to mass protests:
picketing and blockade of the embassy (in which anti-war activists from
Russia participated , including at least one anarcho-pacifist who runs
his own blog). There was also a huge rally near the government building
with the blocking of five streets leading from Republic Square (which
also included anarchists).

All these events, of course, inspired me to think:

1) For me, as an anarchist who strives to think globally, this act of
aggression is (along with the invasion of Ukraine, the growing threat of
global hunger since the coronavirus crisis, the ecological suicide of
humanity, etc.) a demonstration of the complete bankruptcy of our modern
civilization based on power, social, economic and political inequality.
The system of international relations, which has been formed since the
40s to avoid wars and genocides, is not capable of countering real
problems. "Where is your vaunted civilization?" - as Karl Marx once
shouted in his "Civil War.. She, I will add, is now dying under the
rubble in Stepanakert!

After all, all these horrors and suffering were not inevitable.

If the "powers of this world", instead of their imperialist and colonial
robberies, had forced Turkey a hundred years ago (and to this day!) to
admit genocide, repent of its crimes, and not cooperate with it, finance
and arm it for the sake of their political or material benefits (as both
the Bolsheviks and Western countries did), then there would be no
Erdogan regime today and those of its resources that it directs to the
suppression of peoples.

If they (also from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day)
had recognized the absolutely legitimate, even from the UN point of
view, right of the indigenous population of Artsakh to
self-determination instead of approving the Stalinist decision of the
times of the Bolshevik occupation and barracks pseudo-socialism, then
there would not even have been a reason to seize and ethnic cleansing of
the region.

If the oil oligarchy from all over the world, killing nature and
exploiting disenfranchised labor, had not signed billion-dollar
contracts with the Aliyev regime since the 90s, then the Azerbaijani
state would not have had the money to buy missiles for the Armenians and
clubs for "its own."

The Aliyev regime, which has been pouring out militaristic and
chauvinistic propaganda for 30 years, infringing on the rights of the
Talysh and Lezgins (indigenous peoples of modern Azerbaijan), breeding
corruption, poverty, police violence, the cult of the ruling clan and
war - this is not some kind of "deviation from the norm", but a natural
result and a striking illustration of the modern system. Systems where
oil is valued above human life and dignity. Astolphe de Custine once
called Siberia and Russian prisons "Russia in one compressed meter." I
think such an analogy is quite applicable to the above system and the
Aliyev state.

These conclusions also naturally lead to the following considerations.
Anarchy is our common duty not only to ourselves, but also to others. We
are accustomed to viewing Anarchy as a way of self-discovery,
improvement of our potentials and other things. But we think little and
with an absolutely insufficient degree of seriousness and reflection
about suffering and disasters that might not have happened (especially
within the framework of the colonial system of oppression). The
destruction of any power and the liquidation of property in order to
replace cynicism with ethics, mercy and consciousness is not a whim, but
salvation and an urgent need for humanity! And our grief is that we,
armed with a great Idea, have still not been able to fully realize it.

How can one not recall Atabekyan's words:

"Put up, weak-willed Russian people! You put up when your masters took
away its self-government and culture from Ukraine! You put up when they
"voluntarily" annexed Georgia to Russia! You put up when your
authorities set the Tatars against the Armenians!

Make peace, great weak-willed Russian people! Or, like a slave breaking
chains, rush bare-handed into a fierce battle and, like the new Jesus,
at the cost of your death, grant a new life, free from power, to those
living in slavery..."

2) Capitulation and betrayal of the ruling classes

Another topic that deserves attention is the obvious inability of the
elite to provide one of the social functions they have assumed (which,
in fact, legitimize their power) - in this case, the national
aspirations of the people.

I will not fall into excessive personalism and even, as some do,
conspiracy theories about a "lost war on purpose" to explain the actions
of the Armenian leadership. Let me say briefly: such theories are very
doubtful not only due to general pragmatic relations, but also due to
the fact that the reasons for the defeat (and even thoughts about a
course of reconciliation with Turkey and Azerbaijan) appeared and
matured long before Pashinyan. With its corruption, criminal negligence
and vicious social model in Armenia, which, in the absence of oil rent,
like Azerbaijan, doomed it to poverty, the ruling class for 30 years
consistently and with tragic inevitability pushed the country to the
brink of today's national catastrophe.

And, listening to the cries of "Nikol is a traitor!", I, of course,
agreeing with this, would encourage us to look more closely at the very
essence of things.

I see the only possible way to overcome this contradiction in a social
revolution, which, in addition to problems that are actually social,
will also solve problems of a national nature.

Let us not forget that in many ways the mediocrity and cowardice of the
knights, who failed to protect their own population from the atrocities
of the British, provoked the uprising of Etienne Marcel, superimposed on
the social demands of the masses of Paris. Or the famous removal of
cannons from the Montmartre hill by order of the government of national
treason during the siege of the city by the Prussians, which... provoked
the creation of the Paris Commune.

And it's not just about mental exercises. It is, if you like, derived
from anthropology. After all, one of the reasons (or rather reasons) for
consolidating in some kind of power function over others is the
endowment of obligations on the part of this very society (such
functions traditionally included protection from external invasion). By
revealing the inability of the authorities to "pay public debts," we
subject this power itself to desacralization.

Unfortunately, I do not yet see any manifestation of this in Armenia.
The position of the parties in the protests is too strong, comically
similar to each other in their vacuity and vulgarity.

3) And, finally, I will express, on the one hand, criticism, and, on the
other hand, wishes to my fellow anarchists!

Guys! I understand perfectly well when Western liberals show their
hypocrisy and cynicism: the Gorons, Nekhty and others. But what I cannot
understand and accept is the indifference and cynicism towards living
people and individual countries on your part!

3 It's incredibly interesting for me to see how some of you - the same
ones who laughed at Damier's calls to the Ukrainian proletarian "not to
shed the blood of their Russian class brothers", in the case of Artsakh,
throw up their hands, saying something like "not everything is like
that." unequivocally," and instead of helping in resistance and
solidarity, they advise Armenians to evacuate from their homeland... The
right to fight, the right to their Fatherland, the right to their honor,
which is unconditionally recognized for one people, is denied (or at
best, not supported) from another.

Separately, we could talk about the odious scoundrel from the world of
anarchism and military analytics, Igal Levin, known for his "Munchausen
syndrome" and his unscrupulousness in funds since the time of his
participation in the anarchist movement in Israel (according to his
former comrades). His brainless and blatant support of aggression,
including blockades and shelling of civilians, to an audience of
thousands, can be compared in level of shame, meanness, shamelessness
and moral blindness with the support of some Mexican anarchists of the
Carras era against the guerrillas of Emilian Zapata.

Do not be a stranger to the grief of the unfortunate people! And
following Denis Kozak and the Rojava anarchists, show your solidarity
with the people of Artsakh! Remember the height of the "imperative
mandate" that Anarchy has given you to educate and serve the people!

Freedom for peoples - death for empires!
Artsakh, we stand with you!

Editor's note: the note expresses the personal opinion of the author,
which may not entirely coincide with the opinions of the members of the
editorial board of the avtonom.org resource.

Egalite magazine has published a list of humanitarian initiatives that
are helping people during the current crisis:

Co-working Letters and Numbers and the Armenian Food Bank opened a
humanitarian aid collection point.

Please bring non-perishable food items and clothing. Yerevan, st.
Tumanyan, 35G
Volunteer Fund for Relief to War Victims "Ethos", Yerevan, st.
Khorenatsi 30.
Sasha Manakina's collection can be found at this link. By the way, Sasha
is one of the heroines of the new zine alarm!.
The Viva Charitable Foundation has been providing medicine,
rehabilitating the wounded, and helping Artsakh since 2016.

https://avtonom.org/news/situaciya-vokrug-arcaha-i-protesty-v-erevane-razmyshleniya-anarhista
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