ACCORDING TO RAZMIK DAVOYAN, NO NEED FOR CULTURAL VALUES EXISTS TODAY IN ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Feb 26 2007

YEREVAN, FERUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. "There is a nihilistic approach
to our culture today. The worthless flood came and swept over our
valuable culture but failed to destroy it," writer Razmik Davoyan
said during the February 23 discussion at the Urbat Club. According
to him, there are some people who benefit from saying that neither
culture nor values exist today. This mentality has formed in the
society and discredits intellectuals: "Now there is no demand for
intellectuals, only the category "intellectual" exists, with some
trying to use it." The speaker pointed out the current lack of demand
for cultural values, which is also evident from reading cultural pages
of newspapers where one can seldom find serious analyses or articles
on culture because nobody needs such articles. "This is the problem
of demand. An intellectual can speak about some cultural problem or
other, however, at present he is not considered to be interesting or
modern," the writer said. In his opinion, "demand is regulated by the
state. Nobody says that we need culture, no such demand was made. If
such demand is absent, who is going to create it?" In the writer’s
words, today culture is necessary for those "who are not involved
in politivs, who stand aside, not intervening in anything." Speaking
about the upcoming parliamentary elections, Razmik Davoyan noted that
the pre-election campaign is like believers who pray in the square
and rob the temple after reaching it.

According to him, for those who demand system changes, the problem
is "literally, to move from an outskirt to the center." At the
same time he said that he will nominate his candidature only in
case of considering the list of other nominees as satisfactory. "I
have never regarded being an ARF member as party work. Being an ARF
member has been an ideological task for me since my student years,"
Razmik Davoyan stated.