BATTLE FOR THE YOUTH
Karen Nahapetyan

"Hayots Ashkharh" Daily Newspaper
7 Nov 07
Armenia

Ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s meeting with the youth that took
place in Armenia -Marriott hotel on Saturday was quite predictable.

It is not a secret for anyone that the leaders of the freedom
movement, having no chance to win the elections have to choose
colored revolution. And the latter is impossible without the active
participation of the youth. That is why the activists of the freedom
movement will especially concentrate on working with the youth.

Young people have played the leading role in all the colored
revolutions staged in post-Soviet territory, (as well as in
Serbia). They are both the principal smithy of the revolutionary staff
and the principle personnel of the street campaigns. They block the
squares; they live in tents, they stand in pickets.

Money is not everything for the young people. Though in all the
colored revolutions many young people were not ashamed to take money
for their participation. The main thing for them is romanticism. What
the youth really needs for it is – a beautiful, laconic speech and
comprehensible slogans. If there is money and good slogan the chances
for success noticeably grows. Especially if you make them feel your
personal importance.

You could draw rather interesting parallels between the events in
Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Kirgisistan. From the first glance
the speeches delivered in each of them seemed to be spontaneous:
accumulation of the people in the squares, primitive texts uttered
unanimously, demonstration posters with ironical contents in the
address of the government. But, in reality, all these events developed
of course not spontaneously. The professionals were standing behind
the scene and stretching the threads.

Let’s remember for example how they once used the young people in
Georgia. In June 2003 a seminar on the topic of the methods of staging
colored revolutions was held in Georgia, financed by Sores. More than
thousand supporters of "Kmara" youth organization gathered in small
town Chvaridshamia, 15 kilometers from Tbilisy, where they were placed
in an old Pioneer camp. Special instructors used to deliver lectures
for them, and show the film by Peter Ackerman about Miloshevich’s
downfall. Besides that the film also outlined the scenario of the
revolution planned in Tbilisy.

>From the beginning of Autumn 2003, the activists of "Kmara" youth
organization started to organize street protests, intentionally
coming in conflict with the police. The atmosphere was becoming
heated. During the parliamentary elections in October Sahakashvily
announces about starting "total resistance" which finally ended in
the attack on the parliament.

The scenario of the events in Ukraine was the same; the establishment
of the youth organization "Pora", training of the activists, street
protests, etc.

What can the government in power oppose, in such cases. It is evident
that it will be difficult to compete with the western political
technologies in the issue of revolutionary performances. The problem
is not in the money or the organization or technology, but rather the
difference in the outlooks. In any country where they try to stage
a colored revolution the government must act on quite a different
plane – not as a rival.

In the "Battle for the Youth" the government in power can win only in
case they manage to involve the youth in the dialogue regarding the
country and the social life – a dialogue that must go in the language
comprehensible for the young people. That’s why they must have their
own group of young activists that can talk to the people of their age.