DO WE NEED TO RAISE MONEY OR IDEAS?
Gegham Baghdasaryan

KarabakhOpen
16-11-2007 17:22:55

What does logic prompt?

The day of the telethon is drawing nearer. Despite the results,
it can be described as considerable aid to the development of the
emergent country and its economy. Despite the sum that will be raised,
the logical questions which have occurred a long time ago but have
not been answered yet remain.

One of the underlying issues is whether what we expect from the
Diaspora is only the money or do our compatriots abroad have nothing
else besides money to give? This issue is conjoined to another issue
which may be less important and less expected but is nevertheless on
the agenda: do we have anything to give the Diaspora?

I am sure that it is high time that we held an ideathon rather than a
telethon to collect ideas and programs for strengthening and developing
the second Armenian state, invite the authors of the best ideas,
work out a complex program of development of the country and think
how to bring it into being together. There are top specialists in
the Diaspora and instead of expecting some 100 dollars from them it
would be more beneficial, or rather mutually beneficial, to expect
their knowledge and experience. In brief, it is enough to take the
Diaspora for a dairy cow.

We are not "getting on" with Armenia regarding this issue. We usually
say the two Armenian states are in the same legal, economic, public,
political and other spheres. But does it ever occur to anyone that
we first need to be in the same intellectual sphere to be identical
in all the other spheres as well. Meanwhile, if we compare the state
of Armenia and Artsakh (in terms of economy, culture, sport, etc.) we
will see a huge gap between them.

A telethon is not enough to overcome this gap. A thousand of other
things need to be done. Our identical legal, economic, political and
other spheres should be attractive for our compatriots. There is no
other way. Cooperation should be profitable for both, people should
be interested in being "represented" here.

Otherwise, the purpose of the telethon is to fix the holes rather
than development. We are usually critical about the aid of the West
to the developing countries. We righteously think that thereby they
intensify dependence. We realize that we do not need fish, we need
a fishing rod. But do we realize that we are now treating ourselves
similarly? People do not need aid, they need help to solve their
problems themselves. What is the use of building water pipelines on
the money raised through telethons if the ready pipeline in Hadrut
is being destroyed, and people abandon the villages in Kashatagh?

We first of all need a sensible attitude toward everything. To put
it in a more simple way, we need Ideas, at least to understand where
the stairs of developments are leading us.