FIGHT FOR THE AGENDA
Hakob Badalyan
Lragir
27/11/09
The government seems to have seized the initiative of the home
political agenda from the opposition with the help of Tigran Sargsyan’s
team joining the Republican Party. If before this, the whole political
field was discussing Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s speech and its nuances,
now the number one topic of the political field became the RP number
increase. Is the government showing its power or its panic with the
help of this? Is the RP getting ready for a regular or extraordinary
election? Did Tigran Sargsyan become an RP member by his will or
Serge Sargsyan? Did Serge Sargsyan force Tigran Sargsyan become a
RP member or Tigran Sargsyan forced Serge Sargsyan make him an RP
member. These are those questions which are asked on these days and
many social and political spheres look for these answers.
What potential for the change of social, political and state life
the answers of these questions and in general, Tigran Sargsyan with
his "team" contains is difficult to say. If this potential exists,
it is hardly noticeable. From this point, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
speech contained more potential for socio-political changes and was
more useful if the agenda was concentrated on it. The point is that
the speech dwelt on really basic issues for the development of the
country. The point is not about agreeing or disagreeing with the
content of the speech or its being good or bad. This is a completely
different topic. The point is about the issues the speech voiced,
about its philosophy, the proposals made to the government and to the
public. The point is about the fact that discussing the speech and
considering it wrong and bad, the same, the society and the political
field may come to good and right conclusions.
In other words, from the point of socio-political developments,
discussions on Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s speech would be more justified
and effective than those on Tigran Sargsyan’s and his team’s joining
the RP. Did the government make Tigran Sargsyan an RP member to direct
the home political agenda in its favor? Perhaps no, of course not.
Merely, the government united the necessary with the useful. In other
words, maybe this joining was a planned step but the time was chosen
now to distract the socio-political attention alongside with the
fulfillment of their plan.
>>From this point, the situation when the opposition does not manage
to take the formation of the polticial agenda in its hands and to
keep it for some time is noticed. And the government of course is
not engaged in forming the agenda but in distracting it. Perhaps we
deal with the phenomenon when destroying is easier than building,
it is easier to distract the agenda than to form and keep it. But it
is a fact that the government in the latest period does the minimum
while the opposition seems not to manage.