A CROWD AS A TOOL FOR REVOLUTION
by Vardan Barseghyan
Hayots Ashkharh, Armenia
Feb 28 2008
For a week now, a crowd of mountain people has been raging in
Theatre Square [old name of Freedom Square in Yerevan] – increasing
and decreasing in size from time to time, organizing loud marches
every day in the centre of the city. What are the most important
characteristics of this crowd?
It is well known that one of the main stages of any coloured
revolution is a street action by a crowd – as a rule, in the capital
of the country, which is what we are witnessing today. This is a
great political performance – staged with the application of special
technologies. It affects the consciousness of both the people in the
crowd and the audience – the residents of the city.
Technologies
The major goal of the producers of the political performance is to
form a crowd that is able carry out their tasks.
First of all, this means involving the largest possible mass of people,
holding them for the necessary period of time, and influencing the
consciousness of people in such a way that they carry out precisely
the actions required by the producers of the crowd.
[Presidential candidate Levon] Ter-Petrosyan’s team is doing all this
right now in line with the technologies of a coloured revolution.
Psychologists noticed a long time ago that a person’s consciousness
changes sharply when they are in close and direct contact with a
solid mass of people.
[Passage omitted: a quote from a philosopher; description of a person
in a crowd]
A person who spends some time in an acting crowd very quickly reaches
a mental state that is very close to hypnosis due to the signals they
receive from it.
[Passage omitted: description of psychological condition of people
in a crowd]
There is an unwritten rule: someone who manages to mislead it [a crowd]
will easily control it, while someone who attempts to bring a crowd
to reason becomes its victim.
So the calls to be reasonable made in recent days do not directly
affect the crowd gathered on Theatre Square. It is another issue
that they may help prevent the rest of the population from joining
the crowd.
The extreme aggressiveness of those gathered on Theatre Square is
also clear at a glance. However, this is also to be expected. The
consciousness of such a crowd is characterized by intolerance and
the rejection of a rational dialogue.
[Passage omitted: description of psychological condition of people
in a crowd]
It is worth noting the changing character of a crowd, its amusing
trait to react "altogether" in a second to signals received from
leaders. It is easy to become convinced of this – by spending 10
minutes at the rally on Theatre Square.
[Passage omitted: description of psychological condition of people
in a crowd]
These are some of the main characteristics of the crowd that has
gathered on Theatre Square. Ter-Petrosyan is skillfully playing with
this crowd’s consciousness to achieve his own goals.