Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia more and more is losing its resources to live independently and as a result, Armenians more and more are beginning to live at the expense of someone else's charity, said art critic Nazareth Karoyan at a discussion at the Media Center today on Yerevan City Hall's decision to install a monument to Soviet leader Anastas Mikoyan.
"We're starting to sell our sovereign right to take symbolic action. We're losing our right to symbolize the best motives and aspirations of our society, our surroundings. We're starting to sell this right to others, so that we can maintain our 'power'," he said.
Recalling Soviet jokes about Mikoyan, Karoyan said the Soviet leader was characterized by his resourcefulness and nimbleness, and his ability to hold office during the terms of almost all the leaders of the USSR.
"And so, what message from a policy perspective does installing Mikoyan's statue convey to us? That is, what is being glorified? That resilience, that nimbleness? We already know that nimbleness is the hero of our streets today. Why don't Armenian authorities try to glorify things that are lacking in our society? I see this unacceptable message in installing Mikoyan's statue, that an attempt is made not to get us out of this mud pit, but the opposite: to shove us in deeper," he said.