Epress.am News from Armenia
World Environment Day (WED), marked on Jun. 5 every year, is an internationally recognized day to raise awareness on environmental issues and contribute to political attention and public action.
On this occasion, members of the local environmental group SOS Teghut (or Save Teghut Forest) have organized a march to the presidential residence, the Armenian government building and the foreign affairs ministry offices in Yerevan. The march will begin from the entrance to Lovers’ Park on Baghramyan Ave.
Activists will proclaim their 15 demands aimed at Armenian authorities, including “to open the gold mine beneath the RA presidential palace, at 26 Baghramyan Ave., with which the problem of supply in state gold reserves will be resolved” and the tower set to be constructed behind the government building “can be plated from one end to the other with this gold.” Note, a number of these same environmental activists are also against the construction of a proposed tower for architectural, as well as environmental reasons.
Through a Facebook event page called “Don’t Fuck Nature,” local activist Hrayr Savzyan invites all members of the public to take part in the march. Savzyan promises a “diverse, polychromatic and full of surprises” event.
The name of the group has caused a bit of a storm, though, as a number of Facebook users have complained not only on the use of the word “fuck,” but also on the event’s title being in English. The event creator’s response to criticism, however, has been that “humor and cynicism can sometimes become a serious weapon in the struggle.”