Silent society gets golden opportunity to vote for change during  elections - expert

ArmInfo. An anomalous status quo has emerged in Armenia, in which the state is depleting its resources, public life is deteriorating, and the risks to the state  are growing daily. Vahe Hovhannisyan, a member of the Alternative Projects group, writes about this in his article.

According to him, the anomalous situation that has developed in the  country is not sustained by the strength of the "pilgrimage"  organizers or its participants, nor by the insufficient efforts of  those who fight, but by the laziness of those who remain silent.   "The number of those who are kicking Mother See of Etchmiadzin has no  significant potential for growth, just like the number of those who  participate in the 'liturgies' of the usurpers. Well, let's say they  increased pressure on the state system, introducing another layer,  but that won't change much. The layer of those who take a principled  civic position, those who fight publicly, also has little potential  for growth. Those who should have decided that this is humanly  unacceptable for them and that they should not remain silent have  been fighting for a long time. The situation will be resolved by  those who remain silent. The silence of the silent, if it continues,  will turn into complicity.  Incidentally, we have extensive  experience with unforgivable silence. We are talking about the nine  months of the Artsakh blockade, when not only the silent society fell  silent, but also the elites who were called to awaken," the expert  noted.

He expressed his conviction that a significant portion of the silent  society consists of normal, decent people for whom what is happening  is also an abomination. During elections, the silent society has a  golden opportunity to silently, without unnecessary risk to  themselves, take their human step-simply vote for change.

"But relying on just one day is a grave mistake. Transforming the  silent requires political leadership. Silent social strata must be  provided and offered options for participation, or, so to speak, to  break the silence. True leadership lies precisely in this: the  ability to break the silence of the silent. Otherwise, positioning  oneself only among supporters or active social circles will not yield  much result. Everyone knows that hundreds of thousands of Armenian  families are making their final statements about the campaign against  the church, but the ranks of active fighters remain unchanged. The  solution to this paradox lies in proper governance," Vahe  Hovhannisyan concluded.