Civic Activism as a Novel Component of Armenian Civil Society

previous days. The protesters deemed these punishments insufficient and called for stricter
measures against the police officers who had used violence in previous incidents. After sitting in
the street for approximately 20 minutes, the protesters resumed their march towards the office of
the Prosecutor General and submitted a petition. This action had almost no resonance among the
public. On 28 July yet another attempt at organising a sit-in on Republic Square failed. Two
more attempts at rallying people were made in September. Those attracted approximately one
hundred people and failed to create a lasting impact. The protests subsided.
The government ordered an audit by an international company, Deloitte & Touche, in
mid-August 2015. The audit report revealed mismanagement but also justified the price hike: the
company was bordering on bankruptcy. In an interesting development, days after the publication
of the audit report, an Armenian-born Russian businessman announced that he would be
purchasing ENA. The new owner pledged to continue subsidizing electricity prices for another
year and to implement an “anti-crisis programme” and a modernisation of the company
(Danielyan and Gabrielian 2015).
• Current status of the initiative
The latest post on the “No to Plunder” website is from December 2015. The activities on the
corresponding Facebook page also stopped at around that time, except for one page that is
actively posting political news and sharing opinions. A news search reveals no new articles. One
of the original leaders officially quit in August 2015 (Azatutyun October 10, 2015).
• Leaders
There was leadership ‘drift’ from the original group to a more radical group that took over when
the original leaders were prepared to weaken the pressure on the government, after the President
made some concessions. The original leadership group consisted of approximately 10-13 people
(A. Hakobyan 2016).
• Gender Dimension
The initiative had no explicit gender dimension. All visible leaders were males. Females were
present in the demonstrations in equal proportion to males. However, the initiative touched upon
the gender issue in an unexpected way. Some of the rhetoric and symbols used on posters were
considered distinctly masculine and inappropriate for public display, particularly in the presence
of children and women. The amount of public exposure made some feel uncomfortable, while
others welcomed the new level of openness and breaking stereotypes in political humour and the
use of visuals during protests. Some female activists complained that their male counterparts
were too protective: asking them not to be on the front lines or to stay overnight for the sake of
their own safety. Thus, implicitly, the gender narrative is part of this campaign.
• Internet and Social Media
The initiative had a website, No to Plunder http://vochtalanin.am/, which is no longer available.
While the website was active, we examined its content. It was last updated in December 2015. A
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