Civic Activism as a Novel Component of Armenian Civil Society

successes, stories of persistence and cases of running out of steam, egoism and suspicion,
altruism and money-driven concerns. Some patterns can be discerned from the diversity.
Each case had its specificities. The Teghut case is unique in its duration. It shows an
impressive level of endurance despite setbacks and an inability to prevent the mine from being
constructed and operated. When it failed to address its main objective, it formulated new goals
and remained active, unlike, for example, the Afrikyan case. In the latter case, the failure to save
the building signalled the end of the struggle. It needed not be so. The group could have shifted
its attention to following up on what happened to the stones of the building or continued to
monitor the conditions of other endangered cultural sites. Instead, the activities subsided. The
Maternity Leave case is unique in that it shows how an initiative can become dormant, following
an initial success, and then become activated again as the need arises. It is also a case of very
powerful framing, which could be an explanation of its success. The Afrikyan case can be
considered a powerful reminder to those who cherish spontaneous activism. While bottom-up
creative energies are certainly important, a campaign requires at least some basic level of
organisation. Dem Em is the perfect contrast in that respect. Its distinctive feature was its level of
organisation and sense of professionalism. For instance, Dem Em participants spoke of
“branding” during interviews, a language hardly used by other activists. A well-developed
website was up early in the campaign. The leadership group was well defined and closed to
‘outsiders’; decision-making procedures were fairly formalised. The last campaign, Electric
Yerevan, was the most intense (two weeks of non-stop action), drew large crowds, but was brief
(perhaps an unavoidable trade-off of intensity). Unlike other campaigns, it was also fairly simple
in terms of repertoire: it was what can be considered a classic street protest campaign.
In terms of similarities, the three campaigns that registered at least some success
(Maternity, Dem Em and Electric Yerevan) were all related to personal financial benefits for
large segments of the population. The two failed initiatives (Teghut and Afrikyan) were both
aimed at protecting a public good: a clean environment in one case and the cultural heritage of
the capital in the other. Another observation is that longer campaigns, such as Teghut and Dem
Em, either evolve organisational structures or begin well organised. The Maternity campaign
also provides partial support for this argument: the initial campaign was not long (a few months),
but it created structures (personal and online networks) that were used for subsequent
mobilisation years later.
In terms of the patterns of interaction between activists and NGOs, our five cases reveal a
spectrum from one-time, minor involvement to well-functioning collaboration. It is worth noting
that the success of activism campaigns is not related to NGO involvement. Our two failed cases,
Teghut and Afrikyan, both had prominent NGOs involved. Dem Em and Electric Yerevan were
the two most widely supported campaigns, which pushed the government to at least temporarily
reverse its decisions; they had almost no NGO involvement. Maternity Leave is a curious case of
a brief, small, yet effective campaign with a high level of organisational involvement and low
public involvement.
53