Civic Activism as a Novel Component of Armenian Civil Society

X. Other Issues
-- In Armenia, activists are a non-formal opposition to the government. (Activist, 27, Gyumri)
10.1. Politics, Political Parties and Activism
Throughout the discussions a major topic that developed concerned politicising versus not
politicising concerns addressed by civic initiatives, as well as the distinction between “political”
and “civic” and the relationship of civic initiatives to political parties.
For the overwhelming majority of activists and NGO members, it is impossible to not
politicise issues when the campaign requires changing government policy. Because all of the
campaigns were initiated to combat governmental decisions, thus the concerns addressed in all of
the initiatives targeted political authorities, all of initiatives become politicised by default. In
Armenia, civic means political and political means civic. There is no distinction between the two
because all the civic activities seek to address a political reality.
Civic activism campaigns concern political issues, but they are not about political parties.
This distinction must be made. The issues that initiatives pursue are political, but the organisers
are not political party members. This specific distinction was raised during the Electric Yerevan
campaign and shows the extent to which political parties do not have a good reputation. Being a
political party member affects one’s involvement in an initiative. When visible political party
members join civic initiatives, the public tends to react negatively. Political party members are
seen as negatively influencing the outcome of a campaign, in terms of public mobilisation and
trust. Because the public usually associates political party members with initiatives, the people
perceive a risk that the initiative might align its goals with a given political party ideology or
programme. Therefore, political parties and civic initiatives are considered mutually exclusive
entities. If one is a member of a political party, then it will be very difficult for that person to
become trusted among civic activists. Activists believe that such a person seeks to promote a
party agenda; otherwise why would they join? This is a common understanding or stereotype.
In Armenian society, being a member of a political party is regarded sarcastically and
negatively. This is due to the negative connotations that exist in connection to political parties,
which are characterised as institutions that have lost their reputation. Another problem with
parties is that they are extremely individualised: each party is seen through the lens of its main
leadership.
Our interviewees maintained that no ‘pure’ person wants to become involved in a
political party; if one does, that person becomes ‘unclean’ and acquires a reputation similar to
that of the party (which is usually corrupt) and is considered to be promoting party ‘ideology’.
However, the system will not change unless bright young individuals enter politics and do the
‘cleaning’ themselves (which is also dubious because the parties tend to absorb young potential).
Nevertheless, a similar argument is made by several activists, who believe in making change
through engaging with the government rather than advocating resistance. Activists are simply
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