Has Pashinyanism and Neo-Liberalism support become the required standard and thermometer for the left to accept the Right as Rational or otherwise

Has Pashinyanism and Neo-Liberalism support become the required standard and thermometer for the left to accept the Right as Rational or otherwise, and is it a must for some on the left to accept and acknowledge other Socialists as genuine 

Question to the Armenian Left, is Friendship with Neo-Liberalism the Criteria for finding the Armenian right ideas acceptable to discuss and establish friendly ties with

In terms of The Armenian left approach and vision, what is the difference between the right forces, between the National Movement, the “National Democratic Alliance”, in regard to its stances and political view of Eastern Kremlin, and the West, and the other front, the “European Party of Armenia” in particular, and the “Republic” Party

It is no secret, I always declared openly that I belong to the Armenian Left that I am a Democratic National Socialist, that I even more left to the Social Democrats because I am a Democratic Socialist yet I am very far the Communists

It is also becoming obvious recently, that a considerable portion of the Armenian Left supporter base is now getting exposed to the idea of certain left Armenian leaders who decided to denounce or deny my left political ideological identity

Yes, since January 2022, I have made relentless efforts to try to keep the political dispute between me and some leftist under control, restrained and restricted, organized to keep it within the boundaries of ideological political democratic dispute, and yes all these efforts, attempts, initiatives were all done from my part, with tenacity and relentlessly, but they all had one result, deterioration, and for that I consider that my conscience is clear

Now I want to state, stress and emphasize that I consider the starting date of this misunderstandings not September 2021, where I declaratively started engaging in a supportive manner in the activities of the National Democratic Alliance, some brothers might try to mention that date as the starting point of misunderstandings, but I give it’s concrete accurate date, it started on August 10 2021, when a historical Armenian Socialist party, met with the Prime Minister of Republic of Armenia, and its leader declared: “ We are prepared to cooperate on all levels, both inside the republic and the Diaspora, with all our ranks” and that date for me marked what started to take the shape of a strategic alliance between the historical Armenian Left and a government who I considered extremely anti-Social rights and Social justice, in all its practices  I consider the government of Mr. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Civil contract not only liberal but even a neo-liberal, a political party who only made promises of improving drastically social justice in Armenia, but in practice, policies and even intentions proved to do the exact opposite

The Civil contract came to power thanks to the peoples Velvet revolution, but after that it never discussed why the social economical standards of the people worsened, The prime minister made nice statements, declared he is proud of the people, embraces us, called us Proud citizens of Armenia, and in the process led the republic to social, economic,  political, military, health wise catastrophes and until now it is on the same track, it has finally endangered the republic into an existential threat

Therefore, at the very moment August 10 was made public to the people, I opposed it, and I declared it publicly as well, and my misunderstandings with the Armenian left started on August 10 2021, Neither on September 2021, where I publicly attended its meetings and tried to promote them to the public, neither my establishing ties with the National Democratic Alliance on October 2021, All this was not the reason, it was the result of August 10, because on that date I considered that the Armenian left had finally decided to ignore all my appeals to the left to carry out its mission and oppose the Civil contract and instead ally with them, a step I considered equivalent to them abandoning their mission

Now despite this situation, I tried to keep the disagreement democratic and under control

Yet my initiatives never reached their destiny, and I was faced with theories such as:
 

-You are losing your identity, you are facing an identity conflict and dilemma, you declare you are a democratic socialist, yet you have allied with the nationalist far right

-You have become suddenly misbalanced in your political ideas, how come you support the National Democratic Axis, their ideas are extremely irrational, unrealistic, unclear, contradicting, controversial, they call for Armenia to get away from Moscow, Armenia is a Russian playground, Armenia has no other alternative than to stay under total Russian influence, even though The Kremlin provoked Azerbaijan to attack Artsakh during the 44 day war, still, we must stay inside the Russian camp

Therefore a huge portion of the left silently and without declaring broke ties with me, either declaratively or sometimes in practice, only a small portion kept its ties with me, despite my relentless efforts and calls for cooperation

On December 2017, 5 month after I came to Armenia, I had made a single conclusion, Armenia faces deep problems, and the root of most of these problems has three words “Attempts of Russianization”

-Racism against western Armenians who have returned – “Magnificent Russia fans club”

-Republics social economic Problems – Russian sponsored oligarchs

-Republics military downfall – Russian weapons

-Republics diplomatic – political defeats – Russian advice and directions, instructions, and insistence to stay parallel to Russia’s interests, despite most of them being contrast to Armenian interests

On August 10, I took a firm decision; I would prioritize Fatherlands interests over ideological considerations, I gazed and decided orientation towards the National Democratic Alliance

Now I want to state that one the main reasons I chose the National Movement, the National Democratic Alliance as destination, over the Armenian European movement was due to the fact that the national movement proved to be a clear transparent opposition to the Civil Contract, some think that the fact that one of the leaders of the National movement is from Lebanon, Mr. Jirayr Sefilian, like me, but the fact that we are both from Lebanon is a minor factor, the crucial factor was that the NDA was firmly against the current rulers  in Yerevan

Apart from that, I respect the Armenian European Party, and I am proud to have interviewed its leader Mr. Khzmalyan on my web site, I like the party ideas and its Anti Kremlin Pro-Armenia

I do not accept the false labeling Anti-Russians or Pro West, for me, in Armenia there are only Pro-Armenians, and I regard the National Democratic Alliance and the Armenian European Party as Pro-Armenian

Now I am glad that the Armenian Left is in good relation with forces whose ideas are firmly anti Kremlin, and Pro-Armenian, forces that are labeled as Pro-West, like I said, I also have respect towards these powers

But the question remains, why is it not acceptable for me to have my declared good relations with the National Democratic Alliance, and these relations were seen by some as the basis of denying my socialist identity and even breaking ties, while it is normal for the Armenian left, to do so with another party on the right who’s stance regarding the Kremlin are not less tough

The only difference is that the National Democratic Alliance is a deep opposition force towards the Civil contract and the Prime minister, while the European Party of Armenia (Who even was once part of the National Democratic Alliance) is in support of the current government

Therefore, I ask, is now support for neo-liberalism, Pashinyanism, the Civil contract the criteria, the must, the minimum requirement for some on the left, to acknowledge us Socialists as genuine socialists, and not fake and people who suffer lost identity, is it the thermometer to determine if one right wing party is considered acceptable or not

Bedros Manoukian

A Genuine Armenian Patriotic National  Democratic Socialist

Armenian Version 

https://www.socialist-armenia.org/politicaldetail/162/