8 March 2006

FESTIVE HUNGER-STRIKE

The inhabitants of Buzand Street Nune Varduni, Susanna Poghosian celebrated the Women Day by hunger strike in front of the office of the Defender of Hunger Strike, in camps. The new elected defender Armen Haroutiunian received them yesterday in the morning, promised to help but didn't try to persuade of refusing of hanger-strike. “It’s your right”, - Armen Haroutiunian said to “Arminfo”.

“THE ONLY TRUTH”

We were constantly listening till 1985 year the “only truth” expression, which referred to the official ideology of that period. The idea of «pluralism» appeared after '85 which disappeared very soon yielding its place to the «only truth» expression. This time that «only truth» was 'national». There are people who say; «We know what national interests are, and those who don't share our point of view they are Turks, enemy and traitors, or perhaps spies”. That means the version that different groups of people can have their position of national problems and their ways of solution is excluded from the beginning.

As you guess, I mean 8 of March. Or rather women rights. Do you remember when the project “Planning family” operated how many opponents it had? They say that the whole project was immorality, is imported from outside, is against our genetic fund and isn't suitable for our nation. Perhaps those people think that it is suitable to have an abortion once a month than to protect from undesirable pregnancy. Awful stories about violence used against women are told in our newspaper from time to time. For example how mother-in-low makes her son’s wife to have an abortation. I have already written that women use violence against women in most. I don’t speak of an awful event when a lieutenant colonel has killed his wife by an ax when she was sleeping.

In reality the receipt of defending human rights /including women/ is very obvious, people must have a possibility of election not making them their own the “only truth”. Do women like the tradition of «red apple»? And if a woman refuses that tradition she mustn't be considered as cutty. If a woman wants to devote herself to her family nobody has a right to name her primitive. If she wants to combine her family with her work she must have that opportunity. And if she doesn’t want to have a family at all, it’s her right and it isn’t condemning. There isn’t any high instance, which will decide if it is suitable for our nation or isn’t. The “only truth” doesn’t exist.

Aram Abrahamian