opinios may differ but facts are facts
Although I see where Raffi K is coming from, and that this site belongs to him, I somehow feel that in order to better understand who we are right now we need to be able to talk about all the good and bad in our history. This means that some people may choose to highlight the positive aspects of an issue and others need to contest it - the fact remains however that Stalin was indeed a criminal but that during the soviet era developments did take place (urban planning of Yerevan, industrialization, evolution of the intellectual and cultural class). Now to assume what could have been or what should have been remains only a theory.
Having said this, I am not claiming that I support the fact that Stalin or the soviet regime was a triumph, but I do think there were some positive aspects that came out of it. For instance, at the end of the 19th C early 20th C when most of Yerevan was a big village and was hosting thousands of refugees from the realm of the genocide being carried out in western Armenia; when there was no transportation, energy, telecom or plumbing infrastructure in the country; when educational institutions were scarce; when most of the northern part of the country was populated by Giorgian and most of the Eastern and some of the southern part were populated by Azeris – to be honest, where was the government of that time was going to find the resources to build all of the above. OK, assuming that some money did come from the then small Diaspora, assuming that international grants could have been allocated, assuming that Armenians would have found the strength to evolve rapidly, assuming and more assuming…
I reiterate my thoughts from the first paragraph, facts remain and the rest is all left up for assumption.
Having said this, I am not claiming that I support the fact that Stalin or the soviet regime was a triumph, but I do think there were some positive aspects that came out of it. For instance, at the end of the 19th C early 20th C when most of Yerevan was a big village and was hosting thousands of refugees from the realm of the genocide being carried out in western Armenia; when there was no transportation, energy, telecom or plumbing infrastructure in the country; when educational institutions were scarce; when most of the northern part of the country was populated by Giorgian and most of the Eastern and some of the southern part were populated by Azeris – to be honest, where was the government of that time was going to find the resources to build all of the above. OK, assuming that some money did come from the then small Diaspora, assuming that international grants could have been allocated, assuming that Armenians would have found the strength to evolve rapidly, assuming and more assuming…
I reiterate my thoughts from the first paragraph, facts remain and the rest is all left up for assumption.
posted by Raffi N at 5:43 PM
1 Comments:
Raffi N,
we seem to argue a lot about the past. Perhaps more than the present and definitely more than the future. It's a futile pastime. You will hear the liberals argue about the Dashnaks screwing up the first republic, or you will hear the communists remember the Soviet era fondly, or the Dashnaks criticizing the liberals for the problems in the early 90-s.
Of course, it is necessary to know the past mistakes in order to avoid them but anything beyond that is unnecessary except for remembering the past heroes and using them as role models like Njdeh, Andranik, Mikoyan, Baghramian, Viktor Hambarcumian, Monte, Bekor and countless other important Armenians who dedicated their lives for the betterment of their country.
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