Keghart21 November 2013
….The second event on the Keghart.com-Toronto AGBU fall calendar was "Diaspora Armenian Political Apathy: Myth or Reality?" panel discussion on Oct. 27. Panelists Aren Bedrosyan, Edward Yaghledjian, Dr. Minas Kojayan and Viken Attarian agreed that there was "apparent" apathy, cited the reasons for it, and offered ideas on how to empower Diaspora Armenians to get involved in politics in the countries where they have settled.
21 November 2013
….The second event on the Keghart.com-Toronto AGBU fall calendar was "Diaspora Armenian Political Apathy: Myth or Reality?" panel discussion on Oct. 27. Panelists Aren Bedrosyan, Edward Yaghledjian, Dr. Minas Kojayan and Viken Attarian agreed that there was "apparent" apathy, cited the reasons for it, and offered ideas on how to empower Diaspora Armenians to get involved in politics in the countries where they have settled.
Among the reasons cited for lack of engagement in politics was fear, especially among many Middle East Armenians, who have traditionally considered politics a dangerous arena. Lack of infrastructure, resources, and communal divisions were also considered crucial reasons for Diaspora Armenians' political impotence locally and the absence of Armenian politicians at municipal or provincial and state levels. A single-minded focus on the Genocide has limited our horizons and "ghettoized" Diaspora communities, the audience was told.
Several of the panelists said yet another reason for the dearth of Armenians in the political sphere is parental insistence that their offspring pursue medicine, law, engineering, and accounting as their careers.
The four panelists agreed that Diaspora communities should focus on macro politics rather than be identified as a single-issue (the Genocide) community. To make a political impact and have Armenian presence in the political sphere, Armenians and their representatives should be engaged in the political, social, economic, and cultural affairs of the countries they reside in, the panelists concurred.
Keghart
keghart.com
2 comments
Armenian Apathy to Politics
Thank you Keghart for organizing such a wonderful and very important event.
Encouraging Armenians towards local politics a necessity
Kudos to Keghart's initiative in this respect, supporting participation in activities at local, provincial and state levels. It's time Armenians entered and advocated –aside from the perennial Genocide issue-other international matters, such as now the need for curbing inappropriate siding with great Turkey. More attention to Iran ought to be in place. An old time, if not ally, a noble people´s country that has been lenient to Armenians and their cause; a good neighbour of Armenia now. Looks like the tide is changing. Hopefully rapprochement with Iran by U.S. and in extension its immediate allies will succeed gradually, if not at once.
Thanks again for inviting-encouraging Armenians world-wide to immerse themselves in local politics in the countries they live in.
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