The protests which have been taking place in Yerevan since April 13, which have emerged as a counter action to the nomination of Former President Serzh Sargsyan for the position of Prime Minister, proved the existence of two parallel realities.

In one reality, according to the best, most stable Soviet traditions, the National Assembly voted for Serzh Sargsyan as the future leader.

And on the other hand, thousands of people participated in protests and civil disobedience in the streets and squares of Yerevan, regularly reminding us by saying “Reject Serzh,” that they mean to be liberated from individual leadership and the aspiration to rule by any means.

The media was also working on two levels. For television, the streets were secondary, and for those on the streets, there was no television, since on the streets they were their own news agency, every second they were broadcasting what they saw and what happened.

On the street young and enthusiastic people said, take your step, reject Serzh and the Speaker of the National Assembly said, thank you, Serzh Azat…

The idea of rejecting and being free is fused with Serzh Sargsyan, who will be in office for the second decade, and has become something of a psychological dilemma.

Since they do not address people by their father’s name in the Republic of Armenia, if they do, and from a high podium, then it can only be assumed that the combination of the words Serzh and Azat (free) being said together, must please the adresser.

According to the vision of the National Assembly’s main power, being free is equal to changing nothing, not rejecting, since it’s calm that way, predictable and warm, just like in stagnant pools.

And the opposite was at the heart of the #MyStep campaigns, rejection and intolerance.

Founder of the Civil Contract party and MP of the Yelq Bloc, Nikol Pashinyan, who started this movement, made announcements about the periodic nature and actions of civil disobedience of the “Velvet Revolution.”

These protests, which began at Yerevan’s French Square, across from Roden’s statue, became mobile. Although they were developing spontaneously and were moving, they had a human-centric characteristic.

People were joining the protests with an inner motivation, because they had a desire to feel like a person. To be a person, next to other people, to be self-established, without feeling isolated or confined.

Simultaneously, the newly elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia (and up till that point, the President of 10 years), as a word of gratitude said, “That’s it, the end, after the constitutional amendments, no individual will have the right to speak on behalf of the people. Only the political authority has the right to speak on behalf of the people.” These words are symbolic, because it was clearly formulated that the political authority excludes a person as something of value, purpose, strength, and power.

That idea was repeated several times by the newly elected Prime Minister and former President, “It is not the power of a person, it is the power of political authority.”

Meanwhile, in the Republic Square of Yerevan the #RejectSerzh movement continued to reject hence that situation, where once again people are not taken into account.

As a matter of fact, Armenia, which had become one-partied, has become a country of “dormant volcanoes” (as put by Serzh Sargsyan), where people sleep and use every possibility (not always effectively or correctly) to wake up and erupt.

Where each person gets and spreads information, which is necessary and which helps to maintain that humanistic characteristic

It’s already clear that humanitarian messages have been closed and denied by the authorities.

Meanwhile, RA President Armen Sargsyan hosted Catholicos Garegin II when the Republic Square shook with rejection.

Nune Hakhverdyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.