Yerevan Mayor Suspends Fare Hike Decision‏

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Thursday, July 25, 2013 Recent Articles from the Armenian Weekly... Yerevan Mayor Suspends Fare Hike Decision Tigranakert, Artsakh: Story and Photos by Matthew Karanian Electricity Production in Armenia If It’s Broke, Don’t Fix It Vartabedian: Ways to Beat the Summer Heat Uprisings from Wall Street to Gezi Park: An Interview with David Barsamian Search Armenian Weekly Yerevan Mayor Suspends Fare Hike Decision YEREVAN (A.W.)—Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan suspended the decision to raise transportation fares in a statement publicized on July 25. Mayor Margaryan during a meeting with representatives from the transportation sector However, Margaryan insisted that the rise in prices was a must to ensure a safe transportation system, something that would be “impossible” to do with the current rate of 100 drams. He emphasized that “there is no alternative.” The Mayor’s office had announced the decision to increase prices for public transport on June 20, which was followed by protest actions throughout the capital. Commuters saw fares increase by over 50 percent for mini-buses (marshootkas) and buses (from 100 to 150 drams, or 25 to 40 cents). Meanwhile, the fare for trollies doubled, from 50 to 100 drams. Margaryan said the decision was a difficult one. “From the day I assumed the position of Mayor, I made it one of my priorities to find ways of keeping the fares unchanged while... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • Tigranakert, Artsakh: Story and Photos by Matthew Karanian Layer by layer, the excavated ruins of one of the ancient Armenian cities of Tigranakert is revealing evidence of a once-thriving Armenian settlement that dates back to before the time of Christ. The ruins of Tigranakert of Artsakh (foreground) and the recently reconstructed castle. Photo © 2013 Matthew Karanian This Tigranakert is located in Artsakh, and the uncovering of precious Armenian artifacts, khatchkars, and foundation stones here has fueled excitement about both the cultural and political significance of the site. This isn’t the Tigranakert that you studied in Armenian school. The fabled Tigranakert that most Armenians are familiar with is the one that’s trapped inside the borders of modern Turkey, in historic Western Armenia. The unheralded Tigranakert of Artsakh is a world away, and just a short drive from Karabagh’s capital and largest town, Stepanakert. Unlike its more famous counterpart in historic Armenia, this Tigranakert had become... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • Electricity Production in Armenia Electricity production in Armenia has fully recovered from the major problems it was facing in the early 1990’s and is now a reliable industry. Armenia’s energy issues began after the 1989 earthquake, when the government of Soviet Armenia was forced to close the Metzamor nuclear power plant under mounting pressure from a public that, fearing a Chernobyl-type catastrophe, was concerned about safety. Figure 1: Available electricity generation and production In 1987, people in Armenia started demonstrating against Soviet rule. After the devastating earthquake of 1989, some activists started demanding the closure of the Metzamor nuclear plant as well as the Nairit chemical and rubber producing complex. Shutting down the nuclear plant was the worst mistake in recent Armenian history. Had the nuclear plant not been closed, Armenia would not have plummeted into the dark ages and, as a result, would have not lost one-third of its population to forced economic out-migration. After more... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • If It’s Broke, Don’t Fix It Of course the old saw actually goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But in the topsy-turvy world that seems to be the Republic of Armenia (RoA), the way I have this article titled—“If it’s broke, don’t fix it”—seems to be the way things are done. How else would you explain this YouTube video: Click here to view the embedded video. The situation is this. There’s a mining operation run by Ler-Ex near a watercourse, the Geghee stream. Naturally, there’s a tailings pile (“tailings” is the term for the waste, or the non-metal-bearing earth that is left over from a mining operation). This pile of waste seems to have been accumulated in what used to be the Geghee’s streambed. Wisely, the miners seem to have shunted the stream aside through a pipe to have its water circumvent the often-toxic pile of tailings (though whether this was done legally, with government authorization, is unknown at this point). So far, so good. Photo 1 The Geghee’s course is... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • Vartabedian: Ways to Beat the Summer Heat My mama used to say, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” What mama failed to tell me was this. What do you do if the heat is all around you—inside, outside, scorching your mind and tormenting your body? How do you handle a heat wave that lasts a week with no immediate relief in sight? By the time you read this, the third week of July will have melted into oblivion. But who’s to say we won’t get an encore in August and even September? I’ve seen some pretty hot days after Labor Day, just when you thought the cool, crisp air of fall was beckoning us. It is mid-July and like all of New England, I am sitting still and sweating up a pool. All it takes is my fingers running across a keyboard. My wife wanted to move some bedroom furniture around. I told her to forget about anything strenuous, except opening a can of beer and pouring it into a frosted mug. “No walk today, dear, unless it’s from the kitchen to the TV room. The den... Read More »      • Email to a friend • Article Search • Uprisings from Wall Street to Gezi Park: An Interview with David Barsamian For more than a quarter of a century, journalist and author David Barsamian has been a tireless voice for social justice, broadcasting programs from India, to Syria, to the United States. Barsamian, whom Howard Zinn called “the Studs Terkel of our time,” is the founder and director of Alternative Radio, based in Boulder, Colo. (www.alternativeradio.org). His interviews and articles appear regularly in “The Progressive” and “Z Magazine.” He is the co-author of a number of books with Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, Edward Said, Tariq Ali, Howard Zinn, and Eqbal Ahmed, including, most recently, Power Systems with Noam Chomsky. Barsamian (R) with Mouradian. (Photo by Nanore Barsoumian) In this interview, Barsamian talks about the root causes and particularities of the global uprisings and protests. The conversation mines the connections between capitalism, climate change, poverty, and points to the need to “save pessimism for better times.” *** Khatchig Mouradian—How... Read More »