From my take of what transpired yesterday and at previous HAK rallies, the common people, at least the vast majority, have no conception of what it is they really want; i.e. the aim(s)of their struggle.

True, LTP, has an almost fanatical base of minority support that translates into an near cult of personality. Others merely attend to be part of the “happening” with little or no real thought of what needs to be done to turn things around in Armenia.

Let’s not forget that the current RA was built upon the ruins of the Soviet Union, a structure that forbade all manner of social relations other than those prescribed by the CP. When the empire collapsed, there was no tradition of social expression or true class consciousness.

The Soviet Union forged its “socialist society”, at least in eastern Armenia, on a people who had little national awareness and had just come out of centuries of near feudalism.

Maybe twenty years of nominal independence is too short a period to expect the creation of social and political institutions that can create the necessary conditions for progressive change in government, for a decrease in bureaucracy and corruption and for lasting public forums in which average citizens can voice their concerns and interact with the government of the day.

The opposition repeatedly calls for snap elections that are free and fair. Fine. But changing the faces of those in charge, both executive and legislative, will do little to transform society, its mentality and inner relations, in the near term.

The most we can hope for here in Armenia is that a new government, whatever its composition, will at least allow for and preferably spur the development of institutions on the ground that will actually promote a growing social awareness and activism among the masses.

Short of this, the regimented, dare I say, managed politics from on high of HAK, as personified by LTP, has little to offer Armenian society in terms of change, let alone revolution.