Wednesday, August 3, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

No Pasarán and Other Stories

by Asbarez Staff
January 21, 2014
in Armenia, Columns, Featured Story, Latest, Living in Armenia, Top Stories
5
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Maria Titizian

BY MARIA TITIZIAN

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Dolores Ibarruri Gomez, a Spanish communist delivered her famous speech entitled, No Pasarán, which means “They shall not pass.” It was first used 20 years earlier, in 1916 by French General Robert Nivelle as a battle call (“Ils ne passeront pas”) to his troops at the infamous Battle of Verdun during the First World War. The Battle of Verdun was fought between the Germans and the French near Verdun-sur-Meuse in France. It was one of the longest and costliest battles in human history. No Pasarán has come to be used as a rallying cry to defend a position against an enemy.

About a year ago I wrote about a rally I attended in Liberty Square following the presidential elections in Armenia. We were full of elation, transcendent hope, joy and anticipation that something was going to change. Nothing did. It seemed everything got more complicated, harder, and more difficult to swallow.

This past weekend, I attended yet another rally in Liberty Square. This time it was to join thousands of other Armenians to protest the implementation of a controversial mandatory pension system that went into effect on January 1 despite much public resistance. The four opposition factions in parliament applied to the Constitutional Court asking it to determine the constitutionality of the new legislation that was passed by the ruling coalition in the National Assembly. The Court will hand down its verdict on January 25.

The protest was one of the largest rallies in Yerevan in the past year. It brought together not only the opposition parties but different civic initiatives including Dem.Am, one of the most vocal and well-organized campaigns to blossom in Armenia in a long-time. As I was weaving my way through the massive crowds to get to my usual spot in the square, I saw a young man holding up a sign that read No Pasarán… and as always, it got me thinking.

A picket sign in Yerevan reads, 'No pasarán,' 'They shall not pass.'

Being eternally optimistic requires as much energy as being pessimistic. The dual worlds of positive anticipation and cynicism are forever battling one another and have taken up permanent residence in my head without much hope of leaving anytime soon. I have contradicted my real self, slipped up and verbalized my anger and deep frustration; I have developed an uncharacteristic almost-hatred of certain kinds of people – I didn’t know I had the capacity to almost-hate, it turns out I sometimes do. Even all the religious instruction my mother desperately tried to instill in us by sending us to Sunday school, enrolling us in Catholic schools, making us go to church on Sundays didn’t quite stick as much as she would have wanted. I have difficulty turning the other cheek these days.

And then there are the negative people around me who like to rain on my parade, who have an counter-argument for every argument I postulate that things can change and will change, who say it’s a sign of my naiveté when I believe in the power of the people.

This has been an excruciatingly difficult week. I lost yet another friend, Aram Gharabekian too soon, a friend who still had so much of his talent to reveal to the nation and to the world; we were living, breathing and preparing stories about Hrant Dink’s life, a life we tried desperately to pay tribute to and one that was brutally cut down seven years ago on an ordinary day in January in the heart of Istanbul; a young Armenian conscript, 20 year-old Armen Hovhannisyan was killed on the Line of Contact in Nagorno Karabakh valiantly fighting off an attempted Azerbaijani infiltration on the Line of Contact with Azerbaijan in the early morning hours of January 20 even after being mortally wounded; images of tens of thousands of Ukrainians protesting in Kiev, burning buses and violently clashing with riot police were being livestreamed and televised over and over; passages from American civil rights leader and defender Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the March of Washington just over 50 years ago were being remembered and honored and shared; and to top it all off, I met with young repats who are trying to manage feelings of joy and guilt and yearning and confusion, only further compounding my own confused feelings about living here. And in the depths of all that pain and sorrow and questioning, there was the pension protest with the young man who held a solitary sign that read No Pasarán. My brain can’t begin to process all this traffic

People started sharing the No Pasarán photo, and I began to wonder if all those sharing that image knew its origins, knew its meaning… did it have a particular significance here in Armenia? Was it about physical confrontation or armed struggle or defending ones position against an enemy? Who is the real enemy? Conditions have gotten so desperate that people are calling for radical measures, for revenge and retribution. These are murky waters that we’re floating in. We need to press the reset button, we need to understand that radical measures may be effective in the short-term but we need logical, cohesive and impactful solutions. The spirit of No Pasarán must transcend and transform into a collective pan-Armenian slogan, a battle cry that defends its position against all those actors and actions, domestic and foreign that threaten the Republic of Armenia and Armenians.

Yes, we will not let them pass, they shall not pass, No Pasarán!

Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Thousands March for Justice on Dink Murder Anniversary

Comments 5

  1. arziv says:
    9 years ago

    What has got Martin Luther King got to do with Armenia ? This is the third time in a writing the author mentions Martin as if it were a demigod. Martin was in America; most cerrtainly we can have Armenian poets, intellectuals and thinkers as examples of what the author wants to transmit. Martin does not ring any chord in any armenian soul. We have countless Armenian folk heroes to draw our inspiration from.

    Reply
    • Lerntzi says:
      9 years ago

      Opening our horizons to world intellectuals will only make our nation stronger. Being stuck in our four walls and in our old habits won’t get us far.

      Reply
    • Greg says:
      9 years ago

      How can you say that? How can you comfortably say that Armenians can’t resonate with MLK? It is exactly this type of thinking that segregates our struggle. We are not one nation living on an island but a world full of nations. One of the most important things we must understand is that our struggle is the global struggle. Our genocide paved way to other genocides. Our current corupt oligarchy is a copy of other oligarchs of the world. MLK was a man who fought for justice of an oppressed minority and as Armenians it MUST resonate with us. Otherwise we have not learned anything. So in conclusion MLK, Ghandi and Mandela are peole we should look to. This sectioned off ghetto mentality is not getting us anywhere.

      Reply
    • Steven says:
      9 years ago

      I agree with arziv. Although it is important tyo open our hearts to other intellectuals around the world people such as MLK, Mandela or Gandhi do not make me feel anything either. The story sounds plastic when you mention about these kind of heroes, because it has nothing to do with Armenia.

      Reply
  2. Aram says:
    9 years ago

    Martin,ghandi,mandela were unique tools in their particular guerrilla movements, euphemistically called liberation movements. Martin, background is well known to look at the man with suspicion, but yes he was good for his people. Mandela was bomb planting terrorist, yes he was good for his people. They are not characters to inspire the Armenian nation, they are not our heroes. I understand your adulation of these characters. They are worshipped in the USA., people born and bred there can not but be influenced by the icons in their indoctrination system. Armenians need Armenian heroes, it is not a geto mentality, it is a spiritual pride and a knowledge of our past history. If you knew your Armenian history, your spiritual fountain and wellspring, you would find at least 20 illustrious Armenian icons for each one of those names mentioned. Armenia will be saved by armenians heroes, not by the Che guevaras, mandalas, la Pasionaria and the no pasaras circus crowds.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Armenia, Artsakh Condemn Erdogan Visit to Shushi

Yerevan Calls on International Community to Stop Azerbaijan’s Aggression

9 mins ago
Mirzoyan Condemns Baku as OSCE Calls on Both Sides to De-Escalate

Mirzoyan Condemns Baku as OSCE Calls on Both Sides to De-Escalate

10 mins ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • August 3, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to