It’s Your Choice
In Tim’s Russo latest account of the 1998 presidential elections the former NDI employee remembers the emergence of It’s Your Choice as the largest domestic observation mission in Armenia. As I spent the day of the 27 November 2005 referendum with Harout Hambartsumian, head of IYC, this blast from the past is particularly interesting.
IYC was funded by NDI. Every penny that paid for the room in which the meeting was held, the salaries of the people around the table, the programming which they conducted, came from the US taxpayer, through a Congressional appropriation, to the US Agency for International Development, to NDI through a grant, from NDI to IYC. The organization would not exist without NDI. Under other circumstances, the meeting would have been an NDI program, top to bottom. But not today.
“Harout,” I said looking up from the floor, “I am just here to observe this meeting. You have to decide, IYC has to decide, what it wants to do during these elections.” Then Harout looked down at the floor as I continued. “Whatever you decide, we will support fully.”
He looked back up at me. “I think they want to hear from you.” He saw it less as a matter of protocol than of substance. “This is a crucial moment for IYC.”
[…]
“Harout, this isn’t my country, it’s yours.” We looked each other in the eye. “I am not going to be the one living here six months from now after this election,” I said, then pointed to the room, “…they will.” Harout looked down at the floor again and began nodding. “You will.” I kept looking at him. “It’s not my ass on the line with this decision…it’s yours.”
Read Tim’s post in full here.
