HENQ — Vonts, Chuneq?
An early morning online chat with local youth activist Vahagn Vardumanyan, aka Seetizen, reminded me of the birth of a new youth initiative, HENQ. According to Vardumanyan, the initiative is non-political and seeks to remain apart from the polarized politics that seems to define most activity in this area since the parliamentary election last year.
According to the official communique announcing the formation of the group, HENQ takes a refreshing approach to the concept of youth empowerment and involvement in the process of nation-building and democratization.
HENQ organized its first public presentation on Saturday, May 31st, at Common Ground. Following the spirit of HENQ, the coordinating group decided to bend the classical rules of making a presentation and turn the event into an interactive mutual exchange of perspectives.
The event was started off by a discussion on a key question: “After all, what is the State”? We’ve noticed that there is a general view in society that the State is basically the state authorities – the President, the Parliament, the Government, and so on. Some think of it as a regime, some as a machine, or apparatus for governing. Surprisingly enough, these views weren’t widely held in the group that had gathered, which opted for the perspective which is being campaigned by HENQ, that is:
We are the State.
The full post is available on The Caucasian Knot.
