ARI Literature Foundation took at Frankfurt Book Fair 2018 with an international panel discussion Responsibility of Writing: the Role of the Word in the World of Politics.
In a rapidly changing world, where unshaken values of freedom clash with Big Games of Big Powers, where confrontation between near-death convulsions of the old system and western will to dominate over the political developments in the world are in the center of the world news, in Armenia, a country located in the crossroad of political, economic and territorial interests, the impossible became reality. Non-violent Velvet Revolution with transition of power from the leading dominant party to the opposition minority took place by the righteous demand of the majority of Armenian citizens.
During around two decades the Armenian writers of Independence Generation were openly advocating resistance towards the corrupt system and used the power of words to reassure that freedom of expression remained an absolute value.
There is no doubt that success of “the revolution of love and solidarity” was considerably due to the fact that the leader of opposition is a man of words, a journalist and writer. His political actions which ended with his election as the PM, started with recital of his poem entitled “My Step”, which shortly after became the song and the symbol of Velvet revolution. As analyzed by professionals, My Step is not a political text, as none of the opposition leader’s rally speeches. But the power of words reached out for as many as millions and brought about the big changes.
ARI Literature Foundation invited two Armenian writers and activists Armen of Armenia and Marine Petrossian for a panel discussion to talk about the power of words. An acclaimed Georgian writer Dato Turashvili will also join the panel to share another success story from the same region.