There’s a difference between grassroots protests and protests facilitated by elites. One is bottom up and cannot but reflect popular will, the other is top down and reflects the interests of those elites

Whether some people “at the bottom” support those elites is irrelevant. Even as you find some ideological intercourse between those elites and those ppl, the dynamic remains the same: the top is driving the agenda

I think a lot of misunderstanding of this power relationship stems in part from the state- and elite-centric focus of political analysis on contemporary Armenia. With the exception of the Karabakh movement in ‘88 things are generally seen to happen “to” the people. No agency

While Nikol was undisputed leader of the Revolution, I want to remind people that his role in the protests was still totally overblown in popular discourse and political analysis. The ppl drove the protests - they just happened to have Nikol as an ally for their aims at the time

I don’t think I have to say this, but in these times, who knows: I’m not defending Nikol. Lord knows I have my issues with him and his incompetence. I’m defending people’s agency