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‘NGO workers’ is code for people who accept funding from foreign governments/organizations that use rosy language about democracy and human rights to mask the fact that the true purpose of the funding pursues an agenda that succeeds at the expense of Armenia’s interest. 1/ https://twitter.com/ghazaryankarine/status/1345842524389322752
For example, countless foreign-funded NGOs masquerading as ‘news’ organizations take on grants for investigative journalism to expose corruption and government misconduct. Sounds great, doesn’t it? 2/
But consider the chart below, which measures the *perception* of corruption in a given country vs. its actual prevalence. See how Armenia is an extreme outlier? Why? Why do people in Armenia have a perception that diverges so much from the reality of their actual experiences? 3/
Because for decades, foreign-funded media and their activist-journalists have pushed such a media narrative on an unsuspecting public. Keep in mind this often means they outright fabricate stories, not just exaggerate them or give real stories of corruption more airtime. 4/
The sort of lies they perpetuate might seem ludicrous, but they are treated seriously by the media in Armenia, like when an ‘investigative journalist’ in 2018 published a story claiming the vice-spkr of parliament had purchased a private Greek island. https://www.aravot.am/2018/05/19/958142/ 5/
If the foreigners who provide funding to these groups are interested in promoting ‘press freedom’ and ‘investigative journalism’ in Armenia, why do they continue to approve grant renewal applications for such unethical and unprofessional people? /6
No democracy can survive such an onslaught. The truth is that many of these ‘NGOs’, especially (but not only) those in the media, are cleverly-disguised activist organizations peddling a foreign agenda that prioritizes the interests of outsiders. /7
If the future of these NGOs is not in peril, it ought to be. /8
Source for the corruption chart: https://www.ebrd.com/documents/oce/pdf-life-in-transition-iii.pdf
In 2012, people in Armenia believed their lives were more miserable than did people in Iraq, Susan, and the Palestinian Territories. https://news.gallup.com/poll/166076/suffering-bulgaria-armenia-highest-worldwide.aspx
Let that sink in. Why do they have such skewed views about the country’s conditions?
Let that sink in. Why do they have such skewed views about the country’s conditions?
