Taking into account the coronavirus infection prevalence, the government of Armenia should admit that the wrongdoings were committed not just in any particular field of public policy (e.g. healthcare system) rather towards the state itself and against its socio-economic sustainability. In Armenia, the coronavirus pandemic is accompanied by infodemy - a massive spread of conspiracy theories, the main purpose of which is to demonize the current government and the NGO sector. Therefore, it is important to analyze the relationship between the state failures and manipulated narratives put forward by various social media, in order to lessen the mistakes in the state preventive strategy.
At this online event, we will discuss the following issues:
The role of the state in prevention of Covid 19 in Armenia;
The main failures of state and health care system during the pandemic;
How do conspirological narratives affect the coverage of Covid 19 situation in Armenia and the rating of the ruling government?
Our speakers are:
Hrant Mikaelyan - Political scientist, economist, researcher at the Caucasus Institute;
David Dadalyan - Secretary of the Public Monitoring Group of Psychiatric Hospitals;
Tigran Amiryan - Literary critic, founder of «Cultural and Social Narratives Laboratory» NGO․
This event is organized in the framework of Heinrich Boell Foundation's format Boell Talks, which aims to hold public discussions with civil society representatives, experts and decision-makers on the topics of relevance for Armenia and the South Caucasus.
The language of the event is Armenian.