Are there reasons for social protests?

Baku/07.06.22/Turan: Recently, we have been observing a series of protests in front of various government institutions. An action was held in front of the Presidential Administration, a rally of activists in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, finally, a rally of veterans in front of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The pro-government media associate these actions and the reasons that prompted them to be carried out with the secret intrigues of those who want to sow confusion in the country.

Is it really the intrigues of forces wishing to sow confusion, or is there a good reason for social protests?

Political commentator Nasimi Mammadli answers these and other questions in the "Difficult Question" program.

According to him, the protests of veterans are not unfounded. “The social situation in the country is getting worse. This is especially true for issues related to war veterans. There are many illegal actions, injustice. And there has always been resentment in the country. Suffice it to recall the social crisis of 2015-2016. And then people made attempts to protest in order to alleviate their financial situation, which deteriorated sharply during the crisis that arose after the devaluation. And then there were those who made claims, they say, someone from abroad is engaged in incitement, muddies the waters,” the political scientist said.

In his opinion, even now a situation has arisen where people are in a difficult, unbearable situation.

“Why not to protest? When they protest, voices are heard - they say these protests are financed from abroad, provoked from abroad. But people are protesting because they can't make ends meet. They have families, children who need to be fed, clothed, treated, etc.,” he explained.

According to Mammadli, the accusation of veterans is a very flawed approach and a very big responsibility falls on state bodies to solve their problems.

“The problems of veterans must be resolved without fail. Able-bodied people with labor skills can find any kind of work, earn their livelihood. The problems of veterans, people who partially lost their ability to work in the war, are much deeper. Is it possible to treat people like that who lost their health while defending the country, who won by sacrificing themselves? It is very sad,” Mammadli stressed.

According to him, in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to eliminate reasons, and not denigrate the protesters.

“If these problems are not resolved, then the protests will not stop. True, these protests are not massive, but through social networks they have a serious impact on the formation of public opinion,” the political scientist noted.

He also noted that the pro-government are trying to explain these actions by the intrigues of external forces. In his opinion, this suggests that the authorities, most likely, do not want to solve this problem.

“Otherwise, they would behave differently. In their information resources, the attitude to this problem would be completely different. Government agencies should cannot send such instructions to their media structures. If this really happens centrally, it will lead to the fact that even larger sections of society will sympathize with the protests and support them,” Mammadli stressed, adding that an attempt to denigrate veterans, present them in a negative light, is a hopelessly outdated method.

“It was possible to act like this until 2015, when there were no social networks and people were limited in obtaining information. Now, thanks to various social networks, everyone sees that the truth is on the side of the veterans. And such statements are humiliating for everyone,” he said.

Mammadli recalled that on March 17, 2020, the President signed a Decree on improving governance.

“The document set a specific deadline for the preparation by the Cabinet of Ministers and other state bodies of specific proposals in this direction. More than two years have passed, but are the steps taken in the country to improve governance satisfactory to society? Is there any positive result? On the contrary, it only got worse. So, the reason for the protests is actually the management system,” Mammadli is convinced. –0--