Our Story - Part 6
October 2019 – The Small ANA Plant Almost Dies
At the first Thursday meeting in October, Kristine Halayjyan (Founder and President of BOLD ARMENIAN WOMEN ASSOCIATION) was invited to attend the RUMA/HyeSpirit group. Kristine is a loyal supporter of Nikol Pashinyan and is credited with using her powerful social media presence to organize and to energizing Pashinyan’s deep support among the Spyurk in Southern California and around the world.
Initially, the energy at the meeting was good, and everything seemed normal. The discussion centered around how the group could partner with the US/Los Angeles Census to begin organizing Hayastanci, door-to-door, in the San Fernando Valley and North Hollywood. Finally, the matter of choosing a new name for the organization came up again, and the group decided to call their organization YesHayEm.
But, then, as the hour got late, something more radical began to stir and Arthur Sahakyan suddenly left the room in frustration and several members left with him.
“I tried to calm the situation down like I had done in the past,” Donald Wilson Bush recalled, “but, this time it was different. Arthur was inconsolable and he left for good.”
“In that moment I had a sudden flash of déjà vu,” Bush confessed. “I was silently transported back in time to the Town&Gown banquet hall at USC when I watched Dr. Dermirdjian and Harut Sassounian lose control of their Armenian audience. It really scared me and I thought that ten years of my hard work was suddenly wasted.”
“In that moment I had a sudden flash of déjà vu,” Bush confessed. “I was silently transported back in time to the Town&Gown banquet hall at USC when I watched Dr. Dermirdjian and Harut Sassounian lose control of their Armenian audience. It really scared me and I thought that ten years of my hard work was suddenly wasted.”
“I can remember, the next day, phoning my friend Matt Robbins (former state political director for the California Republican Party) who was working in Washington, D.C. at the time,” Bush recalled. “He took my call early in the morning while he was driving his car across Key Bridge into Georgetown when I told him about the situation.”
“All you can do is find a single cause that will unite all Armenians,” Matt said, “and then build a decentralized membership organization around that cause. You can have a centralized command and control center for operations, but the organization itself must be decentralized with local chapters that are autonomous. You have to do it the same way the Free Masons or the NRA (National Rifle Association) do it. Everybody has to be equal. Period. Nothing else will work, especially when everybody wants to be the leader.”
November 2019A few remaining members of the RUMA/HyeSpirit/YesHayEm group met together on the first Thursday night in November, but neither Arthur Sahakyan nor Kristine Halajyan attended the meeting. Then the same thing happened on week two and week three.
On November 26th, however, Donald and Hermine Bush were invited to attend a book-signing event in Glendale, California to publicize the release of (Shahan Natalie’s grandson) Ara Manoogian’s new book, BETRAYAL, THE PROMISE NEVER KEPT: GENOCIDE AND THE WEST’S SECRET WAR FOR OIL.
At the event, Donald and Hermine met the ever-beautiful Armenian singer, Margarita Khlghatyan for the first time and reconnected with Kristine Halajyan. Bush invited Halajyan to rejoin the RUMA/HyeSpirit/YesHayEm group on Thursday nights and she agreed to attend.
December 2019The RUMA/HyeSpirit/Yes HayEm group met only twice in December. Once again, the group agreed to changing their name to the Armenian National Association (ANA). The group also decided that a black-tie affair would be a good way to publicly launch their new Spyurk effort. The event was scheduled for Thursday evening, February 6, 2020.
