Trade will save or enslave?

Armenia. Just crossed the boarder and walked to Haghpat. Green valley. Exactly as I like it. Mist in the air, green, clouds, water.

There was a certain guy Sayat Nova, who used to write poetry in Armenian, Georgian, Persian and Azeri, he spent many years here in this black monastery, he must have been sad, since he loved the sister of the king, and for this was imprisoned and later killed here. Now Armenians and Georgians cannot agree, who’s poet he was. But who cares? Those days no one cared about the nationality, but now.. I found a quite place in the cemetery and slept there. Cemeteries are the quietest places anyway. And if the ghosts should visit me in the sleep, they are welcome.

Although it is nearly impossible to imagine Armenians and Azeris in one place without fighting after the Karabakh war, there is such a place. Close to the boarder between Georgian and Armenia there is a bazar called Ptgavan, which means “the paradise of fruits”. There they trade peacefully – Armenians, Azeris from Georgia and Georgians. Like in times of Sayat Nova. Trade will save the world? Well, at least the small scale trade seems to be an excellent way for people to communicate again.

Corporations are just about to swallow all small things on one hand. But if I think consequently – in terms of nationalism, corporations provide excellent transnational brands that mentally somehow connect people. It is not about being Muslim or Christian, it is more about having Nokia or Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Trade will save or enslave?