Resistancegeorgia

"How to become an irresponsible leader" for Dummies

2009-05-07T16:04:00Z

Notwithstanding yesterday's clashes between the opposition supporters and police and highly inflammatory situation in the country, Mikhail Saakashvili continues his visit to the Czech republic. Considering the crisis in his country It's hard to see the reason for Saakashvili's personal presence at the Eastern Partnership Summit since Foreign Minister of Georgia Grigol Vashadze is also attending.

As a result of yesterday's clash, 20 people were registered at the Gudushauri hospital with various injuries and two of them, Irakli Khomasuridze and David Chantladze have lost eyesight after being shot in the face by rubber bullets.

We also have to remember that as the crisis began to escalate at the end of April, Saakashvili went to an energy summit in Sophia and on his way back on April 25 diverted for a holiday in Bodrum, Turkey. This intensifies my doubts that it is not at all him that is ruling the country but Vano Merabishvili, Minister of Interior. In any case, it is highly irresponsible for the President to be away from his country for so long and so often when it is on a brink of a civil confrontation.

quoting this blog

2009-05-07T13:06:00Z

GlobalVoicesOnline quoted this blog

New York Times

2009-05-07T01:02:00Z

New York Times about current events

And more blood

2009-05-07T01:00:00Z

More blood

2009-05-07T00:58:00Z

No To Violence!

2009-05-07T00:42:00Z

Another group came out against violence and called both the government and the opposition to denounce violence as a method of political struggle and to condemn those that use, incite or advocate for violence. The Georgian text can be found and signed here. It has already gathered more than 80 signatures.

Is there civil society in Georgia? we will see

2009-05-07T00:34:00Z

Western researchers often like to ask if there is civil society in Georgia. There is no easy answer to this question: it's hard to single- handily make such a diagnosis. But in these times of crisis we might be able to see whether there are any signs of it.

First, statement made by the Patriarch swiftly after today's clashes has to be lauded. The Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church called for the government, oppossition and public of Georgia to use all means to stop escalation of violence. And at the same time, he urged the government to release three oppositin activists. According to its statement this will "at least partially difuse tensions."

Rubber bullets today, what will be next?

2009-05-07T00:21:00Z

Today we another set of horrifying scenes from surroundings of the Ministry of Interior. Protesters surrounded the central building of the Ministry after the news broke that three opposition activists arrested earlier were harassed, beaten and threatened with rape. Although the SWAT did not leave the territory of the Ministry, they still shot demonstrators with rubber bullets.

There is a great number of casualties who are wounded in their face. You can see some disturbing pictures here. The crowed was agitated and naturally so, but it has to be mentioned to the credit of opposition leaders, that they did everything to contain public anger and tell people to back off. Yet, to our shame, policemen continued to shoot, throw stones and even spit from inside the perimeter. What concerns me is the future. If we already got rubber bullets today, what will happen next?!

The country is on the brink of a civil war

2009-05-06T17:36:00Z

GHN reports that an opposition demonstration has taken place in front of the Central Building of the Ministry of Interior where arrested opposition activists are being held in custody. (English versian of the new as well as Civil.ge are lagging behind)

The building is full of SWAT forces. As a result of fights between opposition activists and Special Forces David Gamkrelidze, Levan Gachechiladze, Bizina Gegidze are beaten. Allegedly, Gia Gachechiladze aka Uznobi, anchor of a highly popular TV show "Cell #5" is detained.

Other opposition leaders have joined the demonstration. On the other hand, opposition has called for larger protests on May 8th which will escalate this conflict to a higher level. I keep saying that these developments are in the style of a Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marques. We know that there will be blood and yet, no one wants to do anything about it.

Georgia's Minister of Love

2009-05-06T17:05:00Z

In one of my favorite plays, Tom Stoppard's Rock'n'Roll an officer from the Ministry of Interior says:

"We are supposed to know what's going on inside people. That's why we're the Ministry of the Interior." This phrase sounds to me like a perfect motto for Georgia's Ministry of Interior under Vano Merabishvili.

As the time will pass and years of Saakashvili's rule will become harder to remember, we will know more about all the evil that Georgian Ministry of the Interior, our Ministry of Love in Orwellian terms, had committed. There will be so many events to recount and so many issues to explore for those that study power and various methods for abusing it. We will know the truth behind all manipulated video materials and fabricated recordings that form the basis for so many arrests; we will know the true cause of death of Zurab Jhvania, we will know what happened in the August 2008; will will know what happened on November 7, 2007. We will learn so many terrible things that it will be harder for us to forgive ourselves that we used to be so naive and clueless. Pinochet and Fujimori thought that such time would not come in their lives. But it did for them. So it will come for Merabishvili as well.

So what should we call this- leading by example?!

2009-05-06T16:36:00Z

According to the representatives of Georgia's Ombudsman (Human Rights Defender) three opposition activists arrested yesterday-

Melor Vachnadze, Revaz Revazishvili and George Oniani bear physical signs of beatings.

Ombudsman's representatives visited them twice in detention. According to George Chkheidze, Deputy Ombudsman, the detainees have bruises and scars from beatings on their bodies, heads and necks. "They were beaten twice- first, in the building of Old Tbilisi District and secondly in the Pre-Trial Detention Isolator," stated Chkheidze.

So to those that continue to stubbornly justify Saakashvili's rule in Georgia, I ask- what would you call this fact of physical revenge? Leading by example?!

Misha's Mission Impossible

2009-05-05T16:52:00Z

Georgian authorities finally made a highly- anticipated and predictable move today. The move was predictable because accusing the opposition of attempting to overthrow the government is a very banal move that all authoritarian governments engaged in. A glance over recent history of repression of oppositions by authoritarian leaderships in Eurasia suffices for that.

Before November 7 Saakashvili accused members of opposition- Levan Berzenishvili, Goga Khaindrava and other in conspiring together with Russia against him. Later on, after he cracked down on November protests, the government backtracked on these accusations. Maya Topuria and several other her colleagues are still serving prison sentences for unsubstantiated charges of organized an armed rebellion.

More recently, several supporters of the opposition were arrested with the same charges. Now,

blaming some opposition leaders for "organizing a mutiny" and "overthrow of state power" authorities arrested at least 13 civilians and many more military personnel today. Interestingly, the charge is based on an allegedly covertly recorded testimony of just one person, Gia Ghvaladze . One would think that for such a grave charge, which we have heard from Saakashvili too many times already, they would hold themselves for a slightly higher standard.

However, it's evident that the clique that rules Georgia thinks that the start of repressions is the only way to get rid of the protests. But this is Misha's Mission Impossible.

Remembering lies and loss

2009-05-03T16:44:00Z

TV Maesto has prepared this clip as a reminder of the August War and tragic results associated with it. It lists villages in Samachablo (South Ossetia) from where Georgians have been evicted as a result of the August War. The list is not complete and about one fourth of the territories have not been included for the interests of time. These hundreds of villages have been since occupied by the Russian troops. The clip starts with Saakashvili's live address to the nation on August 8 where he says "Georgian divisions are controlling all villages and townships in South Ossetia." The clip is painful to watch but it does remind us of the tragedy that lust for unrestricted power can cause.

Irakli Alasania's recent interview

2009-05-03T01:53:00Z

Irakli Alasania's recent interview at Rustavi 2 gives me some hope in the future of Georgian politics. It is only in Georgian unfortunately. But one of the most important issues that he underlined was the fact that Georgian government's suggestion for a dialogue with opposition is just a sham because the government has not suggested a single, specific issue for dialogue. He stressed other important issues as well so this is definitely worth listening to.

shooting rampage in Baku

2009-04-30T13:29:00Z

CNN reports that 12 people have been killed at Oil Academy in Baku. The suspect, who killed himself is Farid Gadirov, 1980, ethnic Azeri but a citizen of Georgia. I had indicated a facebook profile for a person with the same name, although some of my friends have informed be that this might be someone else. Hopefully, the media is going to let us know more about this terrible incident. In any event, this is a replication of "American style" university rampages which were unheard of in the Caucasus. I hope that psychologists and social scientists will have a say on spreading of this phenomena internationally and on ways to prevent this. It is a true tragedy. My sincere condolences to victims' families.

The idea that Saakashvili is handling protests peacefully is false

2009-04-20T16:16:00Z

This article by Lynn Berry misses major facts. The article does not mention at all that many different sources indicate that attacks on individual protesters by armed groups have exacerbated. Saakashvili seems to have learned the lesson from November 7, 2007 that instead of violently disbanding whole demonstration it is more useful to covertly attack and intimidate supporters. I have also written about specific facts of such assaults. Among many other agencies, Ombudsman of Georgia expressed grave concern over the trend, underscoring the of police to defend such victims. He presented information about recent such cases with video evidence.

Avoiding mentioning this issue significantly skews the picture of reality on the ground.

Starting points for dialog

2009-04-14T12:43:00Z

Leader of Georgian Christian Democrats came up with a series of pre-conditions for confidence building leading up the dialog between the government and opposition.

These steps are

- resignation of the Chair of Supreme Court and Central Election Commission

- return of TV Imedi to the legitimate owner i.e. Patarkacishvili family

- resignation of the Board of the Public Broadcasting

- granting of satellite broadcasting license to Maestro TV, which is broadcasting in Tbilisi only

- creation of a public board for monitoring objectivity of media

- creation of a monitoring group that will consider complaints against law enforcement agencies for violations committed against demonstrators

Representative of the Parliamentary Majority, Zurab Melikishvili stated that the ruling party will only start discussing these points during the process of dialog with the opposition. On the other hand, Usupashvili of Republican party stated that these questions have long been raised by the opposition and no negotiation is needed for the government to fulfill them.

So there are several questions to be address at this point, from a lay person's viewpoint:

1) who will guarantee fulfillment of reached agreements even the government and opposition decide to negotiate? EU has been mentioned as a possible mediator and guarantor

2) Many suspect that the government will convince the opposition to stop demonstrations and then not fulfill their promises as it happened several times in 2008.

3) Meanwhile, people will be disappointed in opposition leaders and it will be hard to convince them to take part in protests later

4) Independent experts indicate (see Zurab Abashidze's interview to Maetsro TV yesterday) that there is a clear need for the government to implement certain confidence building measures in order to start restoring trust in its actions. Government representatives are unwilling to comprehend this fact. Georgian public and opposition has been tricked too often for them to be able to blindly trust Saakashvili's promises. Some of the initiatives proposed by Targamandze could serve as such measures.

Third platform needed

2009-04-13T21:51:00Z

Observing events from Georgia, I feel that there is a need and space for a Third Platform. This should be a group of political forces and individuals that are not AGAINST someone by FOR something, for reforms, for better healthcare, for reduced military budget, for negotiations with Abkhazs and Ossetians and with Russians, for reforms and more money in education, for integration with the European institutions etc. This group would come up with a positive, progressive platform and would engage with everyone- not just Georgian- Orthodox population. It should be based on respect and not on swearing, cynicism and aggression. It would try to change current discourse. There are people that share these values within Georgian opposition now, yet they have been completely silenced by radicals from both sides. They should be helped so that they sound as "sexy" and grassroots as do the radicals. They are the ones' that should reinforced. Because the two existing platforms of Saakashvili and anti-Saakashvili do not instill much hopes for a better, more democratic future.

When did this start? October 18, 2004

2009-04-13T21:22:00Z

I just came across the first openly critical letter addressed to Saakashvili on October 18, 2004 by several members of Georgian civil society. The link is here. Some background info is here. I remember the commotion that its publication caused. Among other things the letter states "attempts to establish an intellectual dictatorship and mono-opinion will not lead the country to rapid reforms, but to authoritarian rule and stagnation."

It was the first letter of that kind since Saakashvili came to power, many followed afterward. History has proved that these signatories were able to detect early alarming signs and were honest enough to blow the whistle. I wish that Misha had not ignored it then. It seems that all events that followed are realization of the fears expressed in the letter. Among the signatories were David Usupashvili, Tinatin Khidasheli, Ghia Nodia, Lasha Tugushi, Tamar Chikovani, Paata Zakareishvili.

My respect to you, ladies and gentlemen, signatories of this letter and watchdogs of nascent Georgian democracy.

An interesting event at the demonstration today- food for thought

2009-04-13T21:11:00Z

A young student addressed a manifestation today in front of the Parliament. Shota Adamashvili, a journalism student from Tbilisi State University. He criticized Gia Maisashvili, one of the opposition leaders who publicly cursed Saakashvili two days ago. The student was booed of the stage as some of the opposition leaders called his intervention a "provocation." Another leader stated that "young people of that age should not teach us what to do"

The video is here. This incident raises many serious and profound questions as very well expressed by my young people on Facebook.

Are opposition leaders more tolerant to different opinions that the government? Is Georgian society, maybe, not in general receptive to diversity of opinions or was this incident the result of a mob effect? Is Georgian opposition willing to listen to youth? These are some of the questions to be addressed and thought about.