| NEW POLITICAL CULTURE IN GEORGIA – PHILOSOPHY OF “WASHING AWAY” 
ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE,
Political analyst, Tbilisi The current events in Georgia clearly indicate that after the Rose Revolution a new political culture is being aggressively planted in the country. Apart from other goals, it is most likely aimed at a complete replacement of the national Georgian traditions and values with the new philosophy. The advocates of the new political culture argue the new values are to “modernize the Georgian society” in accordance with the challenges of the globalization era and the country’s integration into the European Union. They regard religiousness and faith as the main factors hindering the modernization of the Georgian society.
It appears this is the very reason why those forces are up in arms against the Georgian Orthodox Church and Georgian orthodoxy in general. After Mikheil Saakashvili and his party “United National Movement” came to power in 2003, the purposeful campaign was launched in order to discredit and divide the Georgian Orthodox Church and its leaders. The authorities made it clear that it is their firm intention to draw the church to backyard.
In March 2004, the police special units in the presence of the heads of the “force” agencies virtually smashed up an orthodox church on the outskirts of Tbilisi. The operation of smashing up the church and violence against its parishioners was aired live all over the country.
The campaign against the Orthodox Church was conducted by some influential non-governmental organizations and mass media loyal to the authorities, in a roundabout way. The widespread public protest and firm position of the church forced the “modernists” and the government bodies supporting them to retreat, but, as it turned out, temporarily. In many respects this is proved by the latest events.
About a month ago, a monumental cross was removed by the government’s order. The cross was decorating the passage to the city of Khashuri in the west of Georgia. The international transport goes along the road. It appears that the cross was removed because the foreigners going along the road had been displeased with the object. On May 17-18, (Ascension Day) the local authorities in Ajaria removed without any formal pretexts the huge cross near the passage to the region on the Choloki bridge and dismantled the cross near a railway station in the city of Kobuleti. The same day, in the Khelvachauri region of Ajaria at night the local authorities razed the St Gabriel’s Church to the ground. It was being constructed on the Peria Mountain. According to the authorities, the construction was illegal. The next day, it was known that Saalashvili had chosen that place to construct an entertaining complex and the local authorities did not dare to contradict him.
On May 20, in downtown Tbilisi a killer fired point-blank at the co-chairman of the grass root association “Language, Fatherland, Faith”, famous academic, professor Guram Sharadze. He was considered to be one of the zealous supporters of the orthodoxy in Georgia and he came out ardently against penetrating of religious sects into the country. It is noteworthy that because of that Sharadze entered into the most severe conflicts with those holding power now.
Many things point to the fact that the systematic struggle against the Orthodox Church is becoming a tendency. The struggle is consistent with the efforts made by the current authorities and the new establishment to propagate the new political culture with its new symbols. They must constitute an ideological support for the “authoritarian democracy” or “liberal authoritarianism” that was established in Georgia after “the Rose Revolution”. Even some influential Western analysts acknowledge that. And its best evidence is the disappearance of the division of powers characteristic for democracies. The Parliament and the Court turned into a poor appendage of the executive power long ago.
The new political culture, which is based on neither laws nor morality, consists in spreading of general fear, artificial division of the society into the “healthy” and “dying out” forces, establishing of intolerance towards the “dissidents” and labeling people as “enemies” for freethinking and raising of the questions annoying the authorities, which they cannot answer intelligibly.
In April, in his address to the gifted senior high school students, Saakashvili maliciously attacked the famous Georgian intellectuals who founded the civil society group “Georgian Academy” in order to counteract the increasing, as they believe, threat to the Georgian traditions and values due to the policy pursued by the current authorities. Saakashvili called those people “the most disgraceful and loathsome part” of the Georgian society and promised that those people would be “washed away for good” and replaced with “healthy forces”. The President came to accusing those people, who have hardly ever held weapons in their hands, of the lost wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Saakashvili’s call for the government to dismiss those who are out of favor from the government bodies was responded. Those officials are being dismissed, and the people close to the President conducted a real information campaign against them. All of that bears a strong resemblance to our unforgettable recent times.
Saakashvili and his team seem to see a grave danger in the intellectuals’ efforts to be consolidated to save the Georgian unique identity and historic heritage. Of course, the counter-measures were taken quickly. I think that the authorities are trying to create unbearable conditions for those people in Georgia and force them either to emigrate, or to join the President acknowledging their faults, or to lapse into silence and put up with the new political culture. The parliamentary and presidential elections are coming forth, the authorities are getting less and less popular, the people are disappointed in them and seeking a new social and political support. The famous intellectuals who, unlike the majority of the politicians, have unblemished reputation and enjoy immense prestige, can attract many people, and the government is likely to be afraid of this.
In 2006, the public opinion poll about the values of the Georgian society showed that the overwhelming majority of the Georgian people trust the church to the most considerable degree. However, it is difficult to deprive the people of the old values overnight and substitute new values for them.
Meanwhile for three hours Kobuleti residents carried the cross removed and put it to its previous place. The residents of Khelvachauri including detached observers started recovering the destroyed church very vigorously.
The struggle of values in Georgia is continuing and it is most likely to become more hard-fought. The results of the struggle and its influence on the political situation in the country will be known in the near future.
May 25, 2007
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