Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - Hier 23:48

Georgia’s Two Parallel Realities

By Giorgi Lomsadze  (Eurasianet) -- Warbling carols, carrying candles and sharing sweets, revelers marched through the gorgeously illuminated streets of Tbilisi late on January 6. It was that time of the year again in Georgia – the nation celebrated Christmas on January 7 – except this time it was part parade, part protest rally.  “We wish everyone a merry Christmas and we demand snap elections,” a student, who identified herself only as Maka, told Eurasianet as she marched together with her classmates and teachers.  Close to midnight, thousands gathered around the city’s emblematic Kashveti Church to sing, pray and take a stand. “We want Georgia to join the European Union and we won’t let a bunch of rich guys who call themselves the government get in the way,” said a young man draped in the EU flag, pointing at the parliament building across the street.  As midnight struck, someone started singing a classic carol in a soprano. Holding candles and posters, others in the crowd immediately lent the alto and bass lines – vocal harmonizing is a second nature to many Georgians – and the courtyard filled with dulcet, resounding polyphony.  With candles, string lights and smiles sparkling all over the downtown, the night was as beautiful as it could be, but it also served as an illustration of the surreal situation Georgia finds itself in. The nation is split into two parallel worlds, with the protesters being on one side, and the government on the other, with neither recognizing the legitimacy of the other. It is unclear who is the law and who is the authority, and the end to the crisis is nowhere in sight. The Christmas gathering in Tbilisi and others like it elsewhere in the country marked the 40th day of protests that were triggered by the governing Georgia Dream party’s decision to take a rain check on plans to join the European Union. Sometimes numbering in tens of thousands, crowds have been gathering every night in front of the parliament to defy the authority of the Georgian Dream, the only party left inside the legislative walls since last fall’s disputed parliamentary vote. After failing to crush the protests by force, Georgian Dream decided to let the protest movement run its course, hoping that the demonstrations were going to lose steam over winter holidays. Some pro-Georgian Dream commentators banked on what they called the satsivi effect. A turkey in a spicy walnut sauce, satsivi is the main New Year dinner course that also serves as a euphemism for zoning out during winter holiday season.  But that has not happened. Tens of thousands gathered in the streets of main cities on New Year’s Eve to protest and party. People brought homemade meals, including the traditional satsivi dish, to the center of Tbilisi, where almost a mile-long dinner table was set up.  “I made satsivi and brought it here to share with everyone,” Ketevan Khmaladze, a retired schoolteacher told Eurasianet, as she helped set up the table in the middle of Rustaveli Avenue. “Georgian Dream is wrong to think that people will be distracted by anything,” she added. “We will be coming here no matter what until they go away.”  With the streets taken over by the protesters, Georgian Dream held New Year festivities in a government building. Depending on their political affiliations, television networks covered either the protest gathering or the government concert, providing diametrically opposing pictures of how the nation celebrates holidays and, more generally, where the nation stands. Adding to this Kafkaesque picture, the nation now effectively has two presidents, Salome Zourabichvili and Mikheil Kavelashvili. The protest-inclined part of Georgian society considers Zourabichvili as the only legitimate governing figure, as she was elected by popular vote in 2018 and is an ardent champion of Georgia’s future in the EU – the future most Georgians desire. Rejecting the results of last year’s parliamentary polls and subsequent presidential election as illegitimate, protesters don’t recognize the authority of Kavelashvili, an ex footballer whom Georgian Dream plucked from its radical fringes and installed as Zourabichvili’s successor via a disputed electoral college process.  In an odd permutation of diarchy, Zourabichvili effectively rules the streets – she joined the Christmas night protest to cheers from the crowds – and Kavelashvili sits in the presidential palace, rubber-stamping Georgian Dream’s legislative ideas. Georgian Dream leaders, including its ultimate boss, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, practically make no public appearances beyond interviews and briefings aired by loyal news stations, creating a feeling that they only exist on TV. Many foreign governments, including those of the UK and US, effectively challenge the authority of Georgian Dream, referring to Georgian officials as “Georgian Dream’s prime minister” or “Georgian Dream’s foreign minister,” rather than the Georgian prime minister, etc. Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream are also increasingly shunned and sanctioned by western governments for violent crackdowns on the protesters.  There is no clear estimate of where the majority of Georgians stand in the simmering political struggle. Data gleaned from several opinion polls (Eurasianet gained access to polls that are not yet public) suggest that bigger cities mostly reject the authority of Georgian Dream and favor snap parliamentary elections, but there is a more mixed picture in rural areas. Even as it is outnumbered by protesters in the capital city, Georgian Dream leaders still have riot police and mercenary gangs at their disposal, and they have shown they are not afraid to use force against peaceful protesters. With neither side willing to back down, it is difficult to foresee how the stalemate will be broken, analysts say. Georgian Institute for Politics (GIP), a prominent think-tank, prognosticated three possible developments: Georgian Dream steps up repressions and arrests, leading to “Belarusization” of Georgia; Georgian Dream breaks under domestic and international pressure, and agrees to snap elections; and last, a compromise is reached, where Georgian Dream reverses its most controversial policies and meets protesters halfway.  “So far everything is up in the air and it is next to impossible to predict which of these scenarios is more likely to happen,” commented Kornely Kakachia, the director of GIP. “What is certain is that the current situation cannot continue indefinitely.” Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.