Georgian People Rose to their Feet to Express Respect forAbkhaz and Ossetian People

Nona Salaghaia

On May 26, Georgian people were celebrating the Day of Independence in the National Stadium and loudly expressed their wish for the real independence of their country. The ovations increased when opposition leaders appeared on the pitch. People think these are the people on whom the future of the country depends. The 20-year-old sham democracy and sham  independence of Georgia should be changed by real and factual steps to the real independence of the Georgian people.

There is not a single field in the country which does not face crisis. The internal and the foreign policies of Georgia are in anarchy and we have the impression that only our optimist president hopes that this chaos situation will be resolved. The president, who still has the illusion that Georgia won the war with Russia in August of 2008. Though we were defeated; he still believes (or wants to believe) that Putin, prime-minister of the Russian Federation, was late to enter Tbilisi in August, 2008. However, he already forgot that Putin did not enter Tbilisi because of the huge effort of Europe and the USA. It is impossible to gain back the lost territories by force and even if we had enough army war is beyond the sense of a democratic country and Orthodox faith.

People gathered in the National Stadium rose to express their respect for Abkhaz and Ossetian people after Gubaz Sanikidze, leader of the National Forum, made a speech. Gubaz Sanikidze stated that in order to resolve the problems with our brothers – Abkhaz and Ossetian people – we have to respect and treat them like our brothers. “Common sense should prevail. The link between the old and the new Georgia can be demonstrated by producing here the flags of old and new Georgia. We have those people in our government now who has never dreamt about an independentstate,” said Gubaz Sanikidze.

Opposition leaders made speeches to the people in the National Stadium. The President of Georgia was making a speech at the Military Cemetery in Mukhatgverdi. There he underlined once more that Georgian people are courageous and obstinate; because of these characteristic features of Georgian people “Putin was late to enter Tbilisi” and could not achieve his aim. The President is not surprised neither at the number of people who gathered in the stadium to support opposition parties nor at the statements against him. “Today, part of our population is gathered in the National Stadium to protest the policy of the Government. I am not surprised and respect their position. I am not surprised because at the last presidential elections almost 700 000 citizens of our country voted against me and voted for the radical opposition parties. It is not strange that these people periodically express their discontent for not having their favorite as a president,” said Saakshvili during his meeting with the pupils of the Public School N 10. “Majority always takes the decisions of minorities into consideration because tomorrow ruling party can be replaced by the party which now in the opposition now.”

Having a different opinion and position is not and should not be a surprise at all. We are surprised at the ongoing situation and events in the country. The current situation makes us think that the people in the stadium protest economic and political cataclysms rather than “not having their favorite as a president.” The ruling party and Saakashvili do not feel the approach of these cataclysms. Just the opposite--they predict a perfect future: we have won the war in which in fact we were defeated; so finally we will defeat Russia; mass violations of human rights do not occur in Georgia; global financial crisis did not affect us; monetary aid is allocated in the country permanently from both Europe and USA which will support democratic and economical development of the country. All in all, life is beautiful for the Government of Georgia in our country since they look through rose colored glasses.

Unlike the president, the Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II, assesses the current situation in Georgia is most alarming and calls upon the people for reasonable activities. “Every person has his/her own fate and opinion but it does not mean that every opinion should be realized. The best solution should be found, so the people should listen to others and not only to one. One clever man was asked – what is most dangerous? And he replied – most dangerous is a categorical way of thinking. We often think that our decision and wish is enough for the realization of our opinions,” said the Patriarch. As for the request of the opposition parties to the president to resign, the Patriarch suggested that the people avoid categorical demands. “One and half months already have passed since one part of the population started to demand the resignation of the president. It is a very complicated issue and generally it has become kind of a rule in our country: the first and second presidents were also overthrown and you know what results it had. I think it will be right to listen to each other and take a positive decision. We should not think that a ‘person who is in my party is a right person and member of another party is a wrong person.’ We are one nation and we should be together. We pray to God to resolve those problems that we face now.”

Together with prayers and forgiveness we should also act. The opposition parties think that the action is changing the government and holding fair elections. The ruling party sees dialogue with the opposition parties as the only way out. However, dialogue and reforms can be one more trick for our people.  And demonstrations, revolution and the government who came into office also tricked the Georgian people..