Last Monday, I had the opportunity to meet with the new US Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan, along with some of my colleagues.
Keen to help Georgia move along the EU path, Ambassador Dunnigan speaks on how to tackle polarization that has plagued the country for years.
We tried to point out the steps that need to be taken so that the media can play a positive role in this process. For example, the Government should stop mass surveillance, wiretapping, and extortion, while the State Security Services need to focus on its real job, instead of beating up reporters. Detention and persecution of media owners has also had to end. The ruling party must stop using state funds and the Government’s strategic communication institutions to discredit Georgian media representatives and spread anti-Western propaganda. The ruling party must abandon adopting Russian-style laws that impose financial restrictions and censorship, making it almost impossible for critical media to function. GD leaders should stop boycotting critical media. In short, they must act as civilized, cultured people and democratic politicians.
Having already met the Georgian Government leaders, Ambassador Dunnigan said she had high hopes that the country would not miss this historic and very realistic opportunity to move forward on the path to EU membership. The Ambassador is well aware that this path, amongst other things, means what I already mentioned: ending polarization, demonizing the West, and flirting with Russia; holding free, fair, and competitive elections; and last but not least, stopping attacks on the critical media.
As we said goodbye, left the Embassy building, and turned on the phones the very first news we heard was Tbilisi Mayor and GD Secretary General essentially stating the country’s opposition is a bigger danger than Russia.
“Today Georgia has its greatest enemy in the ranks of the radical opposition. What Russia are you talking about?” Kakha Kaladze.
We know for sure that Ivanishvili, Kaladze, Kobakhidze, Gharibashvili, or any other GD leader will not change. Because artificially created confrontation, polarization, sharp division of society, and constant cultivation of hatred are their way of doing politics. We also know that healthy political competition is in itself a driving force for any democratic political system. However, when a government that has taken control of all state institutions fails to acknowledge the political opposition's right to exist and instead identifies it as a greater threat than Russia - a country that occupied our territories and carried out ethnic cleansing against Georgians - the consequences become catastrophic.
It is difficult to overstate how much we wish Ambassador Dunnigan’s optimism had a basis. But in a nation captured by "dreamers", neither they nor we are allowed to actually dream anymore.
Ambassador Dunnigan listened to us carefully and confirmed that she had already met the leaders of the Georgian government as well as the ruling party. She also mentioned that she had high hopes that the country would not miss this historic and very realistic opportunity to further advance on the EU membership path, which naturally meant all that I already mentioned above: end of polarization, demonization of the West, and flirting with Russia; holding free, fair and competitive elections and last but not least giving up attacks on the critical media.
As we listened to the Ambassador, the representatives of the critical media with plenty of negative experience with the existing government, sighed heavily and tried to explain the reasons for our skepticism. Among other issues on our mind was the fact that exactly the night before, an election campaign consultant of the biggest opposition party, a British national representing a US company, was not allowed in the country without any clear reason. However, as we did not want to ‘break’ the Ambassador’s heart, promised to do anything in our power to help the depolarisation of the country.
When we said goodbye to the Ambassador, left the embassy building, and turned on the phones, the first news that came up was a statement made by the Tbilisi Mayor, which read as follows: “What kind of hostility towards Russia are we talking about when the Georgian politicians ran to Brussels and did everything to prevent the country from obtaining the EU candidacy? Today, Georgia has its biggest enemy in the ranks of radical opposition. Which Russia are you talking about?”
We know for certain that Ivanishvili, Kaladze, Kobakhidze, Gharibashvili, or any other GD leader will not change. Because, artificially instilled confrontation, polarization, stark division of the society, and constant cultivation of hatred, is their way of doing politics and the very fuel that drives their ruling machine. We also know that healthy confrontation in society and political rivalry and competition in itself are driving forces for any democratic political system. But, when the sides, particularly the government, which has usurped all the power and state institutions, does not recognize political oppositions’ right to exist, and brands it as a bigger enemy than Russia, a state which occupied our territories and committed ethnic cleansing against the Georgians, the problem becomes devastating.
All this came to my mind as a follow-up to the newly appointed US ambassador’s new hopes. One can never imagine how much we wish her optimism had some grounds. But who would even let us? In a country captured by the ‘dreamers’ neither she nor us are even allowed to dream any longer.
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