The
"velvet revolution" might bring
Positive Peace in Georgia
By
Tamara
Tsikhistavi
Candidate of MAS in Peace Studies and Conflict
Transformation, Trainer and Researcher at ICCN
TFF Peace
Antenna
December 12, 2003
The "velvet revolution" in Georgia has shown that
violent political systems based on the violation of human
rights always collapse. There were several reasons for
the "velvet revolution" that started against the
government of Georgia.
One of the main reasons behind the revolution was
structural violence. Indirect violence has been used
against the population of Georgia for quite some time and
it had become the foundation of the internal-domestic
policy. The human rights of all citizens of the country
were violated.
On the one hand, we saw the violation of human rights
of the citizens of Georgia; on the other hand a corrupt
government. These together created the fundamental
dynamics of conflict escalation between the population
and the government of Shevardnadze.
The state had neither capacity nor an appropriate
agenda to develop successful economic, political and
social programs that could or would have satisfied the
basic human needs of the people.
After declaring independence in 1991, the country
started facing political and economic crises because of
the weak state that followed as a consequence of the
dissolution of the USSR. Long after the collapse of the
USSR, its center - Russia - still maintained control over
the political, economic and social development of
Georgia. As a result of the declaration of independence,
several former Soviet republics lost the political,
economic and security support they used to have from the
Soviet Union.
Thus, the former Soviet republics were left without a
strong state political-economic structures and became
very weak, and that was one of the major causes of
internal conflicts as well. The weak governance of
Georgia facilitated destabilization and created a
nourishing environment for internal conflicts. Facing
internal problems and policy mistakes made by the first
government of Georgia, the situation for the external
intervention in the internal conflicts of the country
began to look auspicious.
The economic crisis and the weak state created a
series of serious problems for the population and became
the source of tension that turned into violent conflicts,
involving masses of people. The internal problems and
destabilization after the declaration of independence,
wrong internal policy of the first government of Georgia,
the external intervention in internal conflicts - all
these factors made Georgia dependent on the International
Community.
Facing such a high scale crisis, the Military Council
of Georgia, together with the opposition, started
fighting against Zviad Gamsakhurdia - the first president
of independent Georgia, and used violence to overthrow
him and establishing "democratic institutions of
governance, which would guarantee freedom and protection
of human rights for all citizens".
Such excuses or explanations by the opposition, which
decided to use a violent way to solve the above-mentioned
problems, caused destabilization throughout the country,
leading to many more negative consequences and initiated
internal conflicts. After these violent events, already
on March 6, 1992 Mr. Eduard Shevardnadze returned from
Russia and most of the people considered him as a person
capable of establishing a democratic state system in
Georgia.
The Georgia President Shevardnadze inherited after the
collapse of the USSR was one with a distracted economic
and political system, typically weak state structures and
governance together with destabilizing, internal
conflicts. In addition, political dependence on the
regional and international political actors
increased.
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Georgia
- Another victory for
non-violence.
The
British in India, the Shah of Iran, Marcos in
the Philippines, Solidarnosc, the Velvet
Revolution in Chechoslovakia, the end of the
Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall,
Pinochet in Chile, Milosevic in Serbia and now
Shevardnadze in Georgia: nonviolence changes the
world for the better and offers hope.
Contrast Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia,
Afghanistan, Iraq - where military intervention
and bombings brought neither peace nor hope.
Why is the obvious strength of non-violence
disregarded by the media and our
politicians?
-Jan Oberg,
TFF Director
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There was a great hope and expectation that the famous
diplomat Mr. Eduard Sevardnadze would finally bring
stability and peace to the country.
He did it - he established Negative Peace in Georgia
by stopping direct violence in the country but his
leadership developed indirect, structural violence, which
was based on violation of human rights and ignorance of
the basic human needs of the population.
This kind of political system based on structural
violence, corruption, ignorance of Basic Human Needs has
become the main reason of the frustration, protest and
motivation for the "Velvet Revolution", led by the
opposition political parties and their leaders - Mr.
Saakashvili, Ms. Burjanadze and Mr. Zhvania.
The political orientation of the opposition leaders,
based on democratic values and protection of human
rights, should be able - at least potentially - to bring
lasting peace to the country. It would imply the
protection of human rights, resolution/prevention of
violent conflicts and development of democratic
values.
On the one hand, the political ambitions of these
leaders should contribute to the establishment of
Positive Peace through achieving political, economic and
security support/assistance from the regional and
international political leaders and decision- making
organisations. On the other hand, there are very many
internal and external problems that must be solved before
Positive Peace can be developed in the country.
President Shevardnadze did manage to establish
Negative Peace, now there is expectation that Mr.
Saakashvili, Ms. Burjanadze and Mr. Zhvania will finally
establish Positive Peace. The population of the country
still has high hopes that this time the political leaders
really will bring the peace, the democracy and the
protection of human rights that would guarantee a
sustainable development of the whole country.
©
TFF & the author 2003
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