After
the sudden death of
the "Realo" of the Rose Revolution,
will Georgia collapse again?
By
Per
Gahrton,
TFF adviser
Member of the European Parliament, the
Greens, Sweden
February 7, 2005
The first time I met Zurab Zhvania
was at a Conference for Green Parliamentarians in
Stockholm in 1990. He came from a distant and unknown
country and told us that he had formed a successful Green
Party - in the Soviet Union. We thought that was
impossible - but Zurab did it! To overcome the impossible
became his personal brand. However, at last, if available
information is correct, he fell victim to one of the most
mundane everyday aspects of the crisis of Georgia - the
energy shortage. Nothing works as planned; everyone has
to "make it for oneself", amateurish, with what is at
hand. So it seems that Zurab Zhvania tragically died by a
leaking gas fuelled heating device. Thereby becoming a
symbol for the paradoxes of his country in life as well
as in death.
Relations with
Shevardnadze
Next time I saw him was in 1993.
Georgia was on the verge of collapse because of the
chaotic rule of the nationalist fanatic, Zvia
Gamsakhurdia, which led to separatism and civil war.
Zurab then had joined forces with Shevardnadze, to the
dismay of some Greens. But he believed that Shevardnadze
was the only one who could unite the ravaged country. He
brought me from Tbilisi to Kutaisi. There I was
introduced to 17 generals from he government forces
supposed to mobilise against Gamsakhurdias
counter-attacks."And how many soldiers do you have", I
asked. The answer was, Maybe fifty. Zurab liked to tell
this story over and over again whenever we met. He saw
the absurd numerical relation between generals and
soldiers as symbolic for Georgia.
Since I became the rapporteur for
South Caucasus in 1999 we met once or twice annually.
When I met him in his State Minister office the day after
the landslide victory of his partner Mischa Saakashvili
in the presidential election of January 4, 2004, I
couldn´t help testing his patience by forwarding
some of the criticism directed at him and his colleagues,
for example the fact hat he had cooperated with the
defunct president Shevardnadze for almost a decade.
Zhvania just smiled mildly at my question.
- In 1992 we had a civil war,
Shevardnadze was the only possibility and I am not
ashamed of having brought him back, but proud of it. But
I am also proud to be one of the very few politicians in
a former Communist Country to have resigned from such a
high position as I did in 2001 without any type of
"parachute".
After his resignation from his
position as Speaker and head of the ruling Citizens Union
in the fall of 2001 because of Shevardnadze's inability
and lack of will to take forceful action against
corruption - a resignation that was triggered by physical
attacks by the authorities against TV-station Rusavi 2 -
Zhvania suddenly found himself in a political desert,
even being barred from presenting candidates for the
local election of June 2002. He was rather close to
ending up in the dustbin of history.
He interrupted our conversation of
January 4th 2004 for a short telephone talk with Nino
Burjanadse, who was speaker of the parliament and still
interim president. On the agenda was a rapid amendment to
the Constitution in order to replace the post of State
Minister with a real position as Prime Minister and Chief
of Government. Some predicted that the new president
would like to retain the American-style presidential
power he had just been given by more than nine out of ten
Georgians. But Zhvania had no doubt that the agreed
change would take place. As a matter of fact it did,
Zhvania was appointed Prime Minster on February 17.
- We have no alternative but to
keep together, he said. That is best for Georgia. And the
people would not forgive anybody who would damage the new
ruling coalition for personal gains. The voters have not
given us eternal power. They have opened a unique window
of opportunity. If we don´t use that with
responsibility, we will be punished - and rightly so, he
said.
I am convinced he was right. The
new leaders have needed each other. What will happen now?
When I met Zhvania last time, in September 2004, I
confronted him with the mounting criticism against legal
abuses during the fight against corruption, not only from
small Georgian oppositions parties, like the Labour and
his old partners in the Greens, but also from Amnesty and
other Human Rights organisations. Saakashvili likes the
dramatic style, arresting accused tax dodgers or
smugglers in front of TV-cameras, then giving them a
chance to get out after paying a handsome sum, not to
anybody personally but to the state. Zurab admitted: The
legal system is still too politised, we must change
that.
Theatre of the
Absurd in Ajara
My most intense experience with
Zurab was on the day of the repeated parliamentary
elections in March 2004. He invited me to go with him to
the autonomous Ajara, where the local feudal leader Aslan
Abashidse was still ruling. We arrived with a few cars,
the local guards let us in - it was very tense. We
visited many polling stations where people were
astonished, but happy, to see the leader of the
Tbilisi-government in their province. Zurab feared
violent actions from Abashidse later in the evening; he
expected him to try to destroy ballot boxes when it would
turn out that he had lost. So Zurab had a meeting with
him in the afternoon.
It was like a scene from the
threatre of the absurd. And it went on for more than
twelve hours. Abashidse at one moment showed a video with
small armed boats from his personal factory, at another
moment cried that Tbilisi "Speznaz" fighters, disguised
as election observers, were tracking him to kill him. He
even claimed that Georgian airplanes were hovering over
his palace at night (which nobody else could observe) in
order to drop bombs on him.
It was the opinion of some
observers that Abashidse was mad. In any case Zurab acted
as a psycho therapist in order to save the elections in
Ajara from too much fraud and violence. He actually
succeeded, and set an example for the two other
recalcitrant provinces. If his policy should rule,
Tbilisi would use anything but violence to restore the
unity of the state.
It doesn't bode
well...
With Zhvania gone, who knows what
actions will be taken? Just some weeks ago Saakashvili
suddenly fired Minister of Defence Baramidse who was one
of Zurab's loyal friends. In came instead a "hawk",
former minister of the Interior, Okruashvili. Saakashvili
immediately gave him the order to reinforce the army and
give highest priority to the reintegration of separatist
regions.
The nomination of Okruashvili took
place in the middle of night in front of the entire
Kodori Brigade that had been put on alert with short
notice. And, of course, in front of TV-cameras. That is
not the way Zurab Zhvania would have done it.
Some say that the Rose Revolution
was a US-sponsored action to safeguard American interests
in a sensitive region at the frontier of the "clash of
civilisations". But those who suspect the new Georgian
leaders of establishing a US satellite forget several
facts. For example, Zhvania was one of very few state
leaders outside Russia's circle of closest allies to
welcome the outcome of the Duma elections in December
2003 (See Svobodnaja Gruzia Dec 8th, 2003). Not because
he found those elections commendable, but because he is a
realo. Zhvania told me that he was sceptical about a
rapid NATO-membership for Georgia. But on that point he
apparently had to give in to stronger forces.
His relation to the US is as
"realo" as the one with Russia. In September 2002,
arriving back home after a CIS summit in Astana, where he
also met with Vladimir Putin, he complained that the
Russians have difficulties not to behave as an
imperialistic power. "Just like the U.S.", he added. And
he compared the Russian exploitation of Shamil Basajev
against Georgia in Abkhazia with the US-exploitation of
Usama bin Laden against communists in Afghanistan. Both
cases had fired back against the sponsor! Usama bin Laden
in Manhattan, Basajev in Beslan.
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My impression is that Zurab wanted
genuine Georgian independence from both the U.S. and
Russia, but cooperation with both of them. With Europe it
was a different matter. He was not satisfied with
balance, he always emphasised that Georgia is heading for
full membership of the European Union.
The Rose
Revolution - still a long way to go
The peacefulness of the Rose
Revolution has created a unique situation, without the
hatred and bitterness and revengefulness that makes so
many bloody revolutions deteriorate into brutal prisons
that "eat their own children". But the problems of the
country remain enormous. Fourteen months after the Rose
Revolution the country is still divided, millions of
people are very poor, the economic growth is not bad, but
far from sufficient for the needs. Patience is running
out. In late January this year, Russian Izvestia
commented on the visit of President Saakashvili to the
Council of Europe by reminding readers that
"Georgia´s honeymoon with Europe is over" because
CoE observers have criticised Human Rights abuses by the
new regime. And in International Herald Tribune a
disappointed Georgian activist from November 2003,
Tinatin Khidasheli from Young Lawyers Association
complained: "The Rose Revolution has wilted" (Dec 8,
2004).
Thus, the political
Saakashvili-style theatre will not be enough. More
down-to- earth actions are needed. Maybe that is what
Schevarnadse had in mind when he admitted that he had
voted for Saakashvili (!) as president on January 4,
2004, but added: "He should talk less, act more".
Saakashvili probably understood
that. He has made good use of the acting realo at his
side, Zurab Zhvania. Nobody knows what will happen now.
In Georgia the distance between hope and desperation has
often been extremely short.
Per Gahrton
©
TFF & the author 2005
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