Street Protests – Georgian Style

Please note that this information is woefully out of date. Pretend, for a few minutes, that you are back in April 2009.

 

It’s the middle of what is now affectionately called “Protest Season” - a time of year when the opposition get together to protest maligned president Mikhail Saakashvili. It has been going on for so long that it become about as predictable as the winter flu. And it seems to be treated like one: it shows up, affects some people, and then eventually goes away.

The opposition has good reason to protest. It claims that the president has done nothing for the Georgian economy, he plunged the country into a war it could not win, and is generally not fit to lead a country. There was another guy, who recently descended from power. that fit the same mould. In fact, there is a street named after him in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.

What is fascinating about a Georgian protest is its permanence. The protesters are ready to block the main street for months on end using makeshift huts. Each hut is covered in thick plastic, has a number, and is sponsored by GeoCell (a Georgian mobile service provider). These huts are not big, maybe 6ft x 10ft, and provide only rudimentary accommodation to the dwellers (people who come from the countryside and have very little to do other than sit in their huts and drink tea/vodka).  

Another interesting element is that a quick walk down the Main Street from the parliament building to freedom square (maybe 500 metres) will lead you past 7 or 8 different opposition parties. This has long been the bane of the Georgian opposition. They spend most of the year uniting against Saakashvili only to fall victim to the president’s divide and conquer strategy. Once the opposition starts disagreeing with each other, the protests fizzle out and plans for next year’s protest season begin.