Facing Up To Intolerance in Georgia
Georgians have traditionally prided themselves on their tolerance towards people of other races and other creeds. But they have not always lived up to that perception of themselves. In the late 1980s Zviad Gamsakhurdia promulgated a vision of "Georgia for Georgians" that was enthusiastically espoused by his supporters and impelled many non-Georgians to flee the republic in fear or reprisals or retribution. More recently, religious minorities, in particular Jehovah's Witnesses, have been the target of violence.
Nor is intolerance confined to religious belief, Berdzenishvili continued, it also extends to inter-ethnic relations and to what could be termed local patriotism on the micro-level. He noted that Georgians consider themselves superior to other ethnic groups to the point that, "as any family will confirm," it is considered "a tragedy" if a daughter marries an Armenian, or a son marries a Jewish girl.
That sense of superiority, he said, is extended to an individual's immediate geographical milieu, giving rise to animosity between the population of various districts: for example, a resident of the Tbilisi district of Veri will tell you in all seriousness that it is impossible to find a single decent human being in the Tbilisi suburb of Vake.
Berdzenishvili suggested that the most disturbing thing is that there has been no attempt by either the present Georgian leadership or the Georgian Orthodox Church to counter this way of thinking or offer an alternative. "To affirm that Georgia today is a tolerant society," he said, "is to close one's eyes to the way people treat Zviadists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Methodists, Baptists and unmarried mothers [...] Georgia is an intolerant society and it is our so-called intelligentsia, which is a bastion of intolerance, that sets the tone in this respect."
Djgerenaia for his part rejected the idea that Georgians historically were more tolerant than they are today as a myth that has never been proven. He argued that tolerance is a luxury that only a strong state can afford, and historically Georgia has never been a strong state for an extended period of time. He suggested that Georgians adduce the "myth" of their tolerance in order to avoid facing up to tensions in inter-ethnic relations or between various creeds. He also implied that some prominent figures within the Georgian Orthodox Church may bear some measure of responsibility for growing religious tolerance as a result of the emphasis they place on the role of the Georgian church in Georgian history as contrasted with other faiths.
Georgia for Georgians, how nice. Screaming this sound they were doing national cleansing in Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia.
Conflicting Narratives in Abkhazia and Georgia
After the demise of the Soviet Union, latent ethnic tensions surfaced in different parts of its vast territory. Georgia was one of the most vulnerable ex-Soviet republics in this respect. Georgia included within its frontiers three autonomous republics, of which two, Abkhazian and South Osetian Autonomous Republics were give this status on an ethnic basis in Soviet times. The first President of the newly independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, came to power in April 1991 with a strongly nationalist position. This nationalism implied, on the one hand, granting to the Georgian ethnicity a priority status in the country and, on the other hand, strong opposition to Russia. This nationalist position of the government by the government of the independent Georgia created unrest among ethnically non-Georgian citizens. Many, wary of the new regime, left the country.[3] Abkhazians and Osetians, ethnically different from Georgians, responded to this aggressive nationalism by creating their own nationalist parties. The parties “Aidiglara” (Abkhazia) and “Adamon Nichas” (South Osetia), had overt links to and the support of Russia, who wanted to constrain Georgia’s independence through the dissenting Abkhazians and Osetians. Russia’s wish was to safeguard its former grip in the region. The ever increasing tension developed into a full-fledged war in South Osetia, when the President Gamsakhurdia coerced the Georgian Parliament into abolishing South Osetian Autonomy and renaming South Osetia the “District of Samachablo" – the Georgian name of the land. The war lasted a few months with devastating consequences for both sides. The Osetian case was a signal to Abkhazians to mobilize their powers even more against the Georgian enemy.