Unreliable friends, educational flaws, and unique photos from Georgia’s dark ages
Christmas preparations have kicked off in Georgia. But before the holidays give us a break we so desperately need, Tbilisi prepares for something bigger. On December 14, EU leaders are expected to confirm Brussels’ recommendation on finally granting Georgia the candidate status. The mood in the capital seems quite joyful on the surface. Mayor Kakha Kaladze, miraculously matching the mood of his critics for the first time in years, opted for “Tbilisi – European City” as the message for upcoming holidays.
And on December 9, a large group of pro-European Georgians, later joined by President Salome Zurabishvili – marched through the city’s central street to unfurl the largest EU flag in the country’s history. In a truly European spirit, it was not the result but the process that counted: the activists had launched a special campaign to produce this flag, having sewn each of its twelve golden stars in different parts of the country.
The flags again, Georgia-weary skeptics could be sighing. Why did these Georgians need to pull out this massive piece of fabric? Probably, Georgia wants to be the frontrunner for the EU Symbolism Commissioner when it joins, we can hear them grumble.
And truly, where does this desperation come from? Are these Georgians trying to remind forgetful Europeans of their existence – and their preferred choice? Have they felt the urge to do at least something as the weeks before the final decision have stretched into infinity? Or is this big flag meant as a cover to conceal their worry about the persisting uncertainty of the outcome?
Here is Nini and this week’s Dispatch with tiny stories about Georgia’s troubling past, tense present, and uncertain future.
That one friend who…
It was supposed to be smooth sailing for the EU candidacy after Brussels green-lighted it in early November. Georgian politicians understood that the nine conditions for starting the membership process are just an exam for the future year. Seeing that they just walked scot-free from not doing their homework on 12 conditions, they relaxed. Even our otherwise erratic rulers appeared to have restrained their more self-sabotaging qualities and were awaiting the culmination with whatever counts for stoic calm in Georgia.
However, the screenwriters of this season of Georgian history decided to bring some thrill to the final episode. Enter Hungarian PM Viktor Orban to play the set-piece villain in disguise. Fighting his ideological (illiberal Europe, anyone?) and petty (billions of Euros) squabbles with Brussels, Orban decided to find a breakthrough by holding Ukraine’s progress to the EU membership hostage. And while nobody talks about Georgia, many in Tbilisi fear becoming collateral damage… just like the younger brother who finds himself in the same room where his mother is scolding his older sibling.
The rest of Europe has long seen Mr. Orban as, at best, a nuisance. But Tbilisi’s rulers (current and past) can’t get enough of the tough-talking maverick right-winger. PM Garibashvili has become good chums with fiery Victor. He flew all the way to Budapest to reaffirm that a ‘man was a man and a woman was a woman.’ He hosted his toxic bro in regal Tbilisi and his native Kakheti. And yes, Orban has been all out supporting Tbilisi’s troubled EU bid – for one, the government’s drift to the right is music to his ears.
But the cruel karma delivered a bitter lesson on all the wrongs of making friends with all these “Hungary First!” “America First!” “This First!” “That First!” guys – when you most need their support, they will put THEMSELVES first! Yet Georgian leaders seem hesitant to learn those lessons about friendship and egoism: Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream’s flamethrower-in-charge, made a frantic trip to Budapest. He sounded reassured that even as Orban throws Kyiv under the bus, Georgia will jump through the hoop of candidacy. What can we say?! Let’s hope that Krampus (of Grinch) puts some charcoal in Mr. Kobakhidze’s sock for betraying a friend in need but gives the rest of us a Christmas miracle!
Please, don’t let me be misunderstood
The country’s primary five-minute debate this week centered on Georgian students underperforming in the latest report of the OECD-run Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Georgian teenagers seemed to fare particularly low in their use of reading, including identifying main ideas, finding necessary information, and reflecting on the purpose and form of texts. The report said the situation has not changed much over the past decade, but to many, no progress still meant going backward.
Not that Georgians were unaware of the problem. There’s lots of talk about the struggles of educational reform. Recent research and activism have illuminated grave social issues contributing to underperformance – including many students often passing the day malnourished. And, if one looks at the discussions in unmoderated comment sections of Georgian social media, there is always at least one angry commenter accusing the opponent of having no reading & comprehension skills (true, in certain segments of social media readership, that flaw could be more about a lack of will than a lack of skill). So what we hated most was probably getting repeatedly embarrassed on the international level by ending up below the OECD average.
To think more positively, Georgia has progressed in at least one aspect: we are increasingly blaming it on systemic causes instead of taking it out on kids themselves (WHY IS NEIGHBOR’S KID SMARTER THAN YOU?). Some observers also realized that adults should fix their own writing before forcing poor students to make sense of those texts. Not that the Georgian public debate has been promoting reading recently: listening to futuristic discussions these days, one may conclude that reading is some obsolete skill pushed by the publishing houses. So, it may take a moment until our PISA scores improve.
Street Spirit
This week’s visual background came in black and white. Previously unseen historical photos from Georgia’s tumultuous past made rounds on social media and in exhibition halls. First, the Soviet Research Laboratory revealed a rare find: a black suitcase purchased at a flea market last year contained hundreds of glass plate negatives. The negatives were later developed into unique photos shot by an anonymous photographer and depicting the daily lives of residents of newly Sovietized Georgia in the darkest 20s and 30s of the past century (you can see some of the photos here).
While those pictures are exhibited in Tbilisi, Gabriel Chubinidze, a Georgian historian, unveiled another discovery – this time tracing to the early 90s, another dark era for the country. The developed films, again belonging to an unknown photographer and purchased on the market, evolved into masterful yet harrowing photos showing the last days of the Tbilisi war in 1991-1992 – a frozen city in ruins, ashes, and a sense of resignation. Chubinidze posted a large part of digitalized photos on Facebook.
The discoveries show that the careless abandon with which Georgians were getting rid of their recent past may be ending. And honestly, Georgia’s past offers infinite possibilities to delve into and revisit. The trick is not to stay stuck there forever.
