By Gina Christian | OSV News
(OSV News) — Youth and young adults in the nation of Georgia — once part of the former Soviet Union — are determined to struggle for democracy, a Catholic aid worker told OSV News.
“My generation knows what it means to be afraid of losing freedom, due to the 2008 Russian war against Georgia,” said Luka Kimeridze, fundraising and communications manager for Caritas Georgia, part of Caritas Internationalis, a global confederation of 162 Catholic humanitarian aid organizations.
Located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Georgia — a nation of some 3.6 million — was invaded in August 2008 by Russia, which supported the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The five-day conflict saw more than 400 Georgians killed and close to 1,750 wounded. Following an internationally brokered ceasefire, Russia recognized the breakaway regions, prompting condemnation from the U.S. Numerous foreign policy experts have cited the invasion and the muted international response as a prelude to Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2014.
In early March, Kimeridze and thousands of fellow Georgians took to the streets to decry legislation, backed by that country’s ruling Georgian Dream party, that would have required non-commercial legal entities (including news outlets) receiving more than 20% of their income from abroad to register as foreign agents. As such, the organizations would be subject to extra scrutiny and hefty fines for noncompliance.
The move to introduce the law — which had been likened to similar legislation passed by neighboring Russia to suppress dissent — sparked widespread concern in both Georgia and in the international community, and triggered clashes within both parliament and on the street.
“We wanted to show the government we are awake, we are here, and they cannot lie to us anymore,” said Kimeridze.
Georgia President Salome Zourabichvili had openly opposed the legislation and supported protests. The controversial proposed law was withdrawn March 9, following two nights of violent protests in the capital of Tbilisi that saw dozens injured and detained by police.
“Gen Z has it in them” to continue battling repressions such as those historically endured by Georgians under Soviet and Russian powers, said Kimeridze, referencing the demographic cohort of those born after 1997.
“Once you feel human rights, once you accept human rights, you cannot go back,” he said. “You cannot take away the feeling and the recognition of basic human rights from this generation, because it was born with them. It doesn’t know any differently.”
The protests were “the first time we saw Gen Z really come in and fight for its future,” he said. “It was the first time that something so valuable was going to be taken from them. Gen Z realized … that the future is in the European Union and in the freedom that comes with E.U. values. They might have woken up in another reality if they had not protested.”
At the same time, Georgia’s move toward E.U. integration is hampered by segments of the population, particularly “the generation above age 50,” that are unable to fully break with the nation’s Russian past, he said.
“These are people who have seen the U.S., the European Union and Canada. They like it there, they appreciate the quality of life is better in the West,” said Kimeridze. “But somehow they still cannot shake off the Russian mentality.”
As a result, “they come into collision with the persons who were born free — Gen Z, which only identifies with the E.U. and the U.S., and which has nothing in common with the people in power,” Kimeridze said, adding he encountered one person who was upset that “these Gen Z people don’t speak Russian anymore.”
Still, the language remains alive in Georgia, since an estimated 1.5 million Russians have fled to Georgia since their nation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. While the number of those now remaining in Georgia is unclear, many appear to have chosen to stay, and Kimeridze, who lives in the capital of Tbilisi, estimated “more than 100,000” Russians are residing in that city.
“They are just quiet, laying low … and don’t want anything to do with the demonstrations,” said Kimeridze. “I see that they are also very afraid, because they have never felt freedom. I somehow understand (that) … but at some point you have to break (with the past) and make the first move forward.”
Georgia itself has done just that, said Kimeridze, especially since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin — whom historians estimate was responsible for the deaths of at least 6 to 9 million Soviets — was himself a native of the country, having been born in the eastern city of Gori.
“Unfortunately, we consider him Georgian because he was born and raised (here) … but not even 1% of the population fetishizes Stalin, because he took away the best generations of Georgians — the writers, the composers, the painters and the historians,” said Kimeridze. “Stalin killed them.”
The loss of thousands from Georgia’s already small population was “traumatizing,” he added.
In contrast, the Russian population has not fully reckoned with the atrocities of its past, from the establishment of communism to its recent post-communist reversion to authoritarianism, said Kimeridze.
He said Georgians feel tremendous solidarity with the people of Ukraine, now battling the second year of Russia’s full-scale invasion and the tenth year of Russian aggression.
“The war in Ukraine is Georgia’s war,” he said. “We understand very well what it means to fight for freedom … and we understand Ukrainians are fighting this war on our behalf as well. … I consider Ukrainians as Georgians, my compatriots, people who have been (assaulted) by Russian aggression for the love of our freedom.”