We officially have a symbol of prosperity, it's a four hundred year old olive tree.
A 400 year-old olive tree planted on Rustaveli Avenue
A 400 year-old olive tree has replaced a young plane tree in the center of Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi. The tree has a long history and it is a present which Georgia's Catholicos Patriarch has recieved from Italy. ''This tree is a symbol of Georgia's prosperity,'' Catholicos-Patriarch, Ilia II announced today. His Holiness blessed the olive tree and attended the process of planting today.
Winston called me a cynic when I said that the tree does not have much left to live. There are many ways that may happen, and that is not the point of the post. Just to make things clear, I have no intention of taking any part of assisting the tree's demise.
Point I am trying to make here is about the symbol itself. It is un-Georgian. We have to stop clinging to other nations' core values and making them ours. We should develop our own instead. Georgian language has a word for olive, and it's a very interesting word ზეთისხილი (zetiskhili). Literally, it means fruit of oil. But ზეთი (zeti) itself is a borrowed word and source of the borrowing is olive in Turkish. It is probably because we are not Mediterranean, and probably because preferred grease of Georgia has been ერბო (erbo), same thing that Indians call ghee, and is known in the West as clarified butter.
Why would one establish a tree that is clearly non-Georgian as a symbol of anything? Is that because we already sold every forest that bears traditionally Georgian trees, and we are forced to import symbolism? Or is it because the only way we see ourselves as a part of the European family is to have same symbols?
First we favor word ტოლერანტობა (tolerantoba) instead of already existing Georgian word შემწყნარებლობა (shemtsknarebloba), then we overlook Amirani in favor of Prometheus, now we adopt Olive tree as the symbol of prosperity. What is next?
symbol of prosperity
who shall clean it up?
One of the most repulsive parts of Georgian election process is the campaigning one. In a rare interview, Vano Merabishvili, Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia declared that one of the main reasons National Movement won was because they campaigned better than others.
To me this translates into:
- We lied the best
- We spent most money on billboards and posters
I have nothing to say about the first one, at least for now. It's the second one that I find bothersome. I stopped questioning the source of all their money, and decided to accept that business owners donate for one reason or another.
Problem is not the posters they used, but rather how they used them. I know there are few rotten apples in every basket, and one may blame those for improperly placed posters. Yet, it is more or less systematic, and all across town, making it more widespread than not. I decided to take a few photos to document their campaigning efforts.
To start with, I find the whole poster business un-European. A nation that claims to be part of the West, both by religion and culture should have enough moral values not to destroy both private and public property for the sake of being reelected. Unfortunately, it does not hold up. After sticking posters to any usable space they could find, they have sent a cleaning crew around town. Last couple days seem to be the ones when the cleaning people went through extra effort to try and remove any markings that would hold resemblance to the party that financed those posters. It is quite depressing to see white glue and torn paper all over the city.
It seems that temporary wooden fences were not enough for them, they used street name plaques, building walls, telephone and lamp posts, anything that they could stick papers to.
In order to get their voice heard, they put their posters over other parties' posters. They even used extra strong glue, so that they would not be torn off. Maybe they were thinking ahead, and used enough glue so that in four years, they won't have to put up as many posters, a lot of posters from this time around will be still around. You might find it to be a laughing matter, but old town still has posters from four years ago here and there.
Police arrested people for stenciling "I remember November 7" on Leselidze street, yet posters that took same spots and now cannot be removed without redoing walls managed to get their doers into the Parliament. There is not freedom of expression in Georgia. You are free to express yourself, as long as you are willing to spend at least a few days incarcerated. Unless of course your expression coincides with the one of the government...
And this is their version of clean up:
nothing says gutsy, like standing up to a bully
Not much to say here - Georgia asks for an apology and monetary compensation. As I expected, almost a week later, no one speaks of it. Not only that, Russians did not even bother responding to it, at least I did not see it in the breaking news section.
shooting foot, or more like chopping off whole leg
Before the news goes stale - opposition unity is already questionable. Actually, it's an eight party coalition now. How do you manage to lose a party within a few days after elections? Well, it's quite simple I guess. They suggested, and it seems that they are still actively pursuing the idea of an alternative parliament. Boycott turned out to be somewhat unpopular, majoritarian MP from on the the opposition parties refused to boycott, claiming that he has to server his electorate. At least there is one wise person in the bunch.
When asked what happened, leaders of the united opposition decided to blame voters. It is a known fact by know that some people in the opposition have pretty uncivilized ways of talking about the president, but calling voters "stupid" seems not only unfair, but also suicidal. Neither was the rephrased version cheerful - voters are apparently selfish and put their personal well-being ahead of that of the country.
What a surprise, people are selfish. I wish opposition said something new. Alas, they are drowning in the pit they decided to fill with tar themselves. They helped Imedi become popular, and Christian Democrats managed to pocket that popularity. They made November 7 happen, people pocketed 50 Lari vouchers for gas and electricity, and voted to Misha. We are back to square one. January elections gave me a hope, I thought that the Georgian politics was becoming more competitive and diverse. Surveys released prior to May 21 elections seemed to back the idea of diverse, hence strong legislative body, but reality turned out to be pretty grim.
People do not change easily, it takes generations to learn what democracy is. Unfortunately, many of those who got elected this time are the ones who managed to take advantage of unstability of the country during last decade to make money. Now, it seems that best way they found to retain the wealth is to be the ones to command the law. Georgians have to learn to leave their business interests behind when they join the legislative body, but that has yet to materialize. Most join to protect those interests, few have real motivation to help the people and the country.
single-party democracy
National Movement picked up enough votes to have the constitutional majority. Misha promised that each amendment will be talked over with all shades of opposition, but we will see that...
repatriate
Here's what Bagapsh said according to civil.ge articleAbkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, instructed the breakaway region’s government to develop a comprehensive plan on how the authorities could help foster repatriation of ethnic Abkhazians.
“We do not need Abkhazia without Abkhazians,” he said at a meeting with senior Abkhaz officials from the executive and legislative authorities on May 6, Apsnipress reported.
He said that “numerous trips” by Abkhaz officials and representatives of the Abkhaz intelligentsia to Turkey failed to result into “mass repatriation” of ethnic Abkhazians to the breakaway region.
I wonder why repatriation would not take place. Would it have anything to do with the fact that parts of Abkhazia are militarized? Or is it that it has not been rebuilt yet, and buildings are in shoddy condition? Or is it that Georgians are threatening to take action against anyone who illegally comes into possession of IDP property? Or maybe it has something to do with Abkhaz in Turkey feeling better living in Turkey, compared to potential of a Russian dominated war-zone?
I really wonder...
who should resign?
Thanks to Greg, now I am aware that I have been accused of Misha-bashing and made a reason for failed efforts to unite Georgia... Se, here's an example of non-Misha-bashing cartoon I recently did.
I was telling a friend a few days ago that I am undecided about elections. In the US, undecided usually means "not sure which candidate". With me, it's "not sure if I will even go to vote". I probably will. I wish I could vote against certain people, rather than for some people. I just know who I don't like.
Going back to Misha-bashing, I don't think what I usually say (either using text, or by drawing) about Misha is anywhere near what the opposition says. And, even worst is their state of mind. They constantly change their mind. So, I am suggesting they print a single banner, and just fill in the ____ with the "name of the day". First it was Misha, then it was Nino, then it was the head of the CEC (whose name is escaping me). It seems that their silver bullet is someone leaving. But who will or should replace the person that leaves? In their opinion it has to be one of their people (the opposition). Should not they earn the right to appoint though?
They have yet to understand that bashing is not the way you get support of enough people to proceed. Maybe I am naive, but people are not as hateful as the opposition wants them to be.
million tourists
This one is from couple months ago as well, February 7, to be exact. Government made an announcement that Georgia was visited by 1 million tourists in 2007. Not 920 thousand, not million and 23 thousand, but exactly 1 million. While I do not have as big of a problem with rounding, I have a problem with the number. It just seems overly large.
Ok, let's step back for a second. Imaging there were 10 international flights a day to and from Tbilisi (I believe there are less than 5 daily flights) and out of 150-something passengers that fit in a plane (keep in mind that large planes do not fly to Georgia much), 100 are foreigners. It's very generous estimate, but still. That would only give us 365 thousand. So, where do 635 thousand come from?
World Tourism Organization includes people who travel on business in the definition as well, but would an Azeri farmer bringing over a truckload of pomegranates be considered a tourist? Russian border was closed I believe all of 2007, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey would be able to supply more than half a million foreigners without a problem, but how many of them should be considered tourists?
What about those Americans/Europeans who cross Armenian or Turkish border every 90 days, just to get a new Georgian visa? I've crosses Georgian border with my fiancee many times (close to a dozen in 2007) and only on couple occasions was she asked what the purpose of her visit is. Response is always the same, "she's my spouse". It seems to stop questions immediately.
Who is supposed to be so stupid to take that statement without questioning it, who was the target?
catching up is hard to do
I realized that I have a few cartoons that never made it to this blog for one reason or another. I will try to put them up one by one next few days and give some info along with each of them. This one does not need much commenting, but I would like to explain what drove me to do it.
Education situation in Georgia is somewhat fragile and confusing. I personally believe that when a country needs to have a decent access to books in order for education reforms to be counted as successful. Unfortunately, books are not very good for money laundering and they are not very profitable either.
At the point I drew this (December 2007), there were three main sources that a person could direct his attention to in order to find a book he desires/needs. There were (and still are) just a few new bookstores. While they are pretty from outside and pleasant inside, they have issues with the selection they provide. Propsero's tends to stock New York Times top three (could be two), odd selection of science dictionaries from the 20th century and cheap, but great out-of-copyright novels. Parnasus (and the like) tend to have current Georgian literature (unfortunately printed using crappy paper) and Taschen. One would think that with all the Taschen books out there, Georgians would get the sense of proper architecture...
There are also Old, Soviet-time bookstores that could not afford paying rent just by selling books and turned into a stores that sell all kind of goods, as well as books. Last one, and still more or less the best source is street vendors. They are the best, as they happen to be the only ones that have wider selection of books. Their selection is not limited to current Georgian literature, and includes older, out of print books, as well as books in Russian.
Last fall was a breaking point. In the midst of grand scheme of things happened to be the Soviet-time bookstores and street vendors. Street vendors do not fit into the new vision of Tbilisi streets life. Same goes for the Soviet-time bookstores.
Results could have been pretty grave if not for the November events. I am not praising opposition, and neither condemn/praise the government. Street vendors happened to be the disenfranchised group that had only one desire, to continue their business. Fortunately, the government saw that using police to kick them out of the street would not help matters and let them be.
Soviet-period bookstores were not so lucky. One by one they were replaced by more profitable businesses, to name a few: Collezione (Italian? fashion store), Dolce & Gabana, BasisBank (one of too many banks), Bank of Georgia, Sony (that has not taken place yet, but rumor has it that the Justice ministry is offering Sony former Saunje bookstore to compensate for property they took away from them).
Now, unless you tell me that books are not part of the education, how does the government consider that their education reforms are good?
elections are coming
I can't believe, it's that time again. Didn't we just have elections? Sure, these are different, and I managed to avoid last ones. I think I will be in town this time, and I may even vote. Unfortunately, I do not believe in every vote counts theory - especially when it is more or less decided. In my mind it is already decided. In less than three weeks, I will know better.
Opposition did all its best to keep presence in the Media either by protests in front of the Parliament, or by breaking down doors of the CEC office, or calling for this or that's resignation. Meanwhile, most of Tbilisi's billboards are rented by the national movement. I have yet to see non-national movement bill board anywhere. As much as people might dislike the national movement, it is a constant reminder and it may even stick in some people's minds.
I am not going to go off what is wrong with "we do, while they talk" slogan.
Cartoon above is more or less what opposition accused national movement of. I am wondering if it really was a miscommunication from the CEC's part to blame. Following happened, on the day when all the party lists were due, opposition demanded to see national movement's list. CEC people said that it was in another room locked up in a safe. When they scrambled to find keys, person who had the keys was not available. Opposition immediate started protesting, saying that the national movement's plan was to fill in the list later, depending on how opposition parties fill in their's.
List turned up. It was in a different room. I am not sure if it was the same day, or the next. But what? Burjanadze refused to run anyway...
it's always about Misha
Well, it seems that stability post did not go well with Greg. I do not think that he mentioned anything in his blog, but somewhat heated debate took place.
At one point, I mentioned what I really (personally) think about the latest conflict - it's a pre-election stunt.
Dollar might might be having a comeback, and it might make things a bit more complicated than Misha's people thought, with all pre-election spending, how do you more than double the pension? It's 70 GEL right now, and he promised 100 dollars back when dollar was at 1.70ish rate. Of course, now it's only 1.47, but it will most likely go back up.
Oh, and he is obsessed by Dubai - it's always about Dubai of Caucasus, only better. To start with, don't we need a decent airport for that?..
misunderstood
I did this cartoon for the Messenger as an alternative to the one in the previous post (the map one). But it got refused. Refused is probably too harsh of a word. It was not found to be as humorous as expected. However, intention was not humorous, it was bitter sarcasm. It was a pun on lapse of judgment on the city government's part. One does probably need to have some prior knowledge of the situation to get the cartoon.
City hall is in the middle of the city, with side streets always crowded and building being quite small. Somewhat logical decision was made to move most of the city services to an office building in a different part of town that would be able to better accommodate those who work there. Unfortunately, there was a big (and I mean big) lapse in judgment - a huge office building, and no parking lot, a 14+ floors of offices, and people have to use street parking? Building is right by a round-about which in the middle of the day is more or less a makeshift parking lot. It is ironic that the office that is supposed to work on traffic congestion issues creates traffic jams, instead of trying to get rid of them.
There is a long list of lapses, it's not really suitable for just one post. I have an idea that I have to put down on paper. Another one is the airport roofing issue when Turks claimed that they were not aware of existence of strong winds in Tbilisi. It was already discussed in this post.
