Author : Tazo Datunashvili
By all logic and regularity, there should have been no room for Russian deception in today’s Georgia. Over the past two hundred years, we have had all kinds of misfortunes, and if our historical memory serves us correctly, the perpetrators of these misfortunes have always been Russians. And, if some people distrust history and books, even my generation has tasted a Russian rifle, and only fifteen years ago. Everything seems to be clear, both black and white is as clear as the palm of your hand—Russia is the enemy, and we are a European state.
And here again, already for the umpteenth time, our society has again found itself on the edge of the abyss. The Russian boot wants to push us into the abyss and kick us again, as if we are standing blindfolded on the edge and do not see it coming, an enraged enemy who is simply annoyed by our existence. Its goal is to make the Georgian state disappear. It seems that our society is facing a Freudian dilemma. However, in reality, it is more than obvious: Russia is the enemy, and we are a European state.
We are a nation traumatized by colonialism, although we were in a trickier situation compared to other colonized countries because the colonizer and aggressor of our country was not perceived as such for a long time. The tendency of collective thinking was not to call the Russian Empire a colonizer in the classical sense of the word. We have gone through almost 200 years of suffering, of which Georgia was drained of its blood first by the Mongolian empire of medieval type, and for 70 years by the Russian-Bolshevik state of the most terrible totalitarian form in the history of humankind. Russian imperial ambitions killed millions of Georgians, destroyed the Georgian monarchy, then democracy, exterminated our aristocracy, then intellectual elite, and took away our language and national feelings. So, everything is clear as day—Russia is the enemy and we are a European state.
The modern Georgian democratic state has a short history, but even during the 32 years of its existence, all the people who died for the unity of our country—absolutely all of them!—have fallen as victims in the fight against Russia. All the wars that we have gone through, be it Abkhazia, Samachablo, or the so-called civil wars—all of them, in fact, were Russian-Georgian wars. As it is said in this winged phrase ‘it is not individuals but institutions that work in Moscow on us’, or rather—against us. For 30 years it has been disguising its insatiable thirst for our destruction as an ‘ethno-conflict’ with the Abkhazians, the defence of interests of Russian citizens, and ‘civil war’ so much that some of us have even fallen for this madness and often forget that Russia is the enemy and we are a European state.
The ability to perceive the enemy is a critical component of developing statesmanship and civic thinking—as society understands where the threat comes from, the enemy is identified and recognised. ‘Carthage must be destroyed!’ they used to say in Rome. This phrase alone is an important example of perceiving the enemy, and it is this phrase that our national and collective consciousness needs today. Russia is the enemy, and we are a European state.
At every stage of our history, we have been detached from our historical core. From ancient times, throughout the Christian era and the modern era, we were distanced from Europe, and we naturally sought to go back. In today’s Georgia, there is nothing more solid than the conviction that we need the European Union, we aspire to the European Union, and the European Union will only bring us good. Therefore, we must take the example of dignity and rationality from our European friends and treat the enemy in a way that creates a sense of collective national dignity.
Today we must save our path to the future with a simple step—to stand on the right side of history. Yes, today a new history is being written, today a new world order is being formed, and history will judge the actions of today’s Georgian society at this historical moment—so it is a matter of dignity to understand and recognise that Russia is the enemy and we are a European state.
This realisation should be followed by action, as it was in Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Great Britain, and other countries, where the true face of today’s Russia—the kingdom of fools clinging to an imperial glory of the past, as French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy calls it—was recognised more easily than in our country. And the action, at first glance, is simple: To limit Russian influence, the comfort of Russian citizens, and Russian imperial aspirations in all forms at the legislative level. The best civilised way to do this is through the restrictions that the European Union, the UK, and the US have imposed on Russia and Russians.
For Georgia, it is also easy. Either we behave like a country of the civilised world that restrains Russia for the bloodshed it has caused in Ukraine, or we behave as it is convenient for Russia. The Russian oligarch who rules Georgia today is behaving the way Russia wants, and we should behave the way the Georgian people have done at all times in history: In a European way, move towards Europe, and defend our collective dignity.
That is why imposing sanctions against Russia, restricting Russians, and weakening Russia’s influence is our top priority today. Georgia should join all anti-Russian sanctions, ban Russian broadcasting, restrict the activities of Russian foundations, strictly control the activities of Russian companies in our country, limit and curb Russian demographic expansion, establish a visa regime for Russians, and prohibit the purchase of real estate and land by Russian citizens. Most importantly, Georgia must be freed from the captivity of the Russian economy.
In this way, and only in this way, we shall establish our national dignity and win an internal victory over the enemy, and this is the main condition for final victory. No one can criticise this approach as chauvinism or contempt for Russia, except for traitors and those who work for the Russian cause, because these approaches have the main justification: Russia is the enemy and we are a European state!
