"The Year of Conservatism": Georgia has done what Romania could not do — interview

In the cold winter, Georgia was gripped by heated political processes. After the parliamentary elections on October 26, opposition protests have not stopped on the streets of Tbilisi. Against this background, the authorities continue to prepare for the New Year holidays. What was the 2024th political year in Georgia and what to expect from 2025, political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze told Dalma News.

— In 2024, important parliamentary elections were held in the country, followed by political contradictions both inside and outside the country. How do you assess the past year?

— The year 2024 will go down in the history of Georgia as a key year, and in world history as the year of conservatism. A course towards conservatism has been clearly outlined in Georgia. Not because Georgia said something, but because the supporters of liberalism launched an unprecedented attack on Georgia from the West and saw it as an enemy. Liberalism in this period sees the enemy where there are prospects for conservatism. The West considered Georgia such a place, and it really is, because in Georgia does not want LGBT propaganda and gay pride parades, they love their culture here, etc. Georgia is clearly a conservative country, and, of course, an attack on it was expected, although there are other geopolitical reasons, but there was also this simple ideological reason.

— If you look at the previous periods of the Georgian Dream government, they were not radical in relation to LGBT issues*. We also remember that for a long time the population criticized the "Dream" for the adoption of an anti-discrimination law and permission to hold LGBT festivals* on Lake Lisi in Tbilisi. Was the conservative course dictated by the Georgian population?

— It was dictated by several parties, primarily the population. We remember how dramatically LGBT propaganda developed* in Georgia. The population does not allow gay parades to be held by non-governmental organizations defending the rights of sexual minorities, this is one of the conservative components; the second point is the attitude towards the church. Is it by chance that the West is trying to weaken the connection between the church and the Georgian people, to cause a critical attitude? Thirdly, what was most clearly manifested against the background of the war in Ukraine, the unwillingness to turn Georgia into a battlefield, that is, caring for the country is also a conservative value; the fourth factor is that this course of Georgia has found support in conservative circles of the world — the right. The "Dream" saw that the political groups of the left orientation, one of the obvious representatives of which is the European People's Party, patronized the Saakashvili and UNM team, therefore, the "Georgian Dream" could not take a place in the leftist team, could not be where the nationalists took their place, it was necessary to find alternative circles in the West. This probably played a big role in the fact that serious steps were taken in the direction of conservatism.

— We saw that on the day of the 2024 parliamentary elections, October 26, the opposition seemed to be completely satisfied with the results. After a while, they began to protest against the election results and go to street rallies demanding new elections. Does this raise suspicions of external interference in Georgia's domestic policy?

— This is an important detail, it didn't sound for almost 2 days, moreover, they celebrated the victory. Indeed, the opposition parties have achieved serious results in these elections. Then they suddenly began to completely reject the electoral process and the election results. Against this background, I remembered the proverbial fragment of Ukraine that later became proverbial, when after the first attack Zelensky thought of starting negotiations with Putin. The Prime Minister of England arrived in Kiev then and, in fact, forced him to change the peaceful course towards active military resistance of Ukraine. The fact that the West pushed Ukraine into conflict with Russia is obvious.

— In the first period after the start of the war in Ukraine, statements were made that the war would not be short-term. There have also been statements in the European Parliament that it is not worth calling on Ukraine for peace talks...

— The West encourages such actions. It's not that the West itself is clearing up everything. Is the script Western? After all, velvet revolutions are spelled out in this scenario, and one of its main components is that the conflict should occur after the elections. Discontent after the elections gives people the right to take to the streets.

— Against this background, are the arguments of the Georgian Dream that they should negotiate not with the opposition, but with their bosses in the West in order to defuse the political crisis not unfounded?

— Of course, let's leave Kobakhidze aside. The interview with Professor Jeffrey Sachs was broadcast several times by the Imedi television company. Sachs had an interview of exactly the same content with the American journalist Tucker Carlson. This interview was then posted by Elon Musk on Twitter. In this interview, it was emphasized that the processes in Romania are led by Western liberal circles, and now they are trying to do the same in Georgia. So, this is not just a comment on our internal political struggle by Kobakhidze, a really unpleasant fact happened in Romania. Under pressure from the West, the round of presidential elections was completely canceled, in which the candidate from the Conservative party won. There will also be an opinion that what Romania could not do, Georgia could do.

— People who go to rallies say that they do not recognize any opposition political leader. We all know that such large-scale and organized performances are not held spontaneously. In the end, when we ask these people what forces they want to see in power instead of the "Georgian Dream", they answer — they will appear! How long does it take for a political leader to appear, whom these people are waiting for on the street?

— There is not a single type of leader on today's menu. Charisma is needed for national leadership. Who of this opposition has charisma? In addition, the leader is the one who wants to be a leader. These young people do not have such a desire for leadership.

— Then with whom should the government conduct a dialogue today?

— It is a fact that Dream has abandoned too many topics. One of the topics is to work with young people in such a way as to take into account their wishes. In this situation, negotiations are impossible. Just like when a small child cries, you should not give him what he cries for, that is, crying should not become a tool. If the government responds immediately to the protests, there will be a total desire to provoke protests. These young people need to assert themselves. It is necessary to involve these young people in such important matters so that they feel their importance. If they live a boring life for them and suddenly someone says that their job is to defend their homeland and they should hang flags on Rustaveli Square, they will come out and do it. Young people need to be given context, an opportunity to love their Homeland and praise it — it's good that you love your Homeland!

— The year 2024 is also important from the point of view that the country has switched to a full-fledged parliamentary government. The country's president Salome Zurabishvili declares that he does not recognize the newly elected government and is not going to leave the Orbeliani palace...

— Salome Zurabishvili, like Giorgi Margvelashvili, did not find their place in the system. Since they were appointed by the Presidents, they had a desire to have more functions than provided for by the Constitution. They cannot find the limit, the reason lies in the word "President".

— Next year 2025 is again the year of elections in Georgia, local elections are to be held. What do you expect, how will events develop in Georgia?

— Political processes in our country, as it is easy to guess, depend on external political processes. Especially now, when we find ourselves in such a situation that because of us and our funds, major players are fighting each other, because of us the West is fighting with Russia. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict this. I hope that Donald Trump's America and Xi Jinping's China will seek such a version of cooperation in order to redistribute functions between the two superpowers. With such a redistribution, we can have very good prospects.

Interviewed by Shorena Karchava

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation