Youth Protest a Painful Sting to the Government

Youth protest movement Kmara got some top-level publicity on June 16 as President Eduard Shevardnadze said in his radio interview, that he looked at the Kmara (“Enough”) graffiti from the window of his limousine, and “nobody seemed to be reading it.” And while President’s statement seems self-pacifying, the government’s irritation with student protests is growing.

On June 11, the government’s frustration with increasing protest activism of the youth movement “Kmara” (“Enough!”) resulted in 7-hour long detention of the students who tried to spell Kmara graffiti at the Interior ministry.

“An idea of noncompliance and zero tolerance [towards the government corruption] is our driving force. We believe that our movement is expressing the will of the people. It can not go on like this any more, this government must go,” Kmara activist Levan Ekhvaia, first year post-graduate student of the State Technical University told Civil Georgia.

The activists say their movement is rooted in November 2001 protests, when people took to streets to protest security ministry action against the independent Rustavi-2 TV. The protests in which youth took an active part, culminated in resignation of the government and the chairman of the parliament. “We won that time and, I believe, we will win again if the youth will stand united,” activists say.

The members say that idea of the movement belongs to students. “When we realized that we could not stand [all these] any more, we had to come up with a name, short but still full with meaning, and such name was “Enough” Levan Ekhvaia says. He added that they do not plan to evolve the movement into an organization.

The first protest by Kmara was organized on April 14 in front of the State Chancellery building. Couple of hundred students burnt portraits of President Shevardnadze and leaders of other pro-governmental parties. “Enough” members also took very active part in the protest action of the opposition parties in front of the Parliament building on June 3. This allowed their opponents to claim that the movement is being guided and manipulated by the opposition parties, acting as their proxy.

Starting from April 15, putting up Kmara graffiti on streets of Tbilisi and other cities – has been the primary, and the most visible method of Kmara activists. It has stirred some controversy. “I don’t support this government either, but it takes completely different spirit and methods to achieve the victory,” Tbilissite Givi Bakuradze told Civil Georgia.

Initially the government responded to Kmara actions by simply erasing the graffiti. But the officials’ patience went thin when the activists started coloring the walls of the Interior Ministry’s building.

Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili came down to the protesters himself, and in an apparent fury ordered to detain them. “It is just hooliganism. Arrest them,” he ordered, while being captured by the dozens of the TV cameras. The Minister said the students would be charged with a criminal offence of hooliganism and disruption of public order.

Tinatin Khidasheli, who was chosen by the detained activists as their attorney, said the police was acting lost, not being able to initiate legal procedures. Khidasheli claimed only after 6 hours of detention the police was able to issue any formal paper explaining the motives for it. The activists were released after seven hours of detention.

“The minister issued ordered their detention in front of the TV cameras and the police still could not provide any legal grounds for it. Can you imagine what kind of violations can take place in the law enforcement agencies when they are not being watched so closely?” says Giga Bokeria of Liberty Institute.

However, Narchemashvili chose to play the bad cop to the end. “Every action against the Police will be treated adequately. These actions [of Kmara movement] are aimed at demoralizing the Police and discrediting the government and we will not let this happen,” Narchemashvili said at the June 14 Government Meeting.

This was not the first case of confrontation between the Police and Kmara movement however. In early June in the provincial town of Sagarejo in eastern Georgia, the police officers sprayed the activists with the very same paint the youth used on the local police station’s walls.

Pro-governmental politicians claim the opposition manipulates the students to destabilize situation on the eve of the Parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 2.

“It is a disastrous when the youth can be used for provocations or expressing somebody else’s ideas. It is not a secret that they are financed by foreign grants and that the opposition parties use them. The opposition tries to confront the youth with the government and thus destabilize the situation,” vice speaker of the Parliament and the leader of the pro-governmental alliance Vakhtang Rcheulishvili told Civil Georgia.
 
President Shevardnadze made innuendos concerning the Kmara movement in one of his radio interviews in early June saying that “certain international organization is financing an anti-governmental movement.” “Such support is similar to interfering in to the state’s internal affairs,” he added, hinting on Soros Foundation, which is accused for funding the Enough movement by the leaders of the pro-governmental parties.  

Kmara activists do not hide their sympathy towards the opposition, but they say their aim is to change corrupt practices and break the cynicism of citizens, rather than to endorse specific political leaders. “We trust that we will win by being with the opposition and force the government to leave. But we will as well be on watch when the opposition comes to power to respond to any illegitimate action from their side too,” Kmara activists claim.

The movement activists reject claims of their association with various organizations or acceptance of financial assistance from them. “We do not need big money to do what we do – buy some paint and write the word ‘enough’ on the walls. We can afford this on our own,” Levan Ekhvaia said.

Recently the authorities as well as the representatives of the intelligentsia loyal to the President Shevardnadze say opposition is misleading the youth and call the students to do “their business” – to study. 

“Somehow the government is forgetting that we are citizens of voting age and have the right to make our choice or express our opinion. Goal of our youth is to live and work in the better conditions. Students must not be occupied only with studies, as the adults say. We, the youth, are ready to pave our way of life on our own, without any help of wealthy daddies. But nobody allows us to do so,” Levan Ekhvaia says.

At this point, Kmara achieves its main objective – it has managed to capture the public and media attention and stir the public debate. A haphazard action of the Interior Minister on June 11 sets clearly bad precedent of how generally peaceful protests should be handled.

By Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia