Gorbachev cursed in
Soviet Georgia
TBILISI, U.S.S.R.
-- To much of the
world, Soviet
President Mikhail
Sergeyevich Gor
bacnev is aleader,
a man respected
for his strides in foreign policy. He
is seen as a man trying, against
many odds, to save his country
from political and economic disas
ter.
In Soviet Georgia, Gorbachev is
cursed.
Shaeva Chkhaidze, 24, a student
at the Politechnical Institute in
Tbilisi, takes a radical view, even
for Georgians, of Gorbachev and
his policies.
“There is written in the Bible
that there will be a second coming
of Jesus Christ,” Chkhaidze said,
“and before Jesus Christ’s second
coming there will be a kind of
Satan with good eyes, who is for
good things and comes as if he
were Jesus Christ. He attracts all the
people toward him and he will
have the special spot on his head.
“I think that man is Gorbacnev.
Chkhaidze, secretary for the
National Democratic Party, pauses,
his intense brown eyes unwaver
ing, as he explains his ideals and
fears.
The main purpose of the Demo
cratic Party, Chkhaidze said, is to
unite the people and their religion
to fight this devil.
“Those people who believe in
Gorbachev will have nothing,” he
said. “Those who follow this Satan
will die without water and without
bread.”
Georgians have always been
religious people. Even during
Stuurva Chkhaldzc
times when formal religion was
outlawed in Soviet republics, the
Georgians kept their faith. After the
tragedy April 9, Chkhaidze said,
Georgians began relying on their
religion to help them in their
struggle for autonomy. They be
lieve that God is on their side and
will help them reach secession
from the Soviet Union.
"The ideology of our party is
deo-democracy -- to fignt with
God,” he said.
Chkhaidze said Gorbachev
understands that communism will
no longer work, but still holds to
the idea of a Russian empire.
Soviet officials thought the April
9 killings would divide the Geor
gians, forcing them to give up their
fight for independence, he said.
Instead, the tragedy united
them.
"Now all of Georgia is gath
ered,” he said. “After the tragedy all
Georgians understand that the
Kremlin is to blame for it.”
The main goal of the hunger
strike on April 9 was to wake up the
nation, Chkhaidze said, to make
people aware of the movement.
“That’s why the government is
against the meetings, because they
don’t want the people to unite,” he
said.
Gorbachev’s reiorms nave in
cluded public elections, but
Chkhaidze said Georgians refuse
to participate in Soviet elections
because they will accomplish noth
ing. Even if his party supports a
candidate, Chkhaidze said, the
people’s candidate will not get
elected; their voice still will be the
minority.
“We don’t want to cooperate
with Congress (the Soviet Con
gress of People’s Deputies) be
cause we think it’s a collaboration
of occupying the territories,” he
said.
Chkhaidze said only careerists
in the Communist Parly have
stayed out of the Georgian’s fight.
But, he said, the Georgians are not
fighting the Communist Party or
the Russians, but their system of
occupying Georgia.
“(The people) are fighting,” he
said, “but they are not fighting with
guns. The movement is peaceful.”
Chkhaidze said the Georgians
do not use violence because they
don’t know what Gorbachev will
do.
“This Communist Party can do
anything with (Gorbachev as
leader). They can drop even the
atomic bomb on Georgians."
Not all Georgians adhere to
Chkhaidze’s opinion of Gor
David Turashvili, second from left, the most popular student leader in Tbilisi's nationalist movement,
sneaks to other students following a June meeting at the university.
bachev.
But Ekaterina Arakhamia, 21, a
student in Tbilisi’s Institute of For
eign Languages, said all Georgians
believe in some form of independ
ence.
Arakhamia said that ideally,
Georgians want both political and
economic independence. But she
thinks economic independence
will be the first step. Now, she said,
Georgia could survive on its own
economically. The resources in
Georgia are rich, she said, and
could maintain the country. But it
would be difficult to operate a
government separate from
Moscow, she said.
“ I he tragedy on me vm oi /\pm
showed that. But someday, I have
this hope. For now, I wish for
economic freedom, so we are not
required to give half of everything
to the Soviet government.”
Arakhamia said the Soviet Un
ion needs Georgia for its agricul
ture and w ill not allow the country
to secede.
Giorgio Giasheeia, an engineer
and Communist Party member,
said he is disappointed in the party
and now thinks differently than
when he joined several years ago.
Giasheeia, 24, hopes he can use
his experience as a party member
to help the secession movement.
When he goes to party meetings,
Giasheeia said, he listens to whai
leaders have to say about Georgia,
and uses this information to help
people in unofficial underground
parties
Most leaders in the Communist
Party in Georgia share his ideas,
Giasheeia saidT
Everyone, he said, wants inde
pendence.
Giasheeia saidCommunist Party
members in Georgia hold cards
proclaiming membership to the
party, but the cards do not symbol
ize their feelings.
Only Communist Party career
ists, such as the secret police, con
sider their party membership a way
oflife, he said. The rest continue to
go to meetings only to get informa
uon on government prucccumgs.
On the day that Georgia gains its
independence, he said, party
members in Georgia will burn their
cards.
Gorbachev may be popular in
the rest of the world, Giasheeia
said, but he is not popular in
Georgia.
Irena Sarishvili, the National
Democratic Party leader who spent
15 days in jail, said the Soviet gov
ernment — regardless of Gor
bachev’s move to power -- is the
same enemy to the Soviet people
that it was during Josef Stalin’s
regime.
"Perestroika is done only for the
West and the non-political popula
tion,” she said.
Gorbachev’s reforms cannot
compensate for the deaths of 21
people. Their families and the
Georgians who watched them die
will not forget.
All over Tbilisi, the red, black
and white Georgian flag -- out
lawed until May — waves from
apartments, car windows and busi
nesses.
Ekaterine Adeishvili, 21, a stu
dent at Tbilisi’s Institute of Foreign
Languages, said the flag’s colors
have a special meaning.
"The red means the people’s
blood who have died fighting for
the independence. The black is the
period of Georgia under the ag
gression of Russia, and the white
means the future,” she said.
David Turashvili, 22, a leader in
Tbilisi’s large student movement,
said that this fall Georgians will ask
that the flag, now only a symbol of
freedom, wave once again as the
official flag of an independent
Georgia.
He said Georgian politicians
will demand that the Kremlin ac
cept Georgia’s withdrawal some
time in October or November.
If their demand fails, which
experts say is almost certain, "the
nation will fight forever for its
independence,” Turashvili said.
- Amy EdwmrUa
“Before Jesus Christ’s second coming there will be a
kind of Satan with good eyes...I think that man is Gor
bachev.”
-Shaeva Chkhaidze