“Our whole life has been shattered and continues to be shattered by the Soviet Union, this corpse that is still very much alive. »
What there is to know
- Unprecedented demonstrations are taking place in Georgia, the former Soviet republic which declared its independence in 1991.
- Both young people and their elders fear that it will be attacked by Russia, as it was in 2008 and as Ukraine is.
- Georgia, led by a pro-Russian government, is largely made up of citizens who are eager to see their country join Europe.
Arriving in Quebec in 1992, the writer Elena Botchorichvili saw with as much emotion as admiration the young people of her native Georgia fighting “against the desire of Vladimir Putin to recreate the USSR”.
What ignited the powder a month ago: this law against “foreign interference”, inspired by that in force in Russia which aims to repress all opposition and which particularly targets the media and NGOs receiving foreign funds.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Elena Botchorichvili, author of Georgian origin who arrived in Quebec in 1992
Since then, in Tbilisi, the capital, as everywhere in this small mountainous country in the Caucasus, there have been demonstrations. “It is estimated that 15% of the population is on the streets,” explains Maria Popova, professor of political science at McGill University. The law against foreign interference is just a trigger. What the opponents fear above all is that the government will deviate from the road which should lead Georgia to integration into Europe – as it has been invited to do – and that it will fall under Russian influence. »
The Georgian government, continues Mme Popova tries to convince her citizens that by seeking to join Europe, she will anger Russia, which will seek to invade it.
The demonstrators – young people, but not only – believe on the contrary that their salvation lies in the uprising, continues Mme Popova.
“The big question for Georgians is: do they want to live in a free country or surrender to Russia without fighting? »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Maria Popova, professor of political science at McGill University.
Difficult to predict what happens next. “The demonstrations are so huge that I doubt they can be repressed,” says M.me Popova. If the government falls under this pressure, can Russia afford to open a new front? I have the impression not, but Russia is very motivated to dominate its countries [voisins]. »
Elena Bochorichvili recalls that Putin has already declared that the collapse of the USSR was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20the century.
For my loved ones and me, the death of the USSR was, on the contrary, our greatest joy.
Elena Botchorichvili, author of Georgian origin
But the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev and the dislocation of the USSR did not lead to the hoped-for peace and quiet, far from it. A civil war tore the country apart, which also lost 20% of its territory to secessionist regions (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) supported by Russia.
PHOTO MIKHAIL METZEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
South Ossetian soldiers aboard a tank near Tskhinvali, capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, in August 2008. On the left, a billboard showing Vladimir Putin.
“Even today, Georgia is not a stable democracy,” summarizes Maria Popova.
This country has only 3.7 million inhabitants and almost a million Georgians live abroad.
Elena Botchorichvili, who is part of this diaspora, is not however sheltered from what is happening in her country of origin. Even abroad, his career is affected.
She has always published her novels in Russian, “the language I master best, in writing”.
“It’s the language of my mother, a Ukrainian. With my father, I spoke in Georgian. With my grandparents, it was in Ukrainian. »
She is a polyglot, but her identity is resolutely Georgian. After years of refusing to publish it, Russia finally did so.
Better, by giving her a major literary prize and promising her the world if she agreed to call herself Russian and go to book fairs as a representative of this country.
It was a no, in capital letters. Russia, “this country which attacks its neighbors”, has it in its throat. We let her take Crimea without reacting too much, she laments, and she succeeded so easily that she is also trying it in Ukraine. »
If Putin is not curbed, it is certain that he will attack the former Soviet republics, Poland…
Elena Botchorichvili, author of Georgian origin
Putin also manages to convince a large part of the population that they must think big, dream of the great Russia of yesteryear, this Russia which, allegedly, is the only one capable of resisting the United States and the West.
In his opinion, a large number of Russian citizens are suffering from “Stockholm syndrome”, stuck in a dictatorship of which they are not very aware. Many see nothing but fire, according to what Elena Botchorichvili hears.
“My cousin who lived in Russia and who has just returned to Georgia tells me that in Moscow, the cafes are open, the nightlife is vibrant. Life goes on as if nothing had happened. »