Pseudo Values in the Contemporary Georgia

Weird stuff is going on in this country. Yes, Georgia is a transitional society, where values are not yet unified and accepted by everybody equally. Yes, there is no common understanding of liberal, social, democratic values and the process is under the way. But, sometimes fascinating, things are happening.

The top news of this week in Georgia was the fight between “liberal youth” and “religious conservatives”. Well, to be more clear, everything started with a presentation at one of the Tbilisi university of a absolutely bad quality book written by a sick man. The content of the book caused a protest/aggression to a newly created religious group activists, who arrived to the presentation and tried to interrupt it. After that, week-long protest and response demonstrations were followed, which eventually urned into the fight in the live and people from the religious organization got arrested.

And this has been a story that the whole Georgia is preoccupied now...TV debates, journal and newspaper articles, facebook discussions, etc. Now, so called “liberals” which works with a typical clan system, got still another the subject to “scientifically” debate. Now, it is a trend to condemn and insult the people who are believers or in a way different from them. On the other hand, for the members of this new religious organization, with no official links to the Georgian church, it is ok to swear, attack and beat people and then pray. Violence and insult in the name of Christianity?

This is nothing more than a Pseudo Liberalism and Pseudo Conservatism. What is the difference between them anyway? And now common people are fed with these practices. No choice is left. Either one should be a liberal but a Pseudo, or Conservative but again a Pseudo one. This is a discourse that citizens of Georgia are exposed to on daily bases. Media, universities, civil society groups, are divided on these pseudo ideologies.

But, what is even more fascinated that, neither of these liberal or conservative groups remember the country we are living in. Just a day ago, Russian troops occupied the northern border line of the country...nobody really cares.... Just few weeks ago cultural heritage monuments were demolished, nobody cares... Two years ago the country was at war... nobody really cares.... But, everybody cares about the worst-quality-ever book written by a sick man. Now he is popular and a symbol of a freedom for many (WTF).

Everybody tends to forget the social injustice that reigns in this country: 250 000 displaced population, elderly who are neglected, women who die as a result of abortion because they don't know how to use condoms, regular citizens who are deprived to their fundamental human rights like right to life, property, education and work. Who does even care that a Georgian citizen needs a permission to travel from on place to another within a country? Georgia occupies one of the first places among the countries where speed of migration is increasing rapidly. These issues do not become the subject of discussion of these pseudo liberals and Conservatives.

What should be priority issues for us? Can a society be a defender of GLBT rights, for instance, if its life is under the danger on daily bases or if it is unemployed and hungry or uneducated?