Georgia: Phenomenon of April 9th

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Georgia marks the 25th anniversary of the event which predetermined Georgia’s future: on April 9th, 1989, the USSR interior troops suppressed a demonstration of supporters of independence on Rustaveli Avenue. 21 people were killed, 18 of them were women. The tragedy could never have happened, if leaders of the protest movement were more responsible, listened to the head of the Georgian Church and took people from the avenue. However, it seemed some of them needed victims to become leaders of the process of changes and conduct it in “a right direction.” They reached their goal – the deaths of people (even old ladies and school girls were killed) were shocking for Georgia, and the idea promoted by the radicals became a single option.

However, before April 9th the independence idea wasn’t the most popular in the Georgian society. I remember how intelligent people discussed projects of reforming the Soviet Union, its transformation according to a new liberal market economical model. As for common people, they didn’t want any great disturbances at all, they didn’t hate Moscow. However, the outcome was different: a certain event and emotional perception of it caused a chain of important processes.

On the wave of the emotions and “socio-psychological dominant” which turned into a political factor radical nationalists came in power. As their program didn’t match interests and plans of the majority, soon an explosion took place – a civil conflict and a civil war.

There could be no other explanation to the weird phenomenon: people who voted for the leader of the independence movement Zviad Gamsakhurdia on May 26th, 1991, were disappointed with him and took part in his overthrow in three months. How could it happen, if Gamsakhurdia was a symbol of independence, and his idea matched interests of the population?

The civil war turned into the Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian wars which led to disastrous consequences for all sides. The phenomenon of April 9th which is thought to be a crucial moment in the modern history of Georgia can be a good example of how irresponsibility of certain politicians and an event organized by them can predetermine the fate of a whole nation.