In a reality where the Georgian government has launched a full-scale assault — both rhetorically and in action — against its critics, even the most vicious and degrading statements from ruling party politicians or their affiliated media no longer come as a shock.
These days, we’re bombarded daily with lengthy statements and pro-government TV reports, pushing the narrative that a bunch of ‘radical’ and ‘rootless’ individuals — allegedly controlled by the ‘deep state’ or the ‘global war party’ — are plotting to erode Georgia’s sovereignty, stability, and values.
And yet, comparing the participants of the ongoing protests to Soviet troops — who killed pro-independence citizens demonstrating in the heart of Tbilisi — feels like a different level.
But is it really?
The above-mentioned massacre was carried out by Soviet troops on 9 April 1989. The date is commemorated every year across Georgia as a day of unity, with ruling party and opposition politicians coming together alongside other citizens.
This time, however, was different.
On the evening of 8 April, relatives of those detained during the ongoing anti-government protests organised a 24-hour gathering in the area surrounding the Georgian Parliament — including the 9 April memorial. They were joined by other citizens, including activists and some politicians.
The organisers and participants of the protest stated that representatives of the current government, ‘with all their hypocritical ceremonies’, would not be allowed at the memorial. Against this backdrop, tensions periodically flared at the site, with verbal confrontations breaking out between protesters and certain members of the ruling party, as well as other individuals who showed up at the site.
I was expecting that government representatives would respond harshly to the protest, but the content of the statements released from the morning of 9 April somewhat exceeded those expectations:
Most notably, ruling representatives — including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili — compared those gathered at the parliament to Soviet soldiers.
‘Today on Rustaveli, [Soviet General Igor] Rodionov’s shovel-wielding soldiers have been replaced by those waving foreign flags, rootless individuals who are trying to hack away at the idea of Georgia’s independence with the same ruthlessness’, Papuashvili said.
Kobakhidze went even further, claiming that today’s European institutions operate in the same way the Soviet KGB did 36 years ago.
The wording of the commemorative statements was also noteworthy: instead of referencing the ‘Soviet Union’ or ‘Russia’ as the perpetrators of the massacre, the leaders of Georgian Dream used the term ‘foreign power’ — a phrase they’ve increasingly adopted in recent period of time to describe foreign states or individuals who, according to them, are attempting to destabilise Georgia through local opposition parties, civil society groups, or activists.
The massacre of 9 April stands as one of the most traumatic and defining dates in Georgia’s recent history — etched deeply into the nation’s collective memory. For many, it’s still difficult to recount the horrific night when Soviet troops, with shovels and toxic gas, turned the heart of Tbilisi into a scene of slaughter, killing 20 people — most of them women. Among the dead were 15-year-old Eka Bezhanishvili and 70-year-old Tina Enukidze.
The 21st victim, 25-year-old Gia Karseladze, was shot and killed with a Soviet firearm the day after the massacre, following the declaration of a curfew.
The fact that Georgian Dream officials compare even their harshest critics to the very soldiers who carried out that atrocity once again reveals the ruling party’s readiness to use any means — including manipulating raw national grief and playing on the public’s most painful emotions — in order to discredit its opponents.
It is also worth noting that the increasingly confrontational ruling party, in its stance toward its international critics, seizes every opportunity to redirect criticism toward the West, and specifically, the EU.
‘Today, the deep state is acting in exactly the same way — now not through America [following the election of US President Donald Trump], but through European bureaucracy and European structures — as the Soviet KGB did 36 years ago against Georgia’s national interests’, Kobakhidze said.
Does it sound extreme? Maybe, but let’s not forget that once, some other harsh statements and labels against opponents — such as LGBT propagandists and liberal fascists — were also once shocking. Yet today, they are part of the daily vocabulary of government officials; a vocabulary that only continues to grow, filled with discrediting, hate-fueled terminology.
What’s most dangerous, however, is that the ruling party’s strategy has long since gone beyond harsh rhetoric — it has taken the form of sustained, consistent action. The daily protests continue — but so do the parliamentary sessions pushing through repressive legislation that openly target civil society, the media, and opposition parties.
‘What more could possibly happen?’, is a question I hear often from those around me, a way of saying that nothing in this country can shock or surprise them anymore.
And yet, the comparison between bloodthirsty Soviet soldiers and peaceful protesters — including the elderly parents of imprisoned protesters — is definitely one of them.
