In a village on the outskirts of the Georgian mining hub of Chiatura, people have begun to sew shut their lips in an extreme form of hunger strike. As the mining continues under their feet, the houses in Shukruti are collapsing, and local residents say that neither the mining company nor the government is listening.
Vera Kupatadze rejoined the protests in Shukruti on 16 February, but she says the mining in Chiatura has been affecting her and her family’s lives for decades.
‘We built this house during very difficult days — we were practically starving — and now it’s being destroyed again. I was born and raised in Shukruti. My parents fought this fight without seeing any results. Now I have to fight the same fight.’
Vera Kupatadze, who also sewed her mouth shut, still hopes that their protest will catch the government’s attention. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
When her parents’ house collapsed in the early 2000s, Vera says, they did not receive any compensation and the family was forced to build a new house from scratch.
‘And they resumed mining underneath our village again and the house got damaged again’, she says, adding that two large families live in the house.
Since the latest round of protests started two years ago, she says no officials have approached her family.
‘It is a complete injustice. Is this the government we had hopes for? No one comes to us from the government’.
Ten residents of Shukruti are now on hunger strike, and five men and three women have sewn shut their mouths.
Five men sewed their lips together two weeks ago. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
‘We demand the involvement of the central government’. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
The protesters’ demands posted at the entrance of the protest camp. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
Local residents are demanding compensation from Georgian Manganese, the company that owns and operates the Manganese mines in Chiatura. They are also asking that the government step in to properly assess what is happening in the village, as they do not trust an audit conducted by the company.
In response to the latest protests, Georgian Manganese said they were willing to work with the Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau to assess the situation only if ‘the negotiations with the protesters, that are in a deadlock, will move into a legal framework and the justice system will resolve the disagreement’.
A resident of Shukruti shows a hole that appeared in his garden a few years ago. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.Cracks started appearing on the land a few years ago when mining in the area restarted, according to local residents. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.Local residents pointed at a pipeline saying that it used to be underground, but that the land had shifted. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.
The company declined numerous requests to clarify further.
Considering their experience over the past two years, the protesters remain sceptical that the company will keep their word this time.
A veteran journalist with over a decade of experience, Mariam is passionate about gender equality and workers’ rights. Though often managing from behind a desk, her instinct to report from the ground kicks in whenever news breaks.
In 2021, Vera Kupatadze was one of eight people who spent a month on hunger strike, her lips sewn shut, to demand compensation from Georgian Manganese for damage to her property.
Today, Vera is one of dozens of Shukrutians who are demanding action and clarity from the company, which operates the mines in Chiatura, on the fate of their houses and the entire village.
[Read more: Mine entrance blocked near Shukruti in renewed protest against Georgian Manganese]
During the 2021 protests,
Residents of a village near the Georgian mining town of Chiatura have blocked access to a mine running under their village, to demand adequate compensation for the destruction of their village.
Residents of Shukruti, in western Georgia, set up a tent outside the mine entrance on Wednesday, the latest in a series of protests against mining company Georgian Manganese.
The land in and around Shukruti began to collapse in 2019, with Georgian Manganese initially denying any connection to the mine
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The miners went on strike after the company announced that workers would have to mine up to 40% more
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