“Anyone who believes that ‘everyone’ means ‘everyone I happen to approve of’ is either acting in bad faith, deliberately being destructive, or simply misunderstands the meaning of certain words in the Georgian language,” writes Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Opposition Alliance, on social media.

As Gvaramia noted, unity is not a mere word for him, and he endeavours through his actions to give meaning to what he says.

“Many of those who cried ‘let everyone unite,’ perhaps you might now care to explain what exactly you meant by ‘everyone’. The very same people, politicians among them, who used to say that without Lelo and Gakharia the alliance was merely a gathering of former UNM, are now somehow asking how on earth one can stand alongside Lelo and Gakharia?

Then there is the second part, members of the alliance as it already stands, about whom one hears at one moment, ‘what is he doing there, he should leave’, and the next moment the same about another. What manner of ‘everyone’ is that?

For me, unity is not simply a word. In general, every word carries weight for me, and not only do I not drain words of their meaning, but I also endeavour to bring them to life through action. ‘A word without deed is dead,’ I was raised on this maxim of Gregory of Khandzta, which in turn derives from the Gospel.

Anyone who mistakes idle chatter and wagging tongues for meaningful work, anyone who understands the word ‘everyone’ in an extraordinarily idiosyncratic fashion, or anyone who imagines that the difficulties and emotional misunderstandings that come with unity are somehow a source of amusement to someone, is very much mistaken.

Anyone who believes that ‘everyone’ means ‘everyone I happen to approve of’ is either acting in bad faith, deliberately being destructive, or simply misunderstands the meaning of certain words in the Georgian language,” writes Gvaramia.