Ex-President Saakashvili: Opposition’s pleas for negotiations and prisoner pardons reveal weakness; stop being whimpering supplicants

“I saw a successful protest rally attended by an active segment of society, and I want to share my perspective on how we should act from today onward. This is not a time for self-congratulation; it is a time for far greater action,” former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, shared his thoughts on social media.

Saakashvili argued that the opposition must abandon the role of victim, adding that a nation which perpetually awaits its liberation from abroad is not worthy of freedom.

“First, I want to tell you about the court hearing on May 25, at which a premeditated assault was staged against me, orchestrated by a SSSG officer, one ‘Lasha,’ the same man who had been tormenting my mother with degrading searches and other such procedures at Vivamedi.

First, the judge made a point of arriving late, and I was made to spend a considerable time in a filthy, cramped holding cell. Then, once I was brought into the courtroom, they attempted to prevent me from shaking hands with my lawyers. The judge then refused to give me the floor and, in a panic, hastily closed the session and fled.

Even so, I took the floor regardless, first in Georgian, then in Ukrainian, whereupon some ten escorts set upon me to drag me away. Despite the overwhelming disparity of force, I put up a good fight, and it took them a very long time to subdue me. All of this was done, in their wisdom, to humiliate me ahead of May 26.

Why do I tell you this? Because the time has come to understand, once and for all, that no amount of pleading for mercy has any effect on a criminal dictator. He regards humaneness as weakness; he uses political collaborators and then disposes of them. Like his master in Moscow, he understands only one language, the language of force born of organised resistance.

Not long ago, the very astute Nutsa Batiashvili put it precisely: Ivanishvili has left Georgia exposed before an aggressor with a predilection for rape. But I would add that a large part of the opposition is laying itself equally bare before Ivanishvili: with its pleas for negotiations, its begging for the pardon of prisoners, its expressions of hope in elections. The more we supplicate, the less we shall receive. This begging and pleading affords the dictator nothing but sadistic pleasure.

Yet, we are a nation whose cherished song recounts how “we leapt upon Mukhran-Batoni.” We are also a nation whose son, the renowned Baratashvili, once cast the traitor Korghanashvili off a cliff similar to the crags of Sololaki. Have we truly sunk to the level of the ideal victim, before people whose motto is “zero sympathy”? We must stop playing the roles of victim and whimpering supplicant. And let us not forget: a nation that perpetually awaits its liberation from abroad, from America, from Europe, from Ukraine, is not worthy of freedom.

The only means of saving ourselves is organised resistance by courageous people; resistance capable of ensuring that the aggressors cannot beat us, cannot arrest us, cannot subjugate us. This resistance must be waged at every level. For my own part, I refused to be led like a sheep into that courtroom and fought to the last, despite my bruised and battered body.

Others must resist the feudal land-grabbers in the villages, the corrupt mayors in the towns, and the criminal gang that has usurped power at the national level. We must put an end to a female student being marched away without a fight from a university staircase as she awaits arrest; to crowds stepping aside to let thugs beat people at rallies and then watching those beaten people flee, instead of routing the thugs themselves. Perhaps my Ukrainian background is speaking, but people must stop walking meekly to the slaughter.

That Ivanishvili and the Russians intend the final destruction of our people and our country; only the very dim-witted can still doubt this. To draw another analogy: kamikaze terrorists have seized an aircraft and intend to drive it into the ground. What should the passengers do: remain frozen in their seats in fear of death, or organise themselves, overpower the hijackers, and land the plane safely?

And let us not begin crying that our people are not up to it. Start by forming a cell of organised resistance yourself; first with three friends, then with your neighbourhood, then with an ever-wider circle, and you will discover that there are very many of us, and that we possess very great strength.

Action, not words — and the power of the people, not supplication!” ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili posted on social media.