Giorgi Gakharia condemns calls for ‘peaceful overthrow’ and subsequent blame on people for low turnout

“Declaring revolution and peaceful overthrow after an electoral boycott, on October 4, at the appointed day, at the appointed place, at the appointed time, was the greatest gift to Georgian Dream, which used this madness to mask its limited legitimacy and show Georgian citizens what the alternative looks like,” declared Giorgi Gakharia, chairman of the Gakharia for Georgia opposition party.

According to Gakharia, equating the peaceful overthrow or peaceful revolution of October 4 with popular protest effectively delegitimises this protest and legitimises Georgian Dream.

“The greatest mistake has been made. One cannot speak of revolution and peaceful overthrow on election day when you have a political force with damaged, not just limited, but utterly damaged legitimacy, and you offer the population an absolutely unclear project that has some violent undertones, which you know perfectly well today’s regime will exploit, a regime you are actually helping, because for people today, the feeling of stability and peace represents enormous value. Moreover, you have the experience of the last year or two, when, through threats of war, it essentially broke public opinion.

After this, you come out speaking about peaceful overthrow and revolution. You are not delegitimising Georgian Dream, you are delegitimising peaceful protest and giving a government with damaged, limited legitimacy additional justification.

For me, there is no choice here. Every Georgian citizen who has a vote of protest, who today believes that Georgia doesn’t have a national but an anti-national government, has the right to vote against Georgian Dream, and you tell them to remain in boycott, then tell them this day should be one of peaceful overthrow, of revolution, when you have no resources for this revolution whatsoever. This is irresponsibility, this is precisely giving additional legitimacy to Georgian Dream as far as I’m concerned,” Giorgi Gakharia declared on Formula TV.

Giorgi Gakharia says that peaceful overthrow is an oxymoron to him entirely.

“A mass peaceful rally should be branded as a peaceful overthrow and appointed specifically on election day? Is this logic? Peaceful overthrow is an oxymoron altogether. We are not small children, are we? We are not talking about emotions here. I am already sick of this narrative as if there was not some unclear unity, without unity, and we wanted unity, but since unity didn’t materialise. This is ordinary irresponsibility towards those people who get up every day, go to work, then after work join the protest in the evening, who have countless financial obligations, towards those people who are in prison today. It is a matter of time. I am simply saying this in advance, perhaps for various reasons, because I believe we need to reconsider some things. I have this opportunity. Otherwise, time will pass, a month, you will see, and so will I, what the result of this will be.

Then they will speak out and blame the people. They will say insufficient people turned out, and we could have done nothing. Then they will say: Look, what was I supposed to do so I wouldn’t pay a fine, be imprisoned, and because of this, we couldn’t manage it.

Fellows, this is no longer a game; these are the defining processes for our country’s next 10 years. These elections have one sole purpose: Georgian Dream’s real 35% should be reduced to 20%. If this doesn’t happen, all talk of such upheavals, such overthrows, is an ordinary kindergarten game, illusion, irresponsibility, about which they will later emerge and say it didn’t work out. We are not accustomed to this. If you want a large-scale rally, you bring a hundred thousand people onto the streets, must you announce a day of revolution? Of peaceful overthrow? Is this logic?” declared Giorgi Gakharia.