... in the course of the past year another, more telegenic candidate, has emerged as the crown prince: 33 year-old Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili, like many young Georgian politicians, has been groomed in the US where he worked for the New York law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. In 1998 New York Times journalist Stephen Kinzer obligingly wrote a fawning profile of the Wunderkind: "he is a superstar of Georgian politics", "while managing to be a "completely Western-orientated guy" who, "after nightfall ... is more likely to be found either at the Metropolitan Opera or cheering for the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden," Saakashvili is "hugely admired." And, best of all, Saakashvili "often rates as the second most popular person in Georgia, trailing only Shevardnadze" [our emphasis). This assessment of public standings in Georgia shows how out of touch public opinion polling (usually by Western-sponsored agencies) has become with real opinion. Of course, ordinary Georgians know what Westerners and Western-backed agencies want to hear and understand that it is wise to repeat what they are expected to say, or face the consequences in their corrupt and violent system.
Saakashvili entered parliament in 1999 as a Citizens Union deputy but resigned a year later, in October 2000, when Shevardnadze named him Minister of Justice, an appointment widely praised for its boldness. Saakashvili had already started to complain about corruption in the higher echelons of Georgian public life. In Spring 2001, the president approved the formation of a corruption commission to examine allegations like these and Saakishvili seems to have become something of a hero in the Georgian parliament, even among some opposition Revival members, for raising sensitive matters like the illegal purchasing of houses, flats etc. by government employees. However, on 14th August, 2001 Shevardnadze expressed his disapproval of Saakashvili's bill which demanded that officials account for their financial circumstances saying that it "offended against the presumption of innocence."
Saakashvili resigned as Minister of Justice on 19th September claiming that the corruption investigation had stalled and that he considered it "immoral" to remain in the government. He cited the stalling over his corruption bill - even though Shevardnadze's misgivings had been reported a month earlier and, anyway, no bill had at that stage been introduced into parliament. His decision to resign was also broadcast to the public in a live interview on Rustavi 2 TV during which he also announced that he was going to seek re-election to parliament in the Vake district of Tbilisi.
Strangely enough, for such a vibrant democracy, the seat had remained unfilled after Saakashvili's move to the Ministry of Justice in October 2000. Irakli Kadagishvili spokesman for Irina Sarashvili-Chanturia who was another candidate in the Vake by-election, pointed out to BHHRG that no satisfactory explanation had been put forward for this gap between Mr Saakashvili’s resigning his seat and his decision to re-fight it a year later.
Mr. Kadagishvili made accusations about electoral fraud. However, during their visit to Tbilisi in November, 2001 BHHRG representatives did not hear the same account of the election from Vake residents. It is perfectly reasonable for Saakashvili to have won the seat as the district in question covers one of the most desirable residential areas in central Tbilisi, inhabited by many members of the nomenklatura. Saakashvili seems to have received substantial funding for his election campaign either from moneyed interests in Georgia, the West or probably a mixture of both. Large glossy posters were still evident around the Vake district several weeks after the campaign ended.
No doubt, Saakashvili was being groomed for stardom - at least, by Georgia's most important Western friend, the United States. A biography was published with photographs of him meeting the great and good including George Soros and Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, as well as Attorney-General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Louis Freeh. There were also a few nods in the direction of the locals with a sprinkling of pictures of the Patriach, Ilya II, as well as various members of the public - old and young - paid homage. Also included, to add to the allure, is a photograph of Mr. Saakashvili’s attractive, Dutch-born wife.
However, it is not clear exactly when the push to install him in higher office was going to be made. What seems clear from the chronology of events is that it suddenly became urgent for Mikheil Saakishvili to be thrust into the limelight within days of the 11th September attacks in New York.
BHHRG's observers in Georgia concluded that a powerful movement was now underway to remove Eduard Shevardnadze from power before his term of office ends in 2005. The official reason for this change of heart is his alleged closeness to Russian-backed politicians who are mired in corruption and involved in criminal activities, like drug dealing. As BHHRG has noted on numerous occasions, allegations of corruption always goes down well with the local population particularly in an impoverished place like Georgia. This is not to say that corruption does not take place: Georgia is a 'Mobutuized' society where cold and hunger marches hand in hand with large Mercedes, casinos and expensive restaurants. In August 2001 the head of the local Red Cross was fired for fraud. This Group long ago pointed to the scandalous theft of humanitarian aid by the authorities.
Allegations that Mr. Shevardnadze and other Georgian politicians are pursuing a pro-Russian policy should be treated with caution. The president and his team have long been under the influence of Washington. It seems that Russia has begun to flex its muscles in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York, but there is, as yet, no evidence that they support any particular group of politicians to succeed Shevardnadze. However, the fear that they might, no doubt led to rush to promote Mikheil Saakashvili as the new saviour of Georgia in the weeks that followed.
Therefore, it would be naïve for ordinary Georgians to think the reasons behind the latest events in their country are honourable and straightforward. The history of the Soviet Union is littered with campaigns to liquidate one set of 'corrupt' officials and replace them with, what soon turn out to be, people of the same hue. (Mr Shevardnadze came to prominence as the local scourge of corruption in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he was the protégé of Leonid Brezhnev’s infamous "stagnant" regime in the Kremlin.) Serious social change will never take place unless ordinary Georgians are allowed to take political matters back into their own hands. Right now, political parties have no existence at the grassroots - they are empty vessels run from the top for the enrichment of a small group of cadres most of whom are directed and influenced by Western policy concerns.
The 'young reformers' in Georgia tend to be Western-educated types who have suddenly, as in places like Serbia and Slovakia, come to have the vocal backing of a well-funded, compliant media outlet, Rustavi 2, to further their interests. None of those interviewed by BHHRG expressed any serious concern for the appalling conditions under which most people in Georgia live and their embrace of the discredited nostrums of post-Soviet economic reform gives little room for hope that conditions in Georgia will change should they come to power. It is difficult to believe that human rights will improve under their watch either when the chairman of the parliamentary human rights commission can refer to Georgia's poor as "provacateurs and beggars."
It is even conceivable that post-Shevardnadze things in Georgia could actually get worse. During its decade of transition, the ex-Soviet republic has slipped from the Second to the Third World. The West’s record in choosing "reformers" who actually do good for their people is cruelly poor. If the chorus of Western diplomats, "experts" and journalists demand change and strike up a hymn of praise for Shevardnadze’s successor, then pity poor Georgia because they will have discovered that the worst is yet to come.
