AMID CONTROVERSY, GEORGIAN STUDENT PROTEST MOVEMENT GROWS
Giorgi Lomsadze: 6/10/03

Less than five months before parliamentary elections in Georgia, a protest movement called Kmara has quickly inserted itself into the swirling political debate in Tbilisi. A relatively loose organization of students, Kmara is agitating for the conduct of free and fair elections and is also pushing for the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Kmara, which means "enough" in English, played a prominent role in anti-government protests across Georgia on June 3. Demonstrators supported opposition calls for changes in the composition of the country’s Central Election Commission, which will oversee the parliamentary election. [For additional see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Some local political observers believe that Kmara’s fast rise to prominence has been assisted by Mikhail Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania, former Shevardnadze political allies who are now among the administration’s most ardent critics. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives].

Student protests began gaining strength in April, when scores of students wrote the word "enough" in public spaces and roughly 300 protesters burned a flag portraying Shevardnadze and his entourage in front of the State Chancellery. Since then, Kmara has conducted numerous anti-government actions.

Shevardnadze supporters immediately denounced Kmara, suggesting initially that the movement was receiving financing from Russian sources. "Russian special services are planning a large-scale, tried-and-tested operation: ‘enough,’" said Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, leader of the National Democratic Party and spokeswoman for the pro-Shevardnadze bloc known as For New Georgia, on April 21. According to Georgia’s Prime-News agency, Sarishvili-Chanturia alleged that Russia would finance at least one television channel for the group’s propaganda.

Kmara representative Thea Tutberidze ridiculed the notion that the student group had ties to Russian government agencies. Tutberidze maintained that Kmara’s origins are rooted in the widespread discontent felt by Georgian students over the Shevardnadze administration’s inability to promote stability and curb corruption. Tutberidze went on to say that the Georgian group had engaged in consultations on protest strategy and tactics with Serbian activists connected with Otpor (Resistance), a mainly student movement that helped bring about Slobodan Milosevic’s fall in Belgrade.

On the eve of the June 3 anti-government protests, Kmara played a central role in a dispute between Shevardnadze and the Open Society Georgia Foundation. The NGO is part of the Soros Foundations Network, which also funds EurasiaNet. Speaking in his regular weekly radio interview, Shevardnadze lashed out at an "international organization" for providing support for "anti-government forces." Later, Shevardnadze threatened to force the unnamed organization to cease operations in Georgia. "Politics is not their business," the Rustavi-2 television channel quoted Shevardnadze as saying.

According to Rustavi-2, Shevardnadze aides later confirmed that the president was referring to the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). The administration was said to be angered that OSGF had reportedly provided capacity-building assistance to Kmara. Foundation representatives say OSGF has set aside $500,000 for an Election Support Program, which aims to promote vigorous political debate ahead of the parliamentary elections and a free and fair voting process. It also seeks to promote balanced media coverage of the campaign. Thus far, Kmara has not been a direct recipient of OSGF financial assistance.

In a June 5 telephone conversation, international financier George Soros, OSGF’s benefactor, offered Shevardnadze assurances "that he was not interfering in Georgia’s domestic political process and that he would welcome democratic elections in Georgia," state television reported. Shevardnadze reportedly thanked Soros for ongoing assistance in the cultural, scientific and educational spheres.

At present, Kmara is developing plans to monitor the upcoming election. Following a model utilized in Serbia, the student movement aims to set up various civilian groups to count votes, parallel to both the central and precinct election commissions. Like many opposition leaders, Kmara organizers are concerned that Shevardnadze supporters may resort to vote fraud in order to preserve their parliamentary majority. [For background information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The monitoring effort, Kmara activists believe, could emerge as a crucial element in maintaining the election’s integrity.

Editor’s Note: Giorgi Lomsadze is a Georgia-based freelance journalist.

Email this article | Printer-Friendly Version
Posted June 10, 2003 © Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org

	The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.