Georgia's Running of the Protesters

In Pamplona, each summer, you can run with the bulls. In Tbilisi, you can run with the protesters.

That's the imaginary tourism ad jingle that comes to mind with the opening of Georgia's annual summer protest season this past weekend. And some drama-thirsty international media, primed by the Arab Spring, are inadvertently doing their part, too, with exaggerated portrayals (reporting from Moscow) of the paltry reality on the ground.

Here's the lowdown: each year, the same politicians with the same controversial pasts make the same demands at the same locations. Georgian Public Broadcasting headquarters in downtown Tbilisi has become a regular Mecca for the opposition faithful.

But rather than joining the assembled throng, many in Tbilisi opt instead to complain about the street litter and traffic jams these demonstrators cause. An aggressively negative PR campaign waged by government-friendly television channels also feeds that skepticism.

Granted, amidst Georgia's ongoing difficulties with jobs and human rights, the protests, already marked by brawls, are serious enough for many.

But local commentators say that it has become all too visible that Georgia's protest scene is more about individual politicians' attempts to stage a comeback than about the real issues that Georgians have with their government.

One popular Facebook photo collage from the clashes between protesters and police this Sunday illustrates that perception; it depicts the plastic batons wielded by a battling protester and his opponent as Jedi-knight-style lightsabers

Things, however, may still turn ugly. On May 25, ex-defense-minister-turned-opposition-leader Irakli Okruashvili has pledged to return from France (where he has political asylum) to lead "the people" (and the army) in overthrowing President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Assuming that doesn't happen, on May 26, Georgia's Independence Day, there will be two competing political mega-shows -- the government’s military parade and the opposition’s ongoing revolution gala.

Just call it the start of another "Summer in Georgia."