THE TRUTHFUL GEORGIA

“The battler must obey his commander,
He must be just and bold,
Brave, and not very old…”
David Guramishvili

Today the truthful Georgia is hurt… the truthful Georgia is mournful, yet proud… and that’s a kind of consolation and encouragement to those who have lost their relatives and friends…
The whole world waving banners with five crosses and the loud calls of other countries at the demonstrations supporting our homeland turned into a defensive enclosure to us…
The enemy’s intention to plunge us into pain, grief and nihilism ended in failure…
Still, they’ve destroyed our country; many families suffered such a pain that it’s almost impossible to console them…
But God forbid that the heroism of those devoted to the homeland and the world-wide sympathy shouldn’t become a great support and condolence to the true sons of our country…
The “elite” of the Russian government is diseased in body and mind – as it has been diseased for centuries…
I, as a common member of the world civil society, pay a great respect to the Russian literature and art… to the people living in Russia guided by kindness and love…
But if the ambitious souls of some groups of “Putin’s Federal Empire” are not healed, the mind enclosed with “Russian derjavism” will be paralyzed (to the great surprise of the bearers of the very souls, by the way). The unruly bodies will mechanically stir themselves and the disorder is sure to harm the people of their country – even more than the present occupation has harmed and destroyed us…
I wish to the Russia altered by the progressive powers of the world to share the values of the European space in future…
Providence has turned Georgia into a signal of danger revealing to the world the farce where the wild mind masking its shameful desires and purposes under justice, attempts to occupy the land we’ve survived with our own sweat and blood…

“Injustice can’t reign forever,
Justice is invincible and fair…”
Akaki Tsereteli

As a common Georgian and a writer, I’ve often been hurt and offended. For years, I’ve been expressing my position in my publicistic letters, poems and speeches.

“While we’re creating, the government
Destroys our vineyards and cornfields…
No grain is left to the Georgian writer,
No one cares for the honest fighter…”
24.07.08

But the timely fervor of some members of the government in these hard times is "a great relief" to us and it even makes us forget the offence…
We’ll follow the path of justice because our hearts have been craving for liberty for many years… That’s our vital energy and obligation…
There are people who don’t share the policy and views of the government but remain true patriots… It’s a pity that the governmental structures show nihilism towards those objective citizens…
The result is that the articles (the publicistic ones, in particular) of the independent Georgian analysts are regarded just as criticism and aren’t objectively analyzed.
People filled with hatred run after everything and all with their “nervy” cane…
The same cane of hatred drives in the occupational troops…
But our people and the representatives of other nations living in our country (those who share our joy and sorrow), have forgotten all the offence caused by the hard times and raised the banners with five crosses in order to express their free will and ardor…
They do love the blessed Georgian land; they do believe in its future…
As for me, my faith is fed by the humanity embodied in the world literature, and by Christianity as well.
My faith is my native land, and my attempt to confront malice…
And before someone takes liberty of announcing me a member of one of the numerous heretical sects, I must assure you I am a “Georgian Christian.”
I thoroughly comprehend the particular, vital part of the Georgian Church in developing and raising the national spirituality… The faithful activity of the Georgian clergy is evident to all of us… Their present “military vigor” fills our hearts with pride. The tortured soul of the nation is healed by our Patriarch’s preaching – the preaching uniting Christian spirit and patriotism…
Some among those Russian pilots who zealously bombed us might have prevailed over me with their “orthodoxy” at the first sight. And those “believers” crossed with great enthusiasm the sky above us and were glad to bomb the peaceful population.

“Faith void of common sense often turns into narrow fanaticism, or worships the outer, temporary shape of the Church and pays no attention to the inner nature, to the great moral principles and essence of the Gospel.”
Iakob Gogebasjvili

Some narrow-minded and cowardly people, in order “to save themselves”, accused that outstanding man of his ideas (as well as our great writer Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani and many other patriots devoted to the homeland)… But the truthful Georgia is guided by those honest Georgians’ ideas and, craving for the better future, follows them…
The evident union, the boundless desire for the independence is a response to “Didgoroba”* and to the whole Georgian space…
We stand together in these hard times! And I’d like the government – that has been occupied by narrowing the vital space of our people – not to regard our devotion to Georgia as an “indulgence” given to them…
I, as a common Georgian and one of the defenders of “a true word”, keep on watching with gratitude the efforts of the progressive humankind to treat Georgia with justice…
Let our beautiful country survive the heavenly gift – our land, our unique distinctiveness, the space and rhythm of the creative life, and attain its harmonious development together with other nations!

12.08.2008

P.S.

In the first days of aggression, my wife and I informed thousands of participants of the forum about the Russian assault and vandalism on the English informational and literary sites (the Russian ones were blocked), where our works are presented, and we’ve been encouraged by many supporting messages and comments… By the way, our internet (network operator “Akhali Kselebi”) has not been available to us for some days, and we failed to widen the informational space.
Many thanks to those who’ve shared our grief and comprehended the danger ambushed near the borders of their countries as well – the danger – a threat to the liberty testified by thousands of declarations…

Janri Gogeshvili

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*“Didgoroba” – a feast celebrating the victory of Georgian forces in “Didgori Mountains” (12.08.1121). According to the Arabian and Persian sources and the Armenian, French and Georgian historians’ information, the united troops of the Iraqi and Arabian kingdoms, of the Persian, Turkish and Armenian sultanates and emirates consisted of more than 400 000 warriors. The Georgian king, David the Builder, confronted the enemy just with 56 000 battlers. The wisdom and skill of the commander enabled the Georgian army to fight with great zeal and win a brilliant victory over the enemy.