Could Georgia be the next Ukraine? Our writer Antonia Langford describes what it is like living on the front line of the power struggle between Russia and the EU.
My life as an eye-witness to history
Could Georgia be the next Ukraine? Our writer Antonia Langford describes what it is like living on the front line of the power struggle between Russia and the EU.
Tbilisi is a city marred by conflict, razed to the ground almost 30 times, and rebuilt on the ashes of its past. Every building holds the story of a richly complex past.
I notice on the short walk from my apartment in the mountains to Rustaveli Avenue, home to the country's Parliament, that the cold does not seem to stop thousands of protesters streaming into the centre with EU and Georgian flags warming their shoulders.
For many years, commentators have seen Georgia as being at a crossroads between the West and Russia. Many optimisticHopeful and positive. Georgians hoped that Saturday's election would lead to the country joining the EU.
But the results, which many believed were rigged, saw the authoritarianEnforcing strict obedience to authority. Georgian Dream party return to power.
I expected an explosive reaction from the country with everything at stake, like the deadly clashes between state and people in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in 2014, which led to the ousting of Russia-aligned President Viktor Yanukovych.
But Monday's protests were comparatively tame.
Could Georgia be the next Ukraine?
Yes! Both have suffered from Russian aggression and war, and both have overwhelming support for a European future.
No! The Georgian people's resistance to what some are calling a "stolen election" is a little underwhelming.
Keywords
Optimistic - Hopeful and positive.
Authoritarian - Enforcing strict obedience to authority.
My life as an eye-witness to history
Glossary
Optimistic - Hopeful and positive.
Authoritarian - Enforcing strict obedience to authority.