Zurab Japaridze: What should unity actually look like: Imagine all political players uniting under one brand - imagine that this is not just a unity of politicians, but a public unity of everyone who opposes the regime
In a letter released from prison, Zurab Girchi Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, explains what political unity should be.
Japaridze names several points and states that he does not understand why it is impossible to do so.
“I will write about unity once again, because everyone has started talking about it (the survey has shown that people are demanding it), but beyond talking, they either have no idea how it should be done (except for what is already visible, for example - working together outside) or they are pushing what they themselves imagine, and call on others to join them (for example, “I am going to run for council seats and let's run together”).
What should unity actually be expressed in (this was supposed to be done before the 2024 elections, but we could not do it).
Especially those who are now shouting - we have always been in favor of unity,
I will resort to the “Lennon method” again:
- Imagine that all political players give up their name, number, color, party PR, praising their leaders, and unite under one brand, e.g. Democratic Forces or Democratic Alternative or something like that.
Imagine that the surveys measure not 4 coalitions or 12 parties against the Russian Dream, but one large coalition against the “Russian Dream”.
Imagine that the surveys show not:
“Russian Dream” - 35%,
Coalition 1 - 18%,
Coalition 2 - 17%,
Coalition 3 - 10%
But instead (conditionally):
Democratic Forces - 55%;
“Russian Dream” - 35%;
And this happens regularly, in all surveys, except GORBI.
When will the fear on this side be overcome?
When will the consolidation be achieved on this side?
When will the “Russian Dream” get more scared?
When will more cracks appear on the other side?
When will any police officer, prosecutor, or judge think more about whether to commit another illegal act?
When will they start eating each other inside?
I have been hearing for 4 years that this cannot be done and I do not understand why. I thought that arrests would wake people up, but now I have hope for the ban on parties and political activities.
- Imagine that this is not just a unity of politicians, but a public unity of everyone who opposes the regime.
We are all together, on a single public base, where we see each other, we see our number, we see how we are growing.
When will we better see that we are 2 times more in real time, like with large gatherings on Rustaveli once a month?
When will we better see that we are growing and they are decreasing?
When will we better see who is scared and cannot dare to publicly state his position so that we can work with him?
When will the frightened ones see that there are many of us and overcome their fear?
When will we start to create more cracks on the other side?
- Imagine that the people who will be in this public base in real time make all the decisions publicly.
By voting, they decide: who will be the speakers/leaders of this great unity, what kind of action they want, where and when, which Russian-speaking “business” to boycott, who and how to blacklist online, etc.
And when we overthrow the regime and reach new elections, these people decide what the unified list will be, who will be the prime minister candidate, and so on.
When will more people get involved in the process, when they are just watching or when they make decisions?
When will more people come out to protest, when all the attributes of this protest were thought up by some group, or when people themselves decide by majority?
When will more of supporters of the Dream join us, when they see that here is real democracy and there is slavery, or when they don't see the difference in this regard?
When will there be more support from the outside, when our friends see that we have real internal democracy here, or when they talk to 37 people and have to read 3 volumes before meetings to figure out who is who??
This is unity. If anyone still doesn't understand. To do this, you need:
- Locking in personal and partisan ambitions (we all have a lot invested in our own parties, I have the name of my party in my name, but that's a different fight now)
- True faith in democracy (no matter how flawed it may be)
- Complete openness and transparency + the courage to do so, even if this ends in political or social death for any of us.
- Ending the games … (such as: “We are not a revolutionary party”. If you are banned soon, what will you do? Will you go home? Or will you become revolutionary later, because you will have no other choice?)
What I didn’t want was to spread “wisdom” from prison, but I have no other “business” here, so forgive me for this brain ...., - writes Japaridze.
