“I worked day and night; many called me a maniac and spread rumors that I was on cocaine because they simply couldn’t imagine where all that energy came from. Today Georgia is the complete opposite of what it was before 2012. Everywhere we are now cited as an example of failure, backwardness, and unprecedented regression,” writes Georgia’s imprisoned third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, in a letter released on the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution.

As Saakashvili writes on social media: “Losers can never establish themselves for long.”

“On November 23, 2003 – St. George’s Day – the Rose Revolution triumphed in Georgia. It came after many years of stagnation, poverty, corruption, criminality, and the total rigging of parliamentary elections by Shevardnadze.

The Rose Revolution did not end in 2003. On the contrary, November 23 launched unprecedented, radical, deep reforms on a global scale that turned a failed state into a worldwide model of development and success.

What did the Rose Revolution bring? We could list many things: the return of Adjara to Georgia’s jurisdiction; not just putting Georgia back on the world map but making it shine like a bright star; the creation of brand-new infrastructure.

A country that for decades couldn’t fix the notorious “mother-in-law’s tongue” section of the Gori–Kaspi road suddenly filled up with new highways, airports, and more.

World-leading systems of education, healthcare, and public services; a completely new military; corruption reduced practically to zero; an unprecedented boom in arts and architecture; and much more. If we had to describe it all in two words: a change of mentality.

We experienced what real freedom means – when power changes through elections. When people took to the streets in 2007, I stepped down. The state apparatus operated on one core value: serving the people. Almost no one got rich from it.

I worked day and night; many called me a maniac and spread rumors that I was on cocaine because they simply couldn’t imagine where all that energy came from. That energy came from the supreme pleasure of serving the country, from pride in success – and the entire state apparatus was with me. People earned far less than they do now, but unlike today, they were not corrupt. Most importantly, a new generation grew up in conditions of freedom.

The revolution was followed by a counter-revolution. The main goal of the counter-revolution is the same as that of our revolution: to change the mentality. Except they are doing it by dismantling everything we built – destroying the education system, destroying the institutions of freedom (state transparency, civil society, elections), destroying Georgians’ pride and “putting us in our place,” erasing memory, and replacing the memory chip of our recent history.

When they reduced the “nine years” to two or three negative facts and tried to erase every other epoch-making achievement from people’s minds. The slogan “neither Natsi nor Kotsi” (neither UNM nor Georgian Dream) is designed to make us renounce the most successful period in Georgia’s history. In other words, they are completely distorting our coordinate system.

In reality, the main reason for today’s catastrophe is that they succeeded in planting a completely false idea in a large part of society about what the Rose Revolution actually achieved – and that is exactly what has allowed the regime to act with such impunity.

So, if we do not want them first to finally destroy our memory, then to change our mentality, and finally to destroy us altogether – we must defeat Ivanishvili, just as we once defeated Shevardnadze.

Of course, unlike Shevardnadze, Ivanishvili has a lot of money, a lot of thugs, and the support of Russia. But on the other hand, compared to 2003 we have many advantages. The main one is that, despite all the manipulation and violence against our memory, we still remember what freedom and success feel like.

In 2003 only I and a handful of people had lived in the West and had that experience; today a huge part of the Georgian population has been abroad and has the luxury of comparison. Most importantly, there is now a new generation that has tasted freedom, knows foreign languages, and – above all – has a completely different fighting spirit.

On top of that, in 2003 the protest movement did not encompass the majority of society; at most 4–5 thousand people were actively participating in rallies until it became clear we were winning, and only then did many more come out. Back then students barely joined until the very end. Today the protest wave has swept up hundreds of thousands of people of all ages.

We are now at a truly historic crossroads.

The Rose Revolution created a global trend: it was immediately followed by Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution, Kyrgyzstan’s peaceful revolution. I have traveled extensively in Arab countries and know well that the Rose Revolution had a serious influence on the Arab Spring.

Beyond that, our revolutionary reforms became a model for the whole world. The World Bank published a book on Georgia’s victory over corruption as an example for the planet and named Georgia the world’s number-one reformer.

With our participation, highly effective anti-corruption bodies were created in Ukraine, and the creators of our patrol police set up the Ukrainian patrol service.

Inspired and influenced by us, the EU created the Eastern Partnership and the new Neighbourhood Policy. We were known worldwide as the symbol of unbelievably rapid progress.

Today Georgia is the complete opposite of what it was before 2012. Everywhere we are now cited as an example of failure, backwardness, and unprecedented regression.

That is why the key to our success in the nearest future lies in their failure. Losers cannot hold power forever. Losers cannot defeat us.

Long live the 22nd anniversary of the Rose Revolution! Glory to freedom! Freedom to glory!

Your Misha – in full combat readiness.”