We should be neither Hamlets nor Don Quixotes. When the homeland is in danger, we must be Avtandils and together destroy the fortress of Kajeti! - writes one of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change,” Nika Gvaramia, on social media.

According to him, when time is short and the result is of vital importance, we must cut the Gordian knot.

“Whether I thought a lot or a little, I decided to say what I have to say in a complicated way, using three literary archetypes and one mythological-historical paradigm.

As people like to say now, ‘in popular language’ I will explain, expand and offer it to you in the coming days. For now, those of you who have the time and desire, read this tangled text to understand how I view the situation:

Hamlet: reflection, analysis, scepticism and egoism that kill action. Result: the death of Ophelia - not the ideal, but the real woman - as the main value orientation. True value is always sacrificed to reflective self-indulgence (including that of good people).

Don Quixote: idealism, faith and self-sacrifice that lack analysis and fail to achieve a result. The hidalgo fights windmills for an idea he himself invented, which he believes in, and precisely this sincerity and devotion remove him from reality. True value is always sacrificed to ideological fanaticism (including that of good people).

Let us look at Shakespeare and Cervantes and learn how not to act.

To understand how we should act, let us follow Rustaveli and choose the archetype of Avtandil: rational leaders and strategists. They receive a task from the homeland (Tinatin), draw up a plan based on facts (and not illusions), unite different groups and gain allies (and do not turn allies into enemies). After that they move to effective, collective action to destroy the fortress of Kajeti (the authoritarian system) and they win, they save the homeland!

And now the paradigm for clarifying not who we should be, but how we should act: the Gordian knot, a symbol of authoritarianism and propaganda. The legend said: ‘Whoever unties this knot will become the ruler of Asia.’ The system (mysticism, prophecy - that is, propaganda in our reality) created the perception that ‘untying’ means struggling with one’s fingers, so to speak, ‘unravelling the tangled.’ Alexander looked dryly at the fact: the knot must be destroyed so that the cart can be freed. Beaten paths do not always work, and constantly repeating them like a mantra is foolishness. What matters is not the ritual, but only the result: Alexander struck with his sword and continued on the path to conquer Asia. And he won, he became the ruler of Asia!

Authoritarian propaganda always tries to place such ‘Gordian knots’ in front of society: artificial, tangled pseudo-problems, conspiracy theories, false dilemmas, ideological debates, in order to divert attention from the main thing, to set us against each other, to drain us of energy, to make us let off steam. At that time the way out is always Alexandrian rationalism: refuse the rules offered by the system, look at the facts with a cold mind and cut the cursed knot with one concrete, strategic action, solve the problem.

Alexander teaches us the attitude towards the problem: do not play by the system’s rules. Avtandil teaches us systematicity, purposefulness, tirelessness, organisation, the power of unity.

To defeat authoritarian illusions and propaganda, society needs neither ideological fanaticism (Don Quixotism) nor intellectual nihilism and giving up (Hamletism), but a cold, fact-based strategy and organised, collective action for a common goal (Avtandilism).

Therefore, we should be neither Hamlets nor Don Quixotes. When the homeland is in danger, we must be Avtandils and together destroy the fortress of Kajeti!

When time is short and the result is of vital importance, we must cut the Gordian knot! We must cut it together!” - writes Gvaramia.