Georgian Dream: “For Georgia’s victory, not for anyone’s defeat”

“It’s high time to protect Georgia’s past by building an honest future,” businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili said presenting his new public movement called Georgian Dream on Sunday. Worrying about the consequences of the Rose Revolution in 2003 Ivanishvili stressed the necessity of restoring balance between the Georgian legislative, executive and judiciary bodies as the main weapon against authoritarianism in the country. Emphasizing the importance of human rights protection, Ivanishvili suggested the adoption of laws through consulting with civil society. Explaining that the public should control the government, not vice versa, the businessman who has recently joined Georgian politics expressed the wish that the media became the source of truth and that courts were based on the supremacy of law, not political bias. “This all would bring us to the fulfillment of the Georgian Dream based on honesty, fairness and professionalism,” Ivanishvili said encouraging people to “build Georgia’s future together.”

The State Concert Hall was full of people: politicians, the diplomatic corps, international organizations, NGOs, public figures and people from around the country who came to support the businessman in fulfilling the “Georgian Dream.” Sharing his plans to the audience, Ivanishvili spoke of a variety of projects he intends to carry out with professionals of every field from politics to economics. Emphasizing the importance of civil and political unity the businessman stressed that the movement would work in regions all over the country to ensure transparency and fairness of the electoral environment in the country. Promising to elaborate an effective plan for developing the country with the diplomatic corps and NGOs, Ivanishvili said Georgia would stand on democratic bases which, “the current government couldn’t ensure.”

Stressing that the Rose Revolution could not win the trust of the majority of people, Ivanishvili accused the government of neglecting people’s will, damaging the state constitution, wasting the state budget, violating people’s rights, monopolizing the business, among other things. “The economy is ruled by monopolies, which hinders the creation of a competitive environment in the country,” said the businessmen hoping that everyone would soon stop “playing ugly games” and stand with the Georgian Dream to avoid the future disasters. Discouraging pseudo-reforms in healthcare, education and law enforcement, Ivanishvili stressed the necessity for preserving Georgian traditions and culture with faith in a better future. “The Georgian-Russian war in 2008 had badly affected the country: family members of breakaway regions suffer on different sides of the administrative border while the government has no strategy for solving the problem,” the businessman said.

Talking of the ruling United National Movement (UNM) “apathy” Ivanishvili spoke of an attempt to “frighten” people through “cynical” reforms. “But society demands fairness against repression. The ruling party has become unacceptable for the international community for its activities. The UNM has exhausted its limits both locally and internationally and now hinders the country's development,” said the businessman condemning UNM’s “hysteria” towards Russia.

Welcoming Ivanishvili’s intentions, special guests encouraged the businessman in his strategy. Talking of Ivanishvili as a great patriot, writer Rati Amaglobeli encouraged people to unite against the government’s “faceless ideas” with a diversity of minds. “Now that we have the hope of fulfilling the Georgian dream we have to create a country oriented to the people,” Amaglobeli said encouraging the society to say no to violence and follow the path of democracy and fairness as the main responsibility of citizenship. Naira Gelashvili Chairwoman of Caucasian House, Manana Kobakhidze human rights protector and Guram Odisharia, an Abkhazian writer, also delivered speeches encouraging Georgian society to unite under the Georgian dream by fairly protecting their civil rights.

Famous Ukrainian footballer Andrei Shevchenko was among the special guests of the presentation invited by the former captain of Georgian national football team Kakhi Kaladze. Talking about how difficult it was for him to make a decision on leaving his position, Kaladze asked the Georgians to forgive him for his much-talked of own goal, which he called the most “shameful” from his 83 matches as the captain of the national team. “This country belongs to everyone not a political group neglecting the supremacy of law. We have enough reasons to wake up from this deep sleep,” Kaladze said addressing the younger generations and welcoming Ivanishvili’s love towards the country. “It’s possible to deprive a passport from a citizen, but no one can take away love towards the country and the people,” he added.

The presentation of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s public movement finished with a premier of Bera Ivanishvili’s musical clip on a patriotic note. People who couldn’t enter the hall could either watch the event from the large screen downstairs at Event Hall or watch live on the internet.