The results of the opposition rally in Abkhazia: the vicious circle has cracked. Opinion
The results of the opposition rally in Abkhazia
Purely mathematically, the President of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhaniya, won in his confrontation with the opposition. He was able to retain power, without yielding on any point to the ultimatum presented to him.
But psychologically, as the president of all citizens of Abkhazia, and not just his supporters, he lost. For he went against the fundamental principle of Abkhaz democracy — for its citizens, power should be at arm’s length.
On May 30 the president and the government, having voluntarily fenced themselves off with barbed wire and military equipment, watched their citizens with distrust through crosshairs.
It was embarrassing. I hope in my heart that they are embarrassed too.
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And I don’t care at all when excuses are heard, they say look at authorities in the rest of the world, where protesters are beaten with batons, shot with rubber bullets or arrested. Copying bad forms while frankly ignoring what can and really needs to be borrowed is not what we choose power for.
However, I am sincerely glad that Aslan Bzhaniya will now sit out the five-year term allowed by law in the presidential chair. And not at all thanks to the unprecedented security measures with which he has girded himself. Rather thanks to the Abkhazian society, which is tired of watching how its state, mined with blood and sweat, has been systematically reset by the political elite for the second decade.
When one group, under the right slogans, expels another competing firm from the presidential palace and seizes power, and some time later satisfaction occurs in the same way and with the same slogans. And throughout this period, we are reassured by a song about “progressive movement forward”, in reality this ship recklessly careens into the abyss, scattering shards of sovereignty.
But now there is hope that the vicious circle has cracked.
At the very least, we finally returned the word “rally” on May 30 to its original meaning — a public expression of socio-political sentiments.
Prior to this, the rally was perceived by us as a ritual stage preceding the storming of the presidential palace. A kind of warm-up area where politicians set up their hired gopniks to recklessly break doors and windows.
The country’s leadership read the announcement about the rally in the old way. However, society turned out to be better than what politicians systematically turned it into, including those who have now fenced themselves with barbed wire. On May 30 two thousand citizens came out to protest. The next time – unless, of course, the authorities draw conclusions – there will be an order of magnitude more.
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