A Just Society is a Product of Just Citizens

Op-Ed

In the last 30 years since the collapse of the communism-oriented and socialism-based Soviet Union, part of which Georgia was, we have been doing most of our politics in the street. We have turned this country into a land where outdoor politics has become the norm. The Georgian political spirit is so boisterous and unruly that it cannot stay within the confines of its duly allocated premises: to breathe more efficiently, it needs to be in the open air. When a political crisis comes to a head, our public and its political manipulators start suffering from a deficiency of political oxygen and often take to streets.

Traditionally, the most convenient spot for release of said accumulated political exhaust happens to be the area in front of the old Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi. Everything happens there – New Year trees, rallies, parades, manifestations and all-out communal promenades. It’s a fun place, but what seems ‘no-fun’ is the fact that the political think-tank of this nation has yet to provide for political decision- making within the framework of the set activity of the elected government.

Following the breakdown of soviet power, the Government of Georgia has changed numerous hands, most often as a consequence of revolutionary upheavals. And the main reason for such cataclysmic disorder was once the misgivings of our people about justice and law enforcement. When our good people feel that justice is wronged, they want to snatch the governing power out of the hands of their elected rulers and place it at the discretion of an emotionally charged crowd which at that moment assumes the responsibility to dictate their own rules to the nation.

Let us assume for a second that a thing like this is acceptable in democracy. But who can guarantee that the exulted crowd is capable of making optimal decisions to the benefit of the entire nation? Looking deeper into the problem, crowds take to the streets when the State seems to be losing its reasonable-ruling capacity. Any massive outdoor rally is an indicator of the weakening of the ability of the State to carry on with business as usual.

Normally, management of a country is a process of interaction between the elected government and the electing governed. In this non-sacramental but presumably transparent process, the government is expected to keep to the rules of the sworn-in covenant, and the governed are expected to enjoy the result of governmental efforts. When the contrary happens and the governed lose confidence in the government, they find taking-to-the-streets the only way to stop the eventuating injustice. This usually happens when the State is not mature enough to cope with its regular duties. But democracy needs time to make progress and Georgia is still on its way, hence the crowds in the street.

Let us now reverse the arrow of our denigration and direct it on ourselves: we the people are not angels either; we are haters of law. Our psyche abhors the constraints of law; we as the electorate, as the governed, as law abiding animals, as subjects of a certain elected government, are maturing just as slowly as our State. The sense of justice that has to be existential in any regular judge, elected or assigned, and which is the bedrock on which a mature State stands, needs to be instilled in our civil consciousness. A just society is a product of just citizens. The cooperation of citizenry and the government will never yield any good if they are distracted and divided. The process of maturation of a state is a monolith of those two components, and unless we see this process organically inscribed in the hearts and minds of all our citizens and in the style of governing this country, justice will be impossible.

A mature and law-abiding state, the protector of its citizens, a conscientious citizenry, defender of its rights, and political will, uniting the two, are needed to save our kids from murder, to enable us to feel secure from injustice, to expect due enforcement of the law, for giving future generations a fair example of righteous living, and finally, for putting our outdoor politics back where the political logic should work way more effectively.

By Nugzar B. Ruhadze