SOCIETY

A Year of Cultural Exchange and MASHAV Aid

BLOG BY RAN GIDOR, AMBASSADOR OF ISRAEL TO GEORGIA

The end of the year is usually a period ripe for refl ection and self-reckoning, both collectively and individually. Looking back on everything that the Israeli Embassy in Tbilisi has been trying to achieve in 2021, I cannot but regret that the Covid-19 pandemic has prevented us from implementing our work-plan on its original scale. Nevertheless, the necessity to ‘think outside of the box’ and add new diplomatic tools to our arsenal has also served to refresh our thinking, open up exciting, untapped possibilities, and put us in touch with new partners.

In July, MASHAV (Israel’s International Development Cooperation Agency) hosted in Israel the fi rst ever-training seminar designed exclusively for Georgian farmers and agronomists. We inaugurated an agricultural demonstration hub near Mtskheta, which will hopefully grow in the coming years to become a regional focal point for training and knowledge sharing. We also established four new MASHAV Shalom alumni clubs in various regions around the country, bringing the nationwide total to six. This month, we launched an extensive webinar on digital health with the participation of over 40 leading Georgian health practitioners, following MASHAV support to the NCDC, Georgian Red Cross Society and Georgia offi ce of WHO. But more than anything else, we are proud of the dozens of Israeli-made purifi cation units installed in schools and kindergartens all over the country, supplying thousands of children, families and teaching staff with clean drinking water.

The Israeli Embassy has also initiated some exciting cultural projects, designed to appeal to fresh audiences, and dealing unblinkingly with social issues common to both our nations. Together with the Sulakauri Publishing House, we are about to publish an anthology of fi ve Israeli drama plays – all written by contemporary female playwrights exploring the roles of women within marriage, family and society in 21st century. The brilliant Data Tavadze (Royal District Theater) has produced stunning video adaptations of selected scenes from those fi ve plays, which will be uploaded to social media and will hopefully trigger some lively public debates.

Upon Tbilisi assuming the title of ‘UNESCO World Book Capital,’ our Embassy also announced (jointly with Intelekti Press) a short story competition revolving around Jewish-Georgian themes. Once again, we didn’t shirk back from touching on sensitive or controversial issues, and the eight winning stories will be published together as an anthology in the coming weeks.

However, this blog entry is not meant as a tediously exhaustive list of projects, but rather as an opportunity to take stock of previous hopes and future possibilities. During the past 12 months, I toured Georgia far and wide, both professionally and privately with my family. Once again, I realized that the legendary Georgian hospitality, generosity and friendliness is not a myth but a solid national characteristic. I have seen the most breathtakingly stunning vistas, tasted the most incredible dishes, and made new friends for life. But if I had to choose one indelible impression that will stay with me forever, it will have to be the stupendously rich cultural life of this country.

It was my good fortune to meet in person Georgian artists of global fame such as the great violinist Lisa Batiashvili and conductor Nikoloz Rachveli. I was privileged to host at our residence some legendary artists: singer Nani Bregvadze, Prima Ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, pianist Eliso Bolkvadze, producer and director Leo Gabriadze, author Dato Turashvili, icon painter David Sulakauri, fabric artist Nino Kipshidze, photographer Daro Sulakauri and award-winning fi lm director Levan Koguashvili.

No less exciting was the opportunity to meet the younger generation of inspirational artists, who will undoubtedly make their mark on the international scene in years to come: the visionary artist Levan Songulashvili, astounding pianists Sandro Gegechkori and Giorgi Gigashvili, artists and curators Magda Batiashvili, Lasha Tsetsvadze, Gvantsa Jishkariani, Giorgi Rodionov, Ana Gabelaia and Nini Darchia, architect Eliso Sulakauri and fashion designers Vaska Tabatadze and Levan Dvali, actress and playwright Ana Sanaia, and photographers Bakur Tvrineli and Mari Ataneli. All these remarkable people combined to create the almost statistical improbability of converting this small Caucasian nation of 3.7 million people into a ‘cultural empire’, punching way above its weight and providing a shining example to other, much bigger and infi nitely more affl uent countries.

Next year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of our bilateral diplomatic relations. Admittedly, it is but a brief moment in the 26-century-old friendship between Georgians and Jews, but one that gives us pause to reassess, reevaluate and regroup. Both our nations have had to deal with centuries of adversity as well as recent political instability, and both have emerged all the stronger and much more resilient for that. I am looking forward to injecting our political, academic, scientifi c, cultural and intellectual exchange with fresh contents and contemporary narratives that refl ect 21st century realities and our ever-evolving societies. Previous generations have provided us with a rock-solid base, and now it is our duty to modernize our bilateral relations and enhance them even further. The possibilities are endless!

Darkest Days

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

This isn’t a happy Christmas post about how the Light of the World was born during the days when there is the least light in His homeland, the longest nights and shortest days. I’m writing this on the shortest day of all, December 22. At least from here until half a year away we have more light to look forward to, if not (for some months yet in Svaneti) more warmth. The coldest weeks and months are, ironically, still ahead of us.

While I do believe in that Light of the World, shrouded as He may be in the distancing of 2000-odd years, this is not a hopeful post. The electrical situation in our village of Etseri and in most of the rest of Upper Svaneti is critical, worse than it’s been for the 10 winters we have lived in this house. I drove down to Zugdidi last week to stock up on shop goods before the big snows promised by forecasts could arrive, and was shocked at the low level of the Enguri hydroelectric dam which supplies us with our free electricity. It looks to contain about as much water as it should in spring, when our normal increased power demand and the lesser infl ow have yet to both reverse and refi ll it.

The reason, everyone knows, is simple, and I wrote about it two weeks ago: unrestrained bitcoin mining at a huge scale. Most of my neighbors have to switch everything else off to run a washing machine. Last night, even our lightbulbs were dim orange instead of blinding white; then the power went off at around 10 pm and has yet, as I write this14 hours later, to reappear. Two days before that, it was off when we awoke at about 8 am, and came on for about ½ a second no less than eight times until fully returning after 4 pm. I had already unplugged all the sensitive electrical appliances in case of a surge with these fl ashes of power, and only plugged them back in when the situation seemed to have stabilized late in the afternoon.

Our house actually has it better than most, with two power lines running in. No-one has a generator except us, either, and ours is only 5 KW, not enough for more than the fridges and freezers and a laptop; it’s not connected to the whole house, as that would simply be absurdly beyond its capacity.

I talk to a friend who’s in local government and he suggests a village meeting to hash the whole thing out, with an ultimatum: get rid of your mining machines or we’ll call in the police. Another friend assures me his household is doing the bitcoin thing too… and while I don’t want to go on rumors, I’m almost ready to believe all sorts of things. I do know, from fi rsthand experience, how bitterly divided the Svans can be against each other in the best of times, let alone these worst ones. So there’s that to take into account.

If we can’t live normal lives, not even luxurious lives but simply have a regular and stable power supply, what are we here for? Who among us even has the choice to pack up and leave? Should we have a general strike, ask tourists to stay away, protest in the streets of our villages and in Mestia? There are plenty of innocent guest house owners who would suffer dreadfully from a tourism boycott, though.

The consensus is that local government, perhaps up to the highest levels, is deeply invested in this electricity theft, so, making mining of bitcoin illegal would have to get past them, and then be enforced even if it became law. Big hurdles, let us be realistic. However, if they want to be kings of an empty and totally lawless province, let them continue as they are.

Shakespeare’s Juliet says, learning of Romeo’s family which is at war against hers, “My only love sprung from my only hate!”. I say, My hate sprung from what I love! Is this how I should leave Svaneti, with a taste in my mouth so foul all I want to do is spew it out? Please, God, no.

And…as always at the moment, in Georgia’s current political season, #mishavs means: “It matters to me”!

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti