Nino Kasradze: What We Believe About Freedom

All the destructive currents around are trying to convince you of the absence of choice and thereby make you see the futility of freedom

NINO KASRADZE is a famous Georgian film and theatre personality. (CREDIT: Nova Productions Georgia)

The most important thing for a person who was born and grew up in the Soviet Union, probably is to talk about freedom. A person who witnessed the collapse of one system and then transition to another one; A person who witnessed the civil war that started in her country and two “campaigns” carried out by the aggressor, as a result of which the country lost 20% of its territory. That person is me.

Today, many from my generation ask the question: did we ever imagine that we would witness so much, see so much war, so much destitution. Then we all unanimously agree that no, we could have never imagined this, it was impossible to believe, and so on.

To this day, there is much debate about what that life in the past was like: good, very good, bad, or terrible. Gathered people may even argue about the quality of the education received in the Soviet Union. One side claims that nothing was good, it all was disrespect and a superficial approach, while another disagrees and says that this is not the case, as Soviet education was based on the principles of “German” education and instead of destroying it, only the ideological part could have been extracted.

This is how everything works, endless arguments and differences of opinion on the evaluation of all topics and events. We all know everything and in the end, no one knows anything. Chaos, uncertainty, and the constant question of when this never-ending transition phase will end and when the long-wished-for sense of stability that people had “back then” will arrive. It scares me to say this, but I doubt that feeling will ever return to our generation. It’s over, finished... young people don’t remember it, and as they haven’t seen anything else, today’s “chaos” is more familiar to them.

Of course, all generations want to live in a free, peaceful and healthy environment, that’s for sure... yes, free... but what exactly is freedom? What is it for? At what price it be obtained? Should it be given to you, or should you earn it yourself? I am asking this as a rhetorical question, I am simply and humanly asking myself. Many times I have heard indignation that in those old days our compatriots were free to do whatever they wanted. This opinion also has its truth. Yes, it was probably so, we lived “our way”, completely different from other large Soviet republics.

And I remember that we lived under our momentum, preplanned because there was no choice - the choice to protest, to question, to be bad or just different. You probably remember how all the attempts ended with an idle “capturing” of something (for example hijacking an airplane...). However, life went on, with all its beauty and passion, amazed West by Georgian creativity, the sent tunes to space by Voyager, the Champions Cup, the adequate response to the attempt to take away the national language and finally keeping it... life went on anyway…

I remember one event: in 1989, we were going to France to visit relatives, of course via Moscow, (well, who would trust us to depart from Tbilisi), there was a huge queue in front of the trap door, the whole plane was jammed at the stairs, finally, the flight attendants, tired of waiting, asked why were we standing like fools and what were we waiting for. Far ahead, the first passengers replied: “We are waiting to be told what to do now.”

Or later, in 1997, I was returning from Germany (from a 5-day shoot), a very handsome, elderly man was sitting next to me on the plane, a doctor, who knew German well, he was also returning from a business trip. We hang out for a while and after changing flights in Frankfurt, met again. I see that my “neighbour” passes the sign indicating the direction and goes on a completely different way, I get a terrible panic, I get nervous, because, well, a German-speaking, handsome neighbour would not be mistaken, but on the other hand, the sign clearly points me to the exit, and I make the fatal right choice out of fear.

In twenty minutes, my companion approaches me, he is embarrassed, excited and genuinely shares with me that this is the result of our upbringing and environment, that an adult is afraid to ask questions. He read the sign but previously the exit was on the other side, so he was afraid to ask unnecessary questions, he had to check. My handsome companion connected this small incident with the lack of freedom, and for me, these two examples mean more than all other arguments about our “different”, yet “free” life.

Yes, the whole existence of me and my generation was inertial, pre-planned, and then happened, what happened. April 9, 1989, the 1992-93 war, the 2008 war, the 2020 pandemic, the 2022 Ukraine war… Is a lot for one generation, right? Although we are the descendants of our grandparents, we repeat their fate, some of them witnessed the First World War and the revolution in 1937, and then the Second World War. And yet, what is freedom? Is it only the property of the past (I mean the striving for survival) and history, or of the momentary future? I think that this question is answered by our life itself, freedom is in the choice.

Yes, freedom is in the choice! in a person believing that he has the right to choose and that this choice will affect his life. All the destructive currents around are trying to convince you of the absence of choice and thereby make you see the futility of freedom so that “freedom” remains only a dream, an ephemera. However, how sweet is the freedom when you can choose to say or not say, the freedom that your thoughts, words and actions match each other, the freedom that you are not afraid to ask questions not only in the kitchen but also in public, that you know your rights. Finally, how sweet is the freedom that you find and obtain yourself.