DOCSLIB.ORG

Is Tourism in Georgia a Threat to Rural Life?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Is Tourism in Georgia a Threat to Rural Life? Issue no: 1107 • DECEMBER 7 - 10, 2018 • PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY PRICE: GEL 2.50 In this week’s issue... Georgians Have Lowest Trust in Parliament, Prosecutor’s Offi ce & Court NEWS PAGE 3 Remembering my Encounters with President Bush FOCUS ON THE INAUGURATION The President-Elect chooses Telavi- the town where she lost the vote PAGE 3 POLITICS PAGE 4 Is Tourism in Georgia a Politician, Author Nika Rurua Dies Threat to Rural Life? SOCIETY PAGE 8 BY AMY JONES Parade: a Georgian Film in the Truest Sense oaring peaks and unique cave towns, endless green valleys and ancient watchtowers. Georgia’s unique rural life and scenery are attracting more and more international visitors by the Syear. The Georgian National Tourism Adminis- tration announced that more than 8 million peo- ple visited Georgia between January and Novem- ber this year, an increase of 10.6% compared to CULTURE PAGE 15 the same period in 2017. With many of the visi- tors fl ocking to Georgia’s rural areas, could this increase in numbers threaten rural life? My driver pulls sharply on the steering wheel as the contents of his car, myself included, are obvious and progress has been slow. Nonethe- completed, enabling tourists to reach the church fl ung to the left. Darkness makes it impossible to less, investment is slowly trickling into the infra- by car. During the works, the once green foot- see why he has swerved. Probably a cow, I think structure of rural areas, largely due to the hills of Kazbegi were turned into a mud bath of to myself. “Sorry, the road is so bad, better to go increased number of visitors, making local tracks and dirt, tarnishing the view at the top. on the fi eld,” he assures me, noticing my concern. mobility easier. Some question the necessity of the road at all, Those who have visited the farther-fl ung cor- Yet it seems little regard is paid to the potential as the church was already easily accessible after ners of Georgia will be acquainted with nail- destruction of the wild landscapes as new roads a short hike, and an old cable car, already built, biting journeys on narrow roads in terrible con- are built. Works on a road leading from Stepandts- could have been restored and monetized. dition. The need for improved infrastructure is minda to Gergeti Trinity Church were recently Continued on page 6 GEORGIA TODAY 2 NEWS DECEMBER 7 - 10, 2018 Airbnb Lists Batumi as Destination to Visit in 2019 Image source: SECO Start-Up Fund Photo source: Albatrosureki erate climate. Searches for Batumi on BY AMY JONES 2018 Decline in Georgia’s the platform have seen a year on year increase of 200%. Compiling off-the-beaten-track desti- he popular vacation home nations for travelers, the list includes rental platform Airbnb has Kaikoura in New Zealand, Xiamen in Hazelnut Exports listed Batumi as one of 19 China, Normandy in France, the Great destinations to visit in 2019. Smoky Mountains in the US, Accra in $18 million, but fell in the second and modity group at the HS four-digit level), BY SAMANTHA GUTHRIE The article, published on Ghana, Mozambique, and Uzbekistan, third quarters, reaching just $10 million but are now in 10th place after copper T3 December, chose destinations based among others. and $11.5 million, respectively. For the ores, cars, ferroalloys, wine, medicine, on wish list growth data and their own Airbnb is just one of many international fourth quarter, numbers are thus far only cigarettes, liquor, mineral water, fertiliz- research. They expect the cities to become companies and news outlets recently to n January-October 2018, Georgia available for October, which saw $6.2 ers, and gold, for the fi rst ten months of more and more in demand in the com- include Georgia as a place to visit. Geor- exported $45.8 million worth of million worth of exports. 2018. ing year. gian tourism is booming year on year. 8 hazelnuts, a $19 million (29.3%) Exports also fell dramatically in 2017: The majority of hazelnut exports are Batumi, Georgia’s second largest city, million visitors have already visited the decrease year-on-year, reports the a 54%, decrease from the previous year, sent to Italy, Germany and Russia. Hazel- is particularly popular with locals and country from January to November this National Statistics Offi ce of Georgia. with a total volume of $63.8 million. nuts are primarily grown in Georgia’s tourists especially due to its location on year, an increase of 10.6% compared to IExport fi gures were strong during the Hazelnuts were once the second most western, Black Sea coast regions of Adjara the Black Sea coast and year-round mod- the same period in 2017. fi rst quarter of the year with more than exported product from Georgia (by com- and Guria. GEORGIA TODAY DECEMBER 7 - 10, 2018 NEWS 3 Occupied Abkhazia Slams NATO Sec Gen's Statement The ministry claims that the “pres- BY THEA MORRISON ence of Russian forces on the territory of Abkhazia is strictly regulated by inter-state agreements between the he de facto Ministry of two countries.” Foreign Affairs of Geor- The statement also reads that Rus- gia’s occupied region of sia's recognition of occupied Abkha- Abkhazia stated that zia is “ultimate and irreversible.” NATO Secretary General “The strengthening of military coop- TJens Stoltenberg is increasing tension eration in the Georgia-NATO format in the region by calling on Russia to creates an additional threat to peace reverse recognition of breakaway Abk- in the South Caucasus,” the de facto hazia and South Ossetia. ministry said. “The statement made by NATO Sec- Two of Georgia’s regions, Abkhazia retary General Jens Stoltenberg is a and Samachablo (South Ossetia) fell provocation that further escalates the under Russian occupation after the 5-day situation in the region. Such statements August 2008 Russia-Georgia war. from European senior offi cials are The international community, exclud- directed at supporting the aggressor ing Russia, Syria, Nicaragua, Venezuela country, which has carried out many and Nauru, recognizes these territories acts of genocide and armed aggression as integral parts of Georgia and has against the peoples of Abkhazia and many times called on Russia to with- South Ossetia," the so-called ministry draw its forces and reverse the recog- stated. nition of the two breakaway regions. Georgians Have Lowest Trust in Parliament, Prosecutor’s Offi ce & Court adding the majority of the population BY THEA MORRISON does not understand the hierarchy of authority or the goals of the court reforms. “The majority of Georgia’s population he Parliament, the Prosecu- misunderstands or has no knowledge of tor's Offi ce and the Court who appoints judges, who is legally are the three main institu- allowed or not allowed to dismiss the tions of the country least judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia, trusted by the people. what the primary goal of the introduc- TWithin the project ‘Facilitating Imple- tion of the electronic system of case mentation of Reforms in the Judiciary’ distribution is and what the main func- (FAIR), implemented by the Human tion of the Independent Inspector is,” Rights Education and Monitoring Center the survey reads. (EMC) in cooperation with the Institute Giorgi Mikautadze, Secretary of the for Development of Freedom of Infor- High Council of Justice, stated the sur- mation (IDFI) and Caucasus Research vey revealed people are not well-informed Resource Centers (CRRC), CRRC-Geor- about the recent developments in the gia, a nationwide public opinion survey judiciary system. was conducted in order to understand “I consider this a challenge for the Judi- public opinion about the judicial system ciary and we have already identifi ed it. of Georgia, public views and attitudes Strengthening relations with the public is Image source: Foreign Policy towards the role of the judges, trust in inevitable and the High Council of Justice courts, and knowledge about the imple- ecutor's Offi ce (18%), judges (19%) and not think taking a case to court will make of lesser importance and considers pov- will actively work in this regard,” he said. mented judiciary reforms and their Parliament (15%). things worse, while half the people believe erty and unemployment as the most The survey took place August 30 - Sep- experience with courts. 46% of respondents think that judges that judges in Georgia are not independ- important problems in the country. How- tember 15, 2018 and involved the adult, The survey results show that the high- in Georgia are not independent. About ent,” the fi ndings read. ever, almost half the population is inter- Georgian speaking population of Geor- est trust of society goes to the police one third of respondents (32%) think Moreover, 41% of interviewed people do ested in what is happening in Georgian gia, excluding people in the breakaway (42%), followed by lawyers (35%) and that judges are not fair and 22% of not trust Georgian judges. This indicator courts,” the report reads. regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. the Public Defender (33%). respondents do not believe in their pro- has increased by 21% compared to 2014. The survey also revealed that the pop- Overall, 2,080 people were interviewed Trust towards NGOs (27%) exceeds fessionalism. “The population of Georgia perceives ulation of Georgia is less informed about with the CAPI (Computer Assisted Per- trust in the Prime Minister (24%), Pros- “A large part of the population does an independent judiciary to be an issue the court system and the ongoing reforms, sonal Interviewing) method. New President's Inauguration to Be Held in Telavi tions and I want to show that I am their "The 2001 Presidential Decree names BY THEA MORRISON President even if they did not vote for the offi cial inauguration place as Rustaveli me,” Zurabishvili stated, adding that Avenue and the parliament building invitations will be sent to foreign delega- there.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNIVERSITY of TARTU Faculty of Social Sciences Johan
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DSpace at Tartu University Library UNIVERSITY OF TARTU Faculty of Social Sciences Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies Master’s Thesis Lika Merebashvili DISCOVERING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEPENDENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIA - GEORGIA ECONOMIC RELATIONS Supervisor: Prof. Viacheslav Morozov Tartu 2016 I have written this Master's thesis independently. All viewpoints of other authors, literary sources and data from elsewhere used for writing this paper have been referenced. Lika Merebashvili The defence will take place on 19.12.16 at Lossi 36, Tartu, Estonia. Opponent - Dr. Leonardo Alvarez Pataccini Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. Viacheslav Morozov for supervising my thesis and for providing his valuable recommendations and constructive criticism which strongly encouraged me to do my best in the preparation of this work. I would like to also express my deep gratitude to the reviewer of the thesis Dr. Pataccini and the entire pre-defence committee, especially to Thomas Linsenmaier, Stefano Braghiroli, Heiko Pääbo, Raul Toomla, and Olga Bogdanova for their relevant comments and advice. And, finally, I would like to thank Oliivia Võrk and Aigi Hommik for their continuous administrative support. ABSTRACT This Master’s thesis examines social dimension of the economic dependence and foreign policy compliance of Georgia to Russia in order to explain foreign policy choices of the governments of Georgia. According to the mainstream IPE scholarship, higher the economic dependence, more prone the dependent partner is to make political compromises for the benefit of the dominant.
    [Show full text]
  • Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics Study and Research on Election
    Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics Study and Research on Election Media Coverage for 2016 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia TV News Monitoring Report 26 September – 2 November, 2016 The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics is implementing the monitoring of TV news broadcasts within the framework of the project entitled “Study of the Media Coverage of the 2016 Parliamentary Elections” funded by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The monitoring is carried out from 20 May to 19 December, 2016 and covers main news programs on the following 11 TV channels: “1st Channel” of the public broadcaster, “Rustavi 2”, “Maestro”, “GDS”, “Tabula”, “Kavkasia”, “TV Pirveli”, “Obieqtivi”, “Ajara TV”, and “TV 25”. This report presents the media monitoring results for the period of 26 September through 2 November, 2016. The quantitative and the qualitative analysis of the monitoring data has revealed the following key findings: At the outset of the monitoring a large number of TV channels devoted their primary attention to the activities of the Government of Georgia. During the last two monitoring rounds, however, this trend has been altered and TV channels started to actively cover political groups. During this round of monitoring “United National Movement” received the highest coverage among all political subjects at the nine monitored TV channels; As during the previous round of monitoring, activities of the Government of Georgia were most positively covered by “GDS” with 11% of positive tone indicators.
    [Show full text]
  • Successful Mediation and a Way Ahead
    Policy Paper 2021 The European Union’s New Role in Georgia: Successful Mediation and a Way Ahead LEVAN KAKHISHVILI GIP POLICY PAPER ISSUE #23 | MAY 2021 Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) is a Tbilisi-based non-profit, non-partisan, research and analysis organization. GIP works to strengthen the organizational backbone of democratic institutions and promote good governance and development through policy research and advocacy in Georgia. This publication was produced with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Georgian Institute of Politics and the National Endowment for Democracy. HOW TO QUOTE THIS DOCUMENT: Levan Kakhishvili, "The European Union’s New Role in Georgia: Successful Mediation and a Way Ahead", Policy Paper No. 23, Georgian Institute of Politics, May 2021. © Georgian Institute of Politics, 2021 13 Aleksandr Pushkin St, 0107 Tbilisi, Georgia Tel: +995 599 99 02 12 Email: [email protected] For more information, please visit www.gip.ge Cover Photo: Meeting with Charles Michel in Georgian Parliament Ended | https://georgiatoday.ge/ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Levan Kakhishvili is a Doctoral Fellow in political science at the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS), University of Bamberg, in the framework of DAAD Graduate School Support Programme. He is also a Lecturer at the Chair of Comparative Politics at the University of Bamberg, and a Policy Analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics. He holds two Master’s degrees, in Russian and East European Studies from the St.
    [Show full text]
  • Country of Origin Information Report Republic of Georgia 25 November
    REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION (COI) REPORT Country of Origin Information Service 25 November 2010 GEORGIA 25 NOVEMBER 2010 Contents Preface Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 1.01 Maps ...................................................................................................................... 1.05 2. ECONOMY ................................................................................................................ 2.01 3. HISTORY .................................................................................................................. 3.01 Post-communist Georgia, 1990-2003.................................................................. 3.02 Political developments, 2003-2007...................................................................... 3.03 Elections of 2008 .................................................................................................. 3.05 Presidential election, January 2008 ................................................................... 3.05 Parliamentary election, May 2008 ...................................................................... 3.06 Armed conflict with Russia, August 2008 .......................................................... 3.09 Developments following the 2008 armed conflict.............................................. 3.10 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ..........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 1 PATHOLOGIES of GEORGIAN POLITICS: EXTREMISM, FACTIONALISM and SECURITIZATION in the POST-SAAKASHVILI ERA Jason E. Strakes, P
    PATHOLOGIES OF GEORGIAN POLITICS: EXTREMISM, FACTIONALISM AND SECURITIZATION IN THE POST-SAAKASHVILI ERA Jason E. Strakes, PhD (Associate Researcher, Ilia State University, Georgia) Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 6 December 2015 In the years since the South Ossetia War of 8-13 August 2008, Western observers have produced much alarmist commentary regarding the imminent Russian threat to Georgia's continued existence as an independent state, and the imperative of greater Euro-Atlantic commitment to its defense.1 On one hand, this reflects the international public relations campaign pursued by the former United National Movement (UNM) government to justify its unsuccessful strategy of reintegrating the de facto state territories by force, which (in defiance of the 2009 EU Independent International Fact Finding Mission Report) cast the conflict as a premeditated and expansionist gambit by Moscow—a view congratulated by ideologically sympathetic experts and policymakers.2 Yet, this narrative followed upon an existing unofficial domestic security doctrine during its incumbency from 2004-2012 that identified all major instances of organized political opposition or unrest as Kremlin-orchestrated actions, which both preceded and was reinforced by the five-day invasion.3 This essential credulity on the part of some U.S. and European representatives has encouraged the drawing of spurious associations between the August War and the Russian annexation of Crimea and involvement in the ensuing insurgency in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine since February 2014, in turn fueling the trope of entitlement to “shortcuts” to NATO membership among Georgian societal elites.4 Yet, rather than the latest wave of Russian imperialism, it is possible that the greatest threat to peace and stability in contemporary Georgia originates from the country's leaders themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender and Society: Georgia
    Gender and Society: Georgia Tbilisi 2008 The Report was prepared and published within the framework of the UNDP project - “Gender and Politics” The Report was prepared by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) The author: Nana Sumbadze For additional information refer to the office of the UNDP project “Gender and Politics” at the following address: Administrative building of the Parliament of Georgia, 8 Rustaveli avenue, room 034, Tbilisi; tel./fax (99532) 923662; www.genderandpolitics.ge and the office of the IPS, Chavchavadze avenue, 10; Tbilisi 0179; tel./fax (99532) 220060; e-mail: [email protected] The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations or UNDP Editing: Sandeep Chakraborty Book design: Gio Sumbadze Copyright © UNDP 2008 All rights reserved Contents Acknowledgements 4 List of abbreviations 5 Preface 6 Chapter 1: Study design 9 Chapter 2: Equality 14 Gender in public realm Chapter 3: Participation in public life 30 Chapter 4: Employment 62 Gender in private realm Chapter 5: Gender in family life 78 Chapter 6: Human and social capital 98 Chapter 7: Steps forward 122 Bibliography 130 Annex I. Photo Voice 136 Annex II. Attitudes of ethnic minorities towards equality 152 Annex III. List of entries on Georgian women in Soviet encyclopaedia 153 Annex IV. List of organizations working on gender issues 162 Annex V. List of interviewed persons 173 Annex VI. List of focus groups 175 Acknowledgements from the Author The author would like to express her sincere gratitude to the staff of UNDP project “Gender and Politics” for their continuous support, and to Gender Equality Advisory Council for their valuable recommendations.
    [Show full text]
  • Simplified Procurement – Corruption Risks in Non-Competitive Government Contracts
    Simplified Procurement – Corruption Risks in Non-Competitive Government Contracts December 2013 Transparency International Georgia 26, Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi Tel: (+995 32) 292 14 0 Web: http://transparency.ge/en Email: [email protected] An electronic version of this report, interactive visualizations and source data is available at http://transparency.ge/en/simplified-procurement. Scan with your mobile device The report was prepared with financial support from the Open Society Georgia Foundation, the Official Development Aid of the Slovak Republic (SlovakAid) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The content and opinions expressed in the report are those of Transparency International Georgia and do not reflect the position of the donors. Executive Summary This report finds that extensive direct contracting by the Georgian government has resulted in numerous cases of companies linked to public officials receiving large, non-competitive contracts and that numerous beneficiaries of this practice in 2011 and 2012 made financial contributions to the ruling party, some of which may constitute kickback payments. Transparency International (TI) Georgia analyzed more than 430,000 non- competitive government contracts awarded between December 2010 and September 2013. In 2011, the government issued direct contracts worth more than GEL 959 million, GEL 1.17 billion in 2012 and approximately 450 million in the first nine months of 2013. Last year, these contracts accounted for 18% of all government spending, equal to 4.7% of the Georgian economy (GDP). Direct procurement is likely to result in wasteful spending, as there is no opportunity for other qualified bid for the same contract and bring down the price.
    [Show full text]
  • 081210Cover (Skrivskyddat)
    Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst BI-WEEKLY BRIEFING VOL. 10 NO. 24 10 DECEMBER 2008 Searchable Archives with over 1,500 articles at http://www.cacianalyst.org ANALYTICAL ARTICLES: FIELD REPORTS: RUSSIA’S STRATEGIC CHALLENGES IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: AZERBAIJAN WORLD’S FAMOUS SANTA CLAUSES UNITE IN MOVES CENTER STAGE KYRGYZSTAN Roger N McDermott Erica Marat GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE IN GEORGIA CHINA’S RECENT ADVANCES Johanna Popjanevski IN CENTRAL ASIA Sébastien Peyrouse TAJIK LABOR MIGRATION AND ITS CONSE- QUENCES FOR WOMEN RECONCILING SHARIA WITH Sergey Medrea REALPOLITIK: THE INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK OF THE CAUCASUS EMIRATE TURKMENISTAN BOOSTS ITS ROLE IN RE- Kevin Daniel Leahy GIONAL ENERGY COOPERATION Roman Muzalevsky CURRENCY CHANGES IN TURKMENISTAN: NEWS DIGEST ECONOMIC REFORMS ON THE WAY? Rafis Abazov Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst BI-WEEKLY BRIEFING VOL. 10 NO. 24 10 DECEMBER 2008 Contents Analytical Articles RUSSIA’S STRATEGIC CHALLENGES IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: 3 AZERBAIJAN MOVES CENTER STAGE Roger N McDermott CHINA’S RECENT ADVANCES IN CENTRAL ASIA 6 Sébastien Peyrouse RECONCILING SHARIA WITH REALPOLITIK: 9 THE INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK OF THE CAUCASUS EMIRATE Kevin Daniel Leahy CURRENCY CHANGES IN TURKMENISTAN: 12 ECONOMIC REFORMS ON THE WAY? Rafis Abazov Field Reports WORLD’S FAMOUS SANTA CLAUSES UNITE IN KYRGYZSTAN 15 Erica Marat GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE IN GEORGIA 16 Johanna Popjanevski TAJIK LABOR MIGRATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR WOMEN 18 Sergey Medrea TURKMENISTAN BOOSTS ITS ROLE IN REGIONAL ENERGY COOPERATION 19 Roman Muzalevsky News Digest 21 THE CENTRAL ASIA-CAUCASUS ANALYST Editor: Svante E. Cornell Assistant Editor: Niklas Nilsson Assistant Editor, News Digest: Alima Bissenova Chairman, Editorial Board: S. Frederick Starr The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is an English-language journal devoted to analysis of the current issues facing Central Asia and the Caucasus.
    [Show full text]
  • The Publication Has Been Prepared with the Financial Support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
    The Publication has been prepared with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The views expressed in the report do not necessarily represent those of Sida. Transparency International Georgia is solely responsible for the report’s content. 1 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4 Key findings ............................................................................................................................... 5 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................... 5 Ownership transparency ............................................................................................................ 6 Online media .............................................................................................................................. 7 Advertising and financial sustainability of online news websites ............................................. 9 Online Media Outlets with Political Agenda ...........................................................................11 Anti-Western online media outlets .........................................................................................11 Reportiori.ge ......................................................................................................................12 Marshallpress.ge ................................................................................................................14
    [Show full text]
  • Georgia: Sliding Towards Authoritarianism?
    GEORGIA: SLIDING TOWARDS AUTHORITARIANISM? Europe Report N°189 – 19 December 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 1 II. THE NOVEMBER CRISIS: A REALITY CHECK ...................................................... 2 A. AN INCREASINGLY TENSE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT................................................................2 B. THE CRACKDOWN ..................................................................................................................3 C. AN ATTEMPTED RUSSIAN COUP?.............................................................................................5 III. RUSSIA-GEORGIA RELATIONS................................................................................. 7 A. AFTER THE ROSE REVOLUTION................................................................................................7 B. COMPETING VISIONS ..............................................................................................................9 C. THE CONFLICT REGIONS .......................................................................................................10 IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF REFORM AT ANY COST............................................ 13 A. THE ECONOMY.....................................................................................................................13 1. Achievements............................................................................................................13
    [Show full text]
  • Politics and Mediation 62 | Part 2: Politics and Mediation
    PART 2 Politics and Mediation 62 | Part 2: Politics and Mediation CHAPTER 3 The Schlaining Process Jonathan Cohen1 1 Director of Programmes, Conciliation Resources, London While I take sole responsibility for the content and views expressed in this article, the Schlaining Process itself was a collaborative endeavour. Martin Schumer and Norbert Ropers were critical in conceptualising what we called the “social infrastructure for peace”, the way a dialogue process could contribute to this and then making the process happen. Clem McCartney introduced an essential creativity and adaptive approach to the facilitation team. Colleagues at Conciliation Resources provided continuous and vital support – in particular Rachel Clogg, whose accompaniment of the process throughout was indispensable, latterly assuming a central facilitation role. Colleagues at the Berghof Centre were crucial to developing the process – in particular Oliver Wolleh and Antje Buehler, who acted as process observers, feeding ideas into the facilitation and undertaking support activities. A number of non-governmental donors and governments funded the process and the latter provided support in facilitating participant travel (especially the governments of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). Representatives of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) provided invaluable insights, as did colleagues from a number of other initiatives – Paula Garb, Bruno Coppieters, Walter Kaufmann, Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan and Magdalena Frichova. The participants and many political and civic actors in their respective communities provided challenge, critique and support. Above all, the process would not have happened without Manana Gurgulia, Paata Zakareishvili, Liana Kvarchelia and Arda Inal- Ipa, whose courage and commitment to change the way their societies resolve conflicts was and remains inspirational.
    [Show full text]
  • GEORGIA Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018
    GEORGIA Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018 This catalogue was published within the framework of the project Georgia Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018 with the support of the Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, and Georgian National Book Center. Publishing team Gvantsa Jobava Tinatin Beriashvili Tekla Kveladze Translator Maya Kiasashvili Ketevan Grdzelidze Editor Philip Price Designer Teona Chanishvili Publishers and Booksellers in Georgia A New Beginning for the Great Adventure of the Georgian Culture 2018 CATALOGUE All Over the World hat were the and Asia—and an active cultural GVANTSA expectations of the life. Georgia had always JOBAVA Frankfurter Buchmesse been an oasis of varying and when in 2013, the (some contrasting cultural trends up Chairperson of Wmight say risky) decision was to the point where our country Georgian Publishers made to name Georgia, a small was hidden away from the entire and Booksellers Association but very old country in Eastern world for seventy long years of Europe, the official Guest of the last century by the heavy Head of the Honour of the Buchmesse 2018? burden of the Iron Curtain. Publishing Program Georgia - Guest What can we tell international What does Georgian Literature of Honour at society about our country look like today? What did it Frankfurter today through our wide-ranging look like in the past? Who are Buchmesse 2018 presentation, constructed the Georgian authors worth Publishers and Booksellers in GEORGIA around the unifying concept meeting
    [Show full text]