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Don’t Hit Me, I Am on Your Side

November 26, 2007

Excuse me, has your TV set not been seized? Or maybe your telephone is being wiretapped? And do you remember November 7? So, you are brave enough to also not be afraid. Several days ago stickers and badges appeared in the city with the following texts - “imprisoned”, “Don’t hit me”, “I remember November 7”, “Do not listen to me.” The initiators of the sticker idea intend to reprint them.

Initially the idea came to mind and it turned out not too difficult to realize. Friends gathered and collected their own money which amounted to over 800 lari; then these people found a printing shop willing to take on the printing of the stickers and badges.

“When we informed our friends about our intentions they gladly joined us. People expressed the wish to contribute to the printing of the stickers. Everybody paid some money and several days later we had prepared everything. The only problem which arose was finding a printing shop. Almost all of them refused to cooperate with us. But finally we discovered one which agreed to take part in the activities, but which would like to remain anonymous,” said journalist Ninia Kakabadze, one of the initiators of the event.

Nato Zazashvili, coordinator for the Psychological and Medical Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims (GCRT) recalled the day when representatives of several NGOs and ordinary people decided to realize their ideas. “Our office was one of the imitators of the idea. We decided to express our attitude, concern and protest to the situation that occurred in November in a symbolic way. Lela Tsiskarishvili, director of the GCRT shared the idea with her friends and it turned out that the idea was greatly appreciated. We did not want to state that the event was organized only by NGOs because ordinary people, students, etc. also took part in its organization. We collected the money for printing the stickers and badges in two or three days among friends.”

Ninia Kakabadze stated that the stickers and badges are one form of public protest. “We took three main ideas - the first is November 7 which should never be forgotten by society; the second was the suspension of the broadcasting license of TV Company “Imedi”. In this case however, we did not draw our attention particularly on Imedi TV, because we feel that all media are seriously oppressed by the government in Georgia. Unfortunately, the recent events demonstrated that there is no independent media in our country nowadays. That is why we printed a TV set on one of the stickers with bars in front which has written “imprisoned” written on it. The third idea was small stickers with “Do not listen to me” on them.

According to Ninia Kakabadze, the extensive phone-tapping has caused deep concern within society. “Now even ordinary citizens are afraid that they are being tapped. It is very bad that the current government creates such an environment for the people. Nobody can be sure that his/her private talks will not become the topic of general discussion. I think that this type of campaign is the most peaceful form of protest.”

The organizers of the protest stated that the badges were in great demand. “I remember November 7” is written on the badges. Consequently the organizers plan to reissue both the stickers and badges in the near future.

Do not get surprised if you discover a sticker with a barred TV set in the street; or if you see a man sitting next to you in public transport with a sticker “Do not listen to me” on his/her mobile phone. Most importantly, you should not be afraid because anything can be expected in our present situation.

Nino Tarkhnishvili, Tbilisi
 

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