"When the American novelist Lauren Grodstein visited Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2023, its citizens were dancing in the face of riot police. She had come to research a novel that she was writing about an American woman at a personal crossroads; what she found, instead, was a nation protesting growing repression from its pro-Russian government. As Grodstein wrote this week in The Atlantic, Georgia's mass protests changed not only her novel but also her ideas about the choices she now faces at home."
"The Tbilisi marchers' stamina impressed Grodstein the most; people came out, night after night, even as the likely futility of their efforts became clear. One regular attendee was, according to Grodstein, "fairly certain her protests won't change a thing." Nevertheless, this woman felt that she had no choice but to show up, even as the ruling party, Georgian Dream, continued to tighten control over Georgia's citizens and appeared to rig an election."
An American novelist visiting Tbilisi in 2023 encountered citizens dancing in front of riot police and mass protests against a pro-Russian government's increasing repression. The novelist had intended to research a personal-crossroads story but found instead a nation confronting tightened control and apparent election manipulation by the ruling party, Georgian Dream. Marchers demonstrated nightly with persistent stamina, even when many believed the protests might not change outcomes. A regular attendee felt compelled to show up despite thinking the protests would not succeed. Observers note parallels between such perseverance and long-term dissident mindsets amid threats to democratic institutions elsewhere.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]