Georgian Parliament should stay in Kutaisi

Motion

Georgian Parliament was recently moved to Kutaisi - the second most populous city in Georgia. There are now talks of moving it back to Tbilisi. I claim this idea to be amiss and urge the representatives to stay in Kutaisi.

Argument

To understand why we are where we are we must know where we have come from. Contemporary Georgia carries Soviet legacy. This is not a choice or fate it is historical reality. Soviet stigma manifests itself everywhere - from social norms and civil expectations to geographical configuration of governing institutions. Within Soviet Union Georgia was formally one of the Republics, on paper an equal partner of the Union of fifteen members. In practice, it was a province. As a province it was organized the Empires have historically organized their provinces - an overblown local capital with comforting elite (cynically referred to as intelligentsia) carefully honed to oppress the rest, less developed parts of the estate. I don't know if this was done intentionally. I can't claim some great oppressing mind, say Stalin, meticulously planned for days how to enslave masses in the far reaches of his realm by systematically depleting them of their best minds. It might have happened on its own - the system needed to suppress autonomous tendencies in its corners and gradually found the way. The important thing is when the most atrocious experiment of our time ended in the beginning of 90's, we were left with a state poorly suited for the decentralization of power, at least geographically. There was an overpopulated capital which has accumulated social and economic benefits while the rest of the country was effectively underdeveloped. Little has changed since. Tbilisi now holds near half of Georgian population. The number is staggering.

Let's not confuse this layout with the urban vs. rural discrepancy often present in most Western societies. We're not taking about city vs. country. We're talking about one city vs. the rest of the country. This must end. The deurbanization of Tbilisi must commence and other cities must grow into their own right. There is much Georgian Government can do to aid and promote this process. First and foremost it must reorganize its constituting bodies across the country, emphasizing the notion that governance occurs on all geopolitical levels, not just from some distant center. This will ensure all citizens, regardless of their locality, feel included. There are at least three major reasons:

1. The separation of political and economical powers - the reality is Tbilisi will continue to maintain its hold on the macroeconomic decision-making for long. If we really want to build a form of governance where political capacity to affect progress is clearly separated from its economic counterpart, why not physically separate them?  The model seems to work well for the United States, it might work well elsewhere.

2. Turning the country from one-city-has-it-all to many-cities-share-it-all configuration will undoubtedly accelerate further development of infrastructure, transportation, cultural life and acceptance of diversity.

3. It will greatly benefit Georgian military doctrine - shall we need to defend our land from an invading force, we will have multiple strongholds to rely on. Hopefully such a day will never come but hope is a poor substitute for foresight. We all remember those unforgiving days of August 2008, when the entire country hung on a brink of capitulation - if Tbilisi where to fall the rest would as well. Nobody considered any serious resistance after that. Why should we applaud to such a layout when the surrender of one city implies the rest must kneel?

I am sure there are good counter-arguments to this motion.The debaters against it will put them forward but I wholeheartedly believe the reasons listed above are very strong - Tbilisi must deflate and if the first step in this process is to move the legislative body elsewhere, so be it. I long for the day when Georgia boasts several major cities competing with each other, challenging each other, overdoing each other. The day when being a city person does not necessarily mean occupying several square feet in Tbilisi. The day when it means living in one of these great Georgian polises - the strongholds of independent thought, innovative ideas and self-governance.