Ethics of learning Russian language in present-day Georgia.
A culture of its own with a political crisis to match, Georgia is the tale of three wishes where each kid knows that the third wish is a demand for additional three. However in current day Tbilisi everybody plays an extra in the movie “I am Georgian, therefore I am an European” thus anti Russian propaganda is marketed like fashion. Patriots are the new couturiers banning Slavic lifestyle, 70s industrial functionalism, Siberian vodka and above all – ‘Russskiy Accent”. For those Georgians grown in past couple generations, the mother language of Dostoevsky looks right, smells right, even sounds right – but it’s not right.
In the meantime the Queen’s English has blossomed like an orchid in the garden of State priorities; it blows kisses to the youngsters offering itself on every possible social media. A great move to charm those who spend months building their virtual existence, by posting pictures of things they wish to have. Russian language is out of Georgian reality, households, villages and here’s the brilliant twist – public schools.
The subject of Russian idiom as “a weapon of enemy” briskly became a grave topic of controversy, pros and cons couldn’t reach the golden middle in their competitive brainwashing conventions. Those vouching for the demolition of Soviet tongue conveyed lines of reasoning.
Georgians take their native tongue more seriously than any other place you go. People all over the world have them - official languages, but it’s not the same. After passing the visa regime bill between the two, forbidding “Made in Georgia” goods to the Northern territories and culminating the long started dispute with a war in 2008, countless Georgians had enough! Today’s empty corridors of unfriendly totalitarian grey schools with sad post war graffiti on the walls, sure seem depressing, as well as thousands of professors who lost their jobs, simply because the dictionary knowledge of the discipline they loved sank like Titanic, but it’s nothing compared to the decades of degradation Georgia had to deal with.
The motifs of those who approve such prohibition and agree with the caucasian style tower of babel, go even further. Some say that Moscow can be on a death row but not permit post Soviet countries to ban Russian language, as it is the sole key to keep the new generations under their “imaginary wing”. Others agree with the cause, as they simply detest the Russian slang paving its way in the Geo society with tacky expressions and cliché sayings, which are tasteless, to say the least. For example when friends great each other with the last names of their fathers, (Davidovich, Mikhailovich, Andreevna, Borisvna, etc) historically a provincial way to identify a person, where’s the individuality? Where’s the ego? Or simply reaching to a fellow by surname, now that’s the classic militaristic way to welcome a friend.
But the majority of those who wholly agree with the exclusion of Russian language from Georgian realism declare that this act is crucial in order for Georgia to embrace Wild West. As Democracy doesn’t have hammer and sickle in its purse, it carries GRE TEST book facing up and a smile on its face implying hope.
However in the realm of opposing teams there are those who do not consider Russian language to be a drug or decease. These individuals of artistic conception, hardly move their lips while talking, protecting their intellectual integrity and deep down in their hearts still considering Germany as their favorite enemy. They are so called strong silent types who back in the Soviet past represented a high elite of Georgian society (if such ever existed) with decent jobs in the Russian capital, a Volga (the vehicle) and occasional treats from foreign countries, like the stereo player or blue jeans. For them Russian language is the tongue of classic writers, unequivocally the best ballet theater in the world, and symbol of power mixed with prestige.
Their objections are justified with some valid and few mechanical explanations, for instance the Russian television is apparently more scholarly; former Soviet states still use the language as basic tool of communication between each other; there’s also that urban legend that outside of Putin’s squad an alternative Russia subsists – more generous, academic and polite. Although people who say this, even after 20 something years of independent state governing, still love to use Russian phrases in-between Georgian sentences, to show the rest, that back in the day they used to be influential.
Seems like there is no end to the contradictions and cultural snobbery, however those individuals who would like to keep Russian language in Georgian public schools at some point peal down to the root of the problem and bring in an interesting argument: If Georgia aims towards western civilizations, flirts with Europe and dates Democracy, it should allow the freedom of choice, thus no language or culture should be thoroughly banned from the society and those who want to make their kids read Pushkin in its original dialect, they must have that option.
“I don’t think learning Russian should be an obligation, but it should not be banned, I think it has to be a choice for a parent when determining the child’s curriculum. I know my child will learn Russian for sure, but I cannot necessitate other children to do so as well” – reveals in personal conversation the representative of Georgian Parliament, from the Committee on European Integration.
Ever since the collapse of the Union, Georgia started making baby steps to evaporate all that was communist. The prohibition of Russian as a second language, which up to end of 90s was an absolute obligation, seems like a large step forward. To be clear, Georgian and Russian have utterly distinctive etymological language backgrounds starting with different alphabets.
Nevertheless the only way to make sense in Tbilisi is to remember that people breathe exaggeration; it’s in their DNA. Dramatic is often tragic and only as adults they learn that the childhood wishes bring more greed with misery and bad taste. However perhaps having a choice can be the golden middle?!
