Author: Nikoloz Gvasalia

The name “Georgia” is assumed to be derived from the Greek word georgos, which means land in English.
Ancient sources confirm that agrarian culture has been relevant in Georgia since time immemorial, of course, partly thanks to the fertile land, but it is worth noting the level of development of ancient Georgian metallurgy, which allowed the population to work more productively. Along with the general discussion, it is worth noting the important role of vines in Georgian culture. Vineyard is a symbol of life for Georgians. And the nectar of the grapes is the blood of Christ, which must not be wasted under any circumstances. It is thanks to Georgian farmers and winemakers that Georgian culture has been mummified and reached us. Even during the invasion of the merciless enemy, Georgians still managed to harvest the holy fruits. Perhaps it is not surprising that there are about 500 grape varieties in Georgia, it is Georgia that is considered the homeland of wine because traces of ancient wine production have been found here, which is 8000 years old.
National Georgian Ballet is an integral part of Georgian culture. However, it has nothing to do with ballet you know. In Georgian ballet, the main movements are based on the old fighting style, and the style of dances, and directly conveys the history of Georgian fighting ability. Along with battle scenes, Georgian national dances also include wedding dances. This dance is called Georgian and it represents two couples in love. During the dance, the woman expresses tenderness and honesty, during the whole dance the woman shyly looks down and tries to avoid eye contact with the man, and on the other hand, the man shows his masculinity in a posture of strength, at the same time, during the whole dance, the man does not have the right to touch the woman, thus he Shows respect to women.

Kolkhuri “White” is one of the first coins issued on the territory of Georgia, these artifacts clearly show us how developed blacksmithing was in the territory of ancient Georgia. It is worth noting the traditional Georgian weapon production culture. Since the country was constantly fighting for self-preservation against the biggest empires, it was necessary to start creating a military industry. Along with the production of weapons, there are ancient fortresses in the mountainous regions of Georgia, which were the only means of protection for ordinary families.

As I said earlier, Georgia converted to Christianity in the 4th century, and religion played a huge role in Georgian culture, and religious conversion ultimately shaped the country’s political course and made it a target for many enemies. Fortunately, the monuments of orthodox architecture still stand on the territory of Georgia. Georgian traditional temple architecture is a unique example in the entire Christian world, a similar style of temple architecture can be found only in Georgia and Armenia. Scientists assume that the influence on religious architecture in the Caucasus comes from the ancient Mesopotamia region, where ancient religious chapels were discovered as a result of archeological works. The buildings of these ancient civilizations have a lot in common with the Caucasian churches, first of all, the pointed dome is noticeable, this symbol denotes the aspiration to heaven and endless life.

The symbol of Georgian individualism is the Georgian alphabet, which is one of the 14 world scripts. For the first time, traces of Georgian writing are found in Palestine and it dates back to the 30s of the 5th century.

The 11th-12th centuries are considered to be the golden age of the Kartli state. At that time, education reform was actively underway in the country, many schools and monasteries were built, the country’s territorial size covered the entire region, and Georgia became one of the leading states in Eastern Europe. All this started in the 11th century, thanks to King Davit Agmashenebeli, who, thanks to the military reform, was able to defeat the Sejuks, the strongest state at that time, in the Battle of Diddgori in 1121. And Georgia finally flourished under his granddaughter, Queen Tamar. It is the twelfth century that is associated with the creation of the epic Georgian poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin”, which was created by the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli. An interesting adventure in the poem, takes place in ancient Persia, although it is easy to see analogies with Georgia, especially when the main idea in the poem is about the reign of women. Scientists think that Shota Rustaveli was secretly in love with Queen Tamar and dedicated his epic poem to her.
At the end of the 12th century, the first precedents of democratization appeared in Georgia, the rulers of the country considered creating a state council, which would be similar to the current parliament, but the project was not implemented, and the Spanish Cortes was considered the first European parliament.

The ethnically diverse population in Georgia has always been sheltered under its wing. Jews have been living in our country for three thousand years. It is a matter of pride that this is perhaps the only nation and country that has never had anti-Semitic sentiments, and next to the main cathedral of the capital of the country, there is a Jewish synagogue, a Muslim Mosque, and Ateshgah of fire worshipers. Several Persian chronicles also write that our people do not feel as well at home as in Georgia, because foreign merchants and travelers paid fewer taxes than Georgians themselves.
The ethnic diversity of Georgia is best expressed in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

The Middle Ages, unlike the Renaissance of Western Europe, turned out to be quite difficult in the Caucasus, Georgia in the 16th century was already disintegrated, it could no longer resist the enemies from the east: first, the permanent raids of Temur Lang//Tamerlane, then black and white Turkmens, then the Safavids//Kizilbashur Iran, and finally the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 from the west and the revival of the mighty Ottoman Empire cut it off from Europe. All these factors led to the fact that Georgia was divided into principalities, and the principle of a unified state was lost.

In the 18th century, Georgia’s self-goal was the European choice, but the only solution for a weakened and disintegrated Georgia was to change its political orientation in favor of its Christian northern neighbor, Russia. Finally, the Russian Empire conquered Georgia in the 19th century, soon abolished the centuries-old autocephaly of the Church, and then began a 200-year struggle for independence.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian Empire began to disintegrate, and the revolution of 1917 finally overthrew Tsarism. It was the best chance for Georgia and the local government of Georgia at that time, On May 26, 1918, Georgia declared its independence, and on February 21, 1921, the Constitution of Georgia was adopted, which was one of the most democratic and progressive European constitutions of that time. Unfortunately, the country’s independence lasted until 1921, and the country became a victim of Soviet Russia, and in 1922 Georgia became one of the socialist republics.

During the Soviet occupation, the industry was actively developing, in particular, such industries as the electric power industry, mechanical engineering, fuel and ferrous metallurgy, and light and chemical industries. Agriculture was also at a fairly high level. Georgia was not inferior to the leading positions in the field of viticulture. Meat and dairy cattle breeding and meat and wool sheep breeding flourished. The network of railways and roads within the Georgian SSR was actively developed. It was during the Soviet period that Georgia became a popular region in the development of domestic tourism. The main Georgian sea resorts of Batumi and Sukhumi were visited by residents of other republics of the USSR with enviable regularity.

Despite these many positive factors, Georgia remained a prisoner of the communist machine, which mercilessly tried to erase individualism and independent culture from the consciousness of the Georgian people. Fortunately, even in these difficult years, some people tried their best to preserve the national identity, and even during the period of totalitarianism, they tried to present the Georgian spirit in the form of art. One such person was Merab Berdzenishvili, a Georgian sculptor and artist, the author of many unique works, his outstanding sculptures kept the sadness and anger of Georgian history.
When talking about the history of Georgia in the 20th century, we must mention, arguably the most famous Georgian in world history, this person created his era, and he was the ruler of the greatest state of new and recent history, this man is Joseph Stalin.
Stalin was born in the small town of Gori in Georgia on December 21, 1879, his real name is Josep Jugashvili, Stalin is his pseudonym, which was named after him due to his strength of character, Stalin means steel in Russian. Stalin created his image, or cult of personality, which probably resembles the most egregious absolute monarchy, the dictator’s role in history is still relevant.
For part of society, he has been associated as the creator of a bloody regime that mercilessly and for no reason killed millions of people in work camps, human life for him and individualism had no price. And for many, he remains a hero to this day, having defeated Nazi Germany and allowed the Soviet Union to stand on the side of the twentieth-century super-state, as Winston Churchill said, He came to the Soviet government with a sickle and leave it with a nuclear weapon.
Both opinions are acceptable, because in both opinions there are historical facts and events, although the most interesting and objective is probably the opinion of an ordinary citizen living

at the time, who saw the period of his rule.
In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, Georgia again became an independent state. 70 years from 1921 to 1991 are considered the time of the “Soviet occupation of Georgia”. Modernity In the period from 1990 to 1992, the country was under the leadership of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, under whom market relations were introduced in Georgia. The leadership of Zviad Gamsakhurdia didn’t last long. in January 1992 Gamsakhurdia was removed from his post and left the country. in March 1992 announced the creation of the State Council.
In general, we can say that in the 90s, Georgia was an unorganized state, ruled by gangsters and corrupt officials.
The situation began to improve after 2003 when Mikheil Saakashvili came to the head of the country as a result of the Rose Revolution, the current course of the country is uniquely Western, and during these years Georgia has achieved a lot in terms of democratization.
Unfortunately, the Russian government, dissatisfied with the European development of Georgia, started a war against Georgia in 2008, and in the end, as a result of the war, 20 percent of the country is occupied by the Russian army.
In December 2018, Salome Zurabishvili, the first woman president in the history of independent modern Georgia, became the President of Georgia. This is the shortest excursion into the history of Georgia.

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April 4, 2023
ENTRY SEVEN:
I am returning $100 for a process of presenting Georgia, a multi-age country, in the New Britain Public Library, New Britain, CT on March 18, 2023. They are on a table with a receipt for you to sign.

Hello, my name is Nikoloz Gvasalia, I am a student at Tbilisi State University, and today I will try to introduce you to the country in which I was born and raised.
You probably have a question, what is Georgia and why is this strange little country named after one of the American states?!

The truth is that Georgia is a diverse, ancient country located between Europe and Asia, in a small region called the Caucasus.
The flag you see now represents the red or bloody, difficult past, while the white is a symbol of a bright future and hope.
The large cross in the center of the flag represents Georgia, and the smaller crosses around it are the four apostles who were the first to preach Christianity in Georgia in the 4th century.
These apostles were Andrew, Simon the Canaanite, Matati, and Saint Nino. As you may have guessed, the Orthodox Christian religion plays a major role in the life of Georgia.

In general, the Caucasus region, despite its small size, is distinguished by its diverse nature and the culture of the local people. Imagine, in this small region, the area of which is not larger than the state of Indiana, there are up to 40 languages! The richness of nature is added to the linguistic diversity, there are permanent alpine zones, straight valleys, deserts, exotic forests where citrus fruits flourish, and, of course, a beautiful seaside.

Georgia, thanks to its geographical location, was considered a strategic territory since ancient times, the section of the greatest silk road passed through the territory of Georgia. Almost all military campaign routes coincided with the location of Georgia, which played a big role in shaping the cultural diversity of Georgia.
The manifestation of the identity of any culture begins with clothing. Georgian traditional clothing, also known as chokha, is first found in Georgian sources of the 9th century. Historians suggest that the history of Georgian traditional clothing begins in ancient Persia, and later it was remodeled in the Caucasus and turned into much more stylish and comfortable clothing. Chokha very well expresses the tough spirit of the Caucasus, and at the same time, it places the role of military clothing in history.

Georgia is no less interesting, with the factor of prehistoric times. It should be noted that it is in the territory of South Georgia that the first homo-sapiens outside of Africa were discovered. By the way, it was this event that created the racial term Caucasian. Archaeologists found ancient artifacts in the small village of Dmanis, they traced the remains of the skulls of two individuals, and later they even found out their sexes, it turned out that one was a woman and the other was a man, and they were given Georgian names, Zezva and Mzia. And later it turned out that Mziya is a man, although he kept the name of a woman.

We learn about the first Georgian states from the ancient Mesopotamian sources of the second millennium before Knariste’s Christmas.
In the territory of eastern Georgia, Iberia, and the territory of western Georgia, Kolkha. In turn, both states were quite powerful at the time, according to ancient Greek sources, the kingdom of Colchis was known for its high quality of metallurgy and high level of education, even Herodotus, the father of history, writes about this in his book called History.

In the famous mythology about the Argonauts, the events take place right in the territory of Kolkheti. According to mythology, the brave Argonauts go through the most difficult obstacles during their sea journey and finally find themselves in Colchis, where the golden fleece belonging to Zeus is kept. After completing the tasks of King Aetius of Colchis, the Argonauts try to take the fleece to Greece, although the king intended to kill them. Fortunately, Medea, the king’s daughter in love with the leader of the Argonauts, decided to help them and eventually managed to sneak the Argonauts quietly into the night with the Golden Fleece.

Although it is impossible to predict what will happen in the ongoing crisis on the EU-Belarus border, likely, these events will further accelerate the process of building walls and passing fences in Europe, which has already begun.

We may soon see a new “Iron Curtain” come down, dividing the continent once more. And while it no longer stretches “from Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic,” as Winston Churchill put it in his legendary speech in 1946, new barriers are likely to arise in more and more places, dividing EU members from non-members.

The EU is currently trying to respond to Alexander Lukashenko’s most cynical plot against the West – bringing thousands of migrants from the Middle East, especially Iraqi Kurds, into the country, busing them to the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, and inciting them at the border to find their way to the EU.

Sanctions are likely to be imposed that will affect Belarusian airports, various transport companies, and people responsible for these migration flows.

Hello, my name is Nikoloz Gvasalia, I am a 23-year-old student at the Faculty of Humanities of TSU, majoring in history. I have been in the United States of America for 7 months now, and I plan to continue my studies here.

I work in the local non-governmental organization Fermata Arts Foundation non-profit organization inc. (FAF). I joined the Fermata Foundation team on December 15, 2022, and with their support, I soon had the opportunity to represent our country through presentations and events in multiple locations, states, libraries, and other public spaces. On the initiative of FAF, presentational events about Georgian culture and history were organized in almost all public libraries of the New England region (in Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts).

Recently I decided to start writing a blog. I am very eager to make my blog public, and I would be extremely happy if your editors agree to host my blogs on your platform. Thank you very much in advance.

Sincerely,

Nikoloz Gvasalia

After the “ethnological and geopolitical studies”, the master of the Kremlin begins to discuss toponymy, declaring that Ukraine is “Little Russia” (Malorossia): “Since 1686, the city of Kyiv and the lands on the left bank of the Dnieper, including the regions of Poltava, Chernihiv, and Zaporizhia, became part of Russia. Their inhabitants united with a large part of the Russian Orthodox. Thus arose the region called ‘Little Russia’ (Malorosia).”

In fact, “Little Russia” as a concept will be introduced by the Patriarchate of Constantinople two centuries earlier: in 1458, the highest Greek church authorities, at the request of the Lithuanian princes, will create an independent church province for their subordinate Orthodoxy as a counterweight to the united church around the Moscow principality. This independent ecclesiastical province is called by the Byzantines “Mikra Russia” (Little Russia) as distinct from “Megale Russia” (Great Russia).

Finally, Putin concludes that “modern Ukraine is entirely a creation of the Soviet era.” In this way, he repeats almost verbatim the words from Vyacheslav Molotov’s October 31, 1939 speech, in which Stalin’s right-hand man refers to Poland as “a monstrous creature of the Treaty of Versailles, which existed at the expense of the oppression of national minorities” … just like today, according to Putin, “Nazi” Ukraine Lives at the expense of Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Putin’s logic is simple: if Ukraine (like Poland 80 years ago) is an artificial entity, then its destruction is justified…

Putin’s “history” contradicts all historical facts, and to destroy these facts, it is necessary to uproot the Ukrainian nation, which is a product of history. This is how Putin sees the way to the “lost paradise”, which has all the hallmarks of hell…

In countries where socialism lasted almost 70 years, in the early 90s, individualism and the free market were struck at once like a tsunami, a small part of society met this event and learned to swim in this huge tsunami, and the vast majority of society failed to come to terms with the foreign rule of life and sank into poverty, In the end, instead of 3 social layers (as in all normal old capitalist countries), 2 social layers emerged. One was a layer on the brink of poverty that fought for survival every day, and the other was the rich.
The ”New Rich” used unusual skills for collectivization and, when introducing the right to privatization, they amassed property, initiated individual, state-independent businesses, started finding international partners and cooperating with them, as well as privatizing various fossil deposits and exporting them.
Looking at the statistical data of the 90s, we will see that between 94% and 97% of the country’s population of all ex-socialist countries, were unable to obtain a living wage and save their family. This period can be called the peak of wild capitalism.
Well, At the same time, countries with western “traditional capitalist economies” disappeared all kinds of trade obstacles, and the largest market opened, with the greatest opportunities and resources, it was the same for them as a huge supermarket, where lots of quality goods can be bought, very, very cheaply. Big Western companies began to move offices and enterprises to the East because the workforce was doing the same thing at a minimum price. This is a golden period for the Western economy in recent history. With the onset of the new century, the economic stabilization of Eastern European countries began, former Communist countries slowly began to follow the rhythm, the geographical location played a huge role, the Baltic countries were lucky in this case, they soon joined European trade and economic organizations, and their economy became stronger relatively soon, Approximately the same fate was made by Poland, although at the same time, a dire situation persisted in the Caucasus region and Ukraine, where separatist or other artificially created conflicts did not allow the regions to develop stable, and from the second half of the 2000s, the communication between Russia and NATO began, which naturally led to an increase in Russia’s interests towards its neighboring countries, All this aggravated the situation and began to actively armed complainants, in many ethnic-separatist regions.
Against the background of all this, the Caucasus region edged further from stabilization, the national currency came under the influence of the Russian economy, which become unsustainable.
In such a strange environment, we had to grow up with my generation and generation, instead of the usual childish carefree years, we always had to hear stories about the political crisis, we saw active war, and bombs, from the age of 9, all peers knew what NATO and the European Union were.
When I grew up always thought that social instability in the country was only about countries with a new economy, and I believed that in countries with a solid economy, everything was much better distributed, but I was disappointed, The disadvantage of the social economy was a locked economy and isolation from the outside world, In the 5 months after I arrived in America, I slowly saw the Great Wall dividing society into different layers, of course, this is not as acute a problem as in Eastern Europe of the 90s but in the big cities of America where everything is visible this problem is nowhere to be hidden. Thanks to American free speech, we often raise social differentiation problems on public Internet platforms, and fortunately, there are active organizations and parts of society trying to awaken an honest feeling in people, a longitude that stands higher than all material values.
What makes our society and how different we are from a herd, political views despite always being remembered that during the period of none of political ideology, the right of a homeless person has been protected in a way that a high official cannot fulfill the idea of justice, we simply need to know individually that we do not perceive human social status as a subject of difference.

Journalism, like other relatively old professions, changes over time and adapts to modern standards.
The initial mechanism for creating mass media was created in the German city of Mainz in 1450. The author of this revolutionary invention was Johann Gutenberg, who went down in history as the first printer.
This invention by a German scientist laid the foundation for the creation of print media. However, initially printed media, we can say that it was relevant in the circles of higher society, based on the fact that writing was not common in lower-class societies. Everything changed at the end of the 19th century, with the industrial revolution, the quality of life in society began to improve, and the level of erudition increased in Western countries. Against the background of social progress, in Western countries, the demand for printed products increased, people were no longer deprived of literary works, and society demanded daily news to satisfy the natural sense of interest given by evolution, that’s exactly how the first journalists appeared.
The main principle of old, i.e. classical journalism was to create a bridge that would connect the reader with the information, in this case, the journalist as a subject was out of the game and the reader remained face-to-face with the existing information, in this case, the interested person had the opportunity to conduct a short analysis according to his views and draw a personal conclusion. Soon the news delivery methods improved and journalists, to a certain extent, took on the role of analysts themselves in reporting, the journalist turned from a distributor of news into a creator of the public mood, however, at the same time, the ethics of classical journalism provided for unbiased reporting of news.
Today’s mass media is radically different from the old one, first of all, the means of information dissemination have increased.
Thanks to the technological leap of the 20th century, the most current news is now distributed in the shortest possible time, and all over the world.
However, unfortunately, in the background of technological progress, we see a regression of journalistic ethics, all over the world. Owners of large media no longer believe that quality will sell, and therefore, as a daily product, we get cheap products, because editors try to raise the rating at the expense of yellow information or completely immoral scandals. The concept of objective media has disappeared in the world, even the largest Western media do not hide their biased editorial political course and actively campaign even for the benefit of private political parties, and the world cultural war has shown us that liberal and relatively conservative mass media are fighting each other not because of ideological beliefs, but because of finances and influence. They confront each other.
The situation is doubly difficult in Georgia, where in 2007, at the peak of the total control policy of the previous government, the powerful structures destroyed the independent media outlet “Imedi” and then turned it into a state television. Georgian people, full of hope, believed that with the change of government, independent media outlets would start functioning in the country, however, instead, we got party televisions, which violate the ethical norms of journalism almost every day and cannot even hide direct aggression towards opponents, yes, unfortunately, Georgian media today has fallen to the point that Journalists appear to us as representatives and political party, media shamelessly obey oligarchs and rich businessmen in power, perhaps that is why it is not surprising that journalistic institutions are named as one of the most unpopular institutions in society today.
I want to believe that the journalists of my generation will succeed and return to the old, glorious name of Georgian journalism and will be real professionals in their work. I deeply believe that this is just a temporary, shameful episode in the history of our country.

Art and culture, an integral part of our lives, may not be engaged in active cultural activities, but the fact is that any of us are part of social culture.
Moreover, the influence of culture in everyday life is felt in countries that have centuries-old histories and rich cultural heritage.
I was born and raised in a small country located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the identity of my country has withstood many centuries, and now, on the bricks of any building on the streets of my city, you can see the past and history. My people adopted Christianity in the fourth century, and Georgia has become one of the first countries to have a banned religion as a state religion. Many invaders have tried to abstain, destroy, and destroy the past of my nation, though the devotion and spirituality of my people have managed and maintained the tradition and customs of all ancestors. Even now, the Early Christian historical monuments in my country are proud of those who are proudly watching modern Georgia. I have to say with pride that it is an integral part of the culture of my country, tolerance, so in my capital, there is a side of Orthodox Christian monuments, the Jewish synagogue, the Muslim Mosque, the Catholic Temple, and even the temple of ancient religion, the temple of the flames, which indicates that our culture is inseparable It has been part of ancient times.