Everything but the truth

I have already been surprised by the lack of censorship of potentially disturbing images in media or any other public space here, but yesterday's experience was definitely something else. When I'd been here only a few weeks, there was a video shown on TV of a group of Russian soldiers kicking a tied-up Georgian soldier around (old footage from the August war I think, but am not sure). Nothing gruesome, but pretty uncomfortable viewing nonetheless – and broadcast around 6pm for everyone to view.

Yesterday I was asked to come with Imedi's boss to a photo exhibition that was put up on the central boulevard – right next to the Georgian flag fountain, for those who remember that image from my fb photos. Right in the middle of the city centre, in other words. The exhibition opened at 4pm, when everyone, their grandmother and their tiny children are walking around there. And what was the subject of the exhibition? It was “Who is next?”. When I first heard it, I thought it must have something to do with Russia – and I was right. The exhibition consisted of medium-sized prints from Abkhazia and Chechnya, depicting dead, injured and mutilated people. Some of the strongest stuff I've ever seen – and I'm not usually too faint-hearted when it comes to this stuff (I'm sad to say). A far cry from the usually “tidy” pictures of war dead that you see in Western media – usually just a wideangle shot of multiple bodies, looking as if the people could just as well have fainted in pools of ketchup as died in an armed conflict. But here... these were very brutal photos. Pretty hard to stomach, and it still makes me feel faintly sick when thinking of them. Needless to say, if this took place in Western Europe, there'd be warnings of "strong content" accompanying such a display, and I seriously doubt they'd put it right in the city centre.

I'm not advocating some form of censorship here, but I'm asking myself what they hope to achieve by showing this so directly to people? Maybe they said it when they introduced the exhibition, but because I lacked translation at that moment I would've missed that. Do they want to tell people how fucking awful war is? I think that here, people already know. Further inflame opinion against the Russians? Given the inclusion of Chechnya, I would say that's the aim. And what's the point? Much as they like to blame Russia for everything (it's worth noting that many people dislike Russia's government, not its people, and they're quite capable of separating the two so Russians shouldn't feel worried about visiting Georgia), Georgian policies towards the autonomous regions were much to blame for the recent conflicts, but there's a fundamental unwillingness to deal with this. Georgians are great nationalists, something which one can assume flared up with the dismantling of the Soviet Union – it's as if by having their own state again they must be as fiercely Georgian as possible. Hence, Georgia cannot be in the wrong - and now I'm mainly talking about the political leadership and their attempts at forging a united hatred of a common enemy (after all, the greatest tool in history of rallying support for a particular leader!).

The Georgians stress the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians during the 90s war, whereas the Abkhaz stress the many violations committed by Georgian troops, as well as what they feel were unjust policies imposed by the Georgian central government prior to the conflict. Each side has different stories of why the conflict happened, what happened during it and whose fault it was - it seems almost impossible to find unbiased sources and a real, true history. The Abkhaz blame the Georgians, the Georgians blame the Russians, the Russians blame the Georgians, who sometimes blame the Abkhaz just as much as the Russians. Who is right? Everyone and no one, all at once. Who is to say?

At the conflict resolution seminars, they talk about the importance of forgiving, forgetting and moving on. Yet when asked to try to argue for how the Abkhaz may view the conflict, the Georgians mention none of the Abkhaz claims to autonomy, but instead state that the Abkhaz want to belong to Russia and that they want nothing more to do with Georgians whatsoever. This last item may be true, if I am to believe a guy I met recently who just spent a week travelling through Abkhazia, staying with the locals. He said they all hate the Georgians - and that he could understand why, after listening to their stories.

I don't know. Can't we all just get along?