- Title: GEORGIA: Georgian reality TV show is anti-president protest
- Date: 8th February 2009
- Summary: TBILSI, GEORGIA (FEBRUARY 4, 2009) (REUTERS) 'CELL' DOOR OPENS TO REVEAL GACHECHILADZE SEATED IN 'CELL' WRITING ON 'CELL' WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) GEORGY GACHECHILADZE, SAYING: "I'm not preparing myself to spend four years in this cell, because I'm confident that it will end much sooner. Some other form of protest can begin and it will be a demand, if not a request to him (Mikheil Saakashvili) to resign. If he does not resign, he will shoot me down publicly and will kill me by that. If it's acceptable for him, he should think about his political future and make a decision." CAMERA MOUNTED ON WALL OF 'CELL' (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) GEORGY GACHECHILADZE, SAYING: "It's very difficult to be trapped within four walls for any free person. I follow all rules real prisoners have to follow I don't have a TV, don't use a mobile phone, I contact with members of my family by letters. There is no other communication between us. It's very difficult. But I did not loose my inner freedom and I'm proud of it." PICTURES OF SAAKASHVILI AND WRITING ON 'CELL' WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) GEORGY GACHECHILADZE, SAYING : "I was not free internally because I knew that others were not free and were under pressure. That's why I decided to express my solidarity with these people by this form of protest." CAMERA MOUNTED ON WALL, WALL COVERED WITH WRITING WALL COVERED WITH WRITING, 'CELL' WINDOW 'WINDOW' IN 'CELL' DOOR OPEN, GACHECHILADZE VISIBLE INSIDE, 'WINDOW' IS CLOSED
- Embargoed: 23rd February 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Georgia
- Country: Georgia
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA15V4XBN6K5T9N3EUL7JL2WTRM
- Story Text: A man in an improvised prison cell under the 24-hour gaze of television cameras, promises to stay put until Georgia's president quits.
It's been dubbed 'Protest TV'. A man in an improvised prison cell under the 24-hour gaze of television cameras, promising to stay put until Georgia's president quits.
"Cell No. 5" on Georgia's Maestro Television has become the talk of Tbilisi's cafes and bars since first airing on January 20.
It represents one facet of an opposition push to unseat President Mikheil Saakashvili that has gained momentum since war with Russia last year.
Confined to a converted floor of Maestro's studios, poet, rapper and political badmouth Georgy Gachechiladze, a.k.a. Ucnobi (Unknown), says he will only come out if Saakashvili resigns.
He does not think it will take too long, certainly not the four years left till the end of saakashvili's term of office.
"I'm not preparing myself to spend four years in this cell, because I'm confident that it will end much sooner. Some other form of protest can begin and it will be a demand, if not a request to him (Mikheil Saakashvili) to resign. If he does not resign, he will shoot me down publicly and will kill me by that. If it's acceptable for him, he should think about his political future and make a decision", Gachechiladze told Reuters.
Four cameras and a microphone on the ceiling capture his every shuffling move and political rant. In the 'cell' he follows prison rules.
"It's very difficult to be trapped within four walls for any free person. I follow all rules real prisoners have to follow I don't have a TV, don't use a mobile phone, I contact with members of my family by letters.
There is no other communication between us. It's very difficult. But I did not loose my inner freedom and I'm proud of it", said Gachechiladze.
The walls around him are covered with his scribbled thoughts and those of his guests.
"I was not free internally because I knew that others were not free and were under pressure. That's why I decided to express my solidarity with these people by this form of protest," the 42-year-old told Reuters.
An edited version is broadcast in the evening, before Gachechiladze goes live all night, often with guests. He usually sleeps in the morning.
The show is pulling in big audiences, says Maestro TV boss Mamuka Glonti.
"I don't remember any other project to be that successful from the very beginning. The whole Tbilisi watches our lives almost all nights long.
It's because we are talking about things here, that you cannot here in other talk-shows," said Glonti.
It's as much a protest as a TV show, he adds.
"It's also a protest from our side. There is no business in Georgia as all businesses belong to Saakashvili and his surrounding. Others are under their terror."
Saakashvili says he has no reason to quit, and analysts question whether his popularity has really waned as much as expected after Georgia's crushing defeat by Russian forces in their five-day war in August.
His termin 2013, but Gachechiladze -- known to his fans as "Unknown" -- believes his ordeal will end earlier.
Saakashvili came to power on the back of the 2003 "Rose Revolution" on a promise to stabilise and reform the former Soviet republic.
His young pro-Western government won credit for opening the economy to foreign investors. But the president's critics accuse him of an authoritarian streak that has stifled the media and concentrated power on a handpicked inner circle at the expense of parliament.
The opposition now charges he walked into a war Georgia could not possibly win, by attacking the breakaway region of South Ossetia and drawing a powerful counter-strike from Russia.
Gachechiladze's gripe is more personal. His brother Levan challenged Saakashvili for the presidency in January 2008. Saakashvili won with 52 percent. The opposition cried foul. But Western monitors said despite some violations, the result was a true expression of the will of the people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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