“A friend in prison, me next to the prison” — you’ve probably seen this phrase on social media more than once since January 12. During a demonstration held in parallel with the judges’ party at the restaurant Babilo, 9 people were arrested, including Zviad Robakidze. His friends, Dato and Salome Simonia, immediately after their arrest decided that if their friend was unjustly arrested, they should spend these days next to the prison and express their care and solidarity in this way.
We went to the Zahesi detention center to talk to Dato and Salome Simona — at the roadside, at the entrance to the temporary detention center, we would find a gathering place with a banner with an inscription, a small wooden bench, and a few people. During the few hours we spent there, citizens came and went who wanted to show their support, including children who brought food, sweets, coffee, and water. The deafening sound of trailers and the movement of cars along the roadside did not stop.
We spoke with the Simonias about the importance of acts of solidarity in the fight against authoritarian rule, their many years of experience as part of various protest movements, and ways to stay strong in the face of continuous protest. The interview took place on January 21. On January 22, Zviad Robakidze left the temporary detention center at Zahesi.
Act of Solidarity Next to the Prison
Zviad Robakidze was arrested near the Babilo restaurant on January 12, and an investigation was opened under the article of petty hooliganism and disobedience to a lawful request of a police officer. According to Salome Simonia, they began searching for him immediately after his arrest, toured all the detention centers and finally found him in the department located in Zahesi. Dato Simonia told us that the decision to spend his friend’s days in detention in the detention center as a sign of solidarity was irrational, he didn’t think much about it — he agreed with his sister and wife, who had to take care of their young child independently during this period. He received support from both of them, and Salome, when her brother told her that while Zviad was in prison, he wouldn’t be able to sleep in a warm bed at home, decided to join her brother in the act of solidarity. On January 14, Judge Lela Mildenberger sentenced Zviad Robakidze to 10 days of administrative detention. The detainee had to spend the remaining eight days in the Zahesi detention center, while the Simonia siblings were in the detention center. According to Dato, the judge’s decision was completely unfair and they even have video evidence that does not confirm either hooliganism or disobedience to the police officer’s request.
Vakho Kareli / Aprili Media
“It was about 3 AM when we found him and we immediately thought about what to do, how to behave. We were depressed, for those of us who know Zviad, who are friends with him and know his nature, it was unthinkable for him to be arrested. I will say with regret that I would have considered my arrest more normal than his arrest. He is an absolutely calm, balanced and very decent person. We had a strong feeling of injustice that we could not do anything about.
“Dato was the first to say, ‘I can’t go home now and I can’t sleep in a warm bed.’ We brought an old wooden chair from the house, he sat there and endured it alone for two nights, not even sleeping. I didn’t think of leaving for a second either, how could I go home, when a friend, in fact a family member, was in prison, I felt injustice, and how could I leave Dato alone? After two days, we begged Dato to at least asleep in the car and rest for a while,” Salome tells us, adding that in terms of physical endurance, spending days near the prison is difficult – it’s cold, cars are moving non-stop and the noise of trailers doesn’t stop, there’s terrible dust, but to counterbalance this, the realization that you’re right and the constant stream of people trying to support you make it easier to endure.
As Dato tells us, he is more familiar with expressing solidarity with the protests himself, and at first it was difficult for him to accept the fact that he himself has now become the object of support. Dato has been helping to spread information about various protests for years, and with his graphic works he tries to help people empathize with the ongoing processes and make more people aware of protests against the environment or the totalitarian regime.
A lot of people come, we talk a lot, I can’t give everyone equal attention and I get nervous. Once a man came to the bakery around here, bought two loaves of bread and left one for me, schoolchildren also come, bring bread, today they brought me popcorn.
At first I was worried about the support, my heart was aching that they were sharing a bite with me, but then I realized that they also need to be supported, they also need to be encouraged, they need to somehow be given the opportunity to express their position through acts of care, to record their dissatisfaction. Many people told me that although they do not have the opportunity to stand on Rustaveli Street, due to various social reasons, they are with us and support us. For them, I became a temporary symbol of resistance.
Salome also notes that those who have come to support her share their feelings and pain — from the morning onwards, taxi drivers, teachers, and store employees who start work early visit. The flow does not stop throughout the day. The past few days have also shown how united we are as a society.
“A Mother of an immigrant came, brought us warm food, she was crying, saying: you should endure, children, you must save this country, we support you so that maybe my child can come to Georgia and we can live in a normal country. It’s a little difficult to see the sentiments, the heartache, but it also became clear how we need to share our feelings and pain with each other, how we need to see the truth, the light.”
It turns out that we are not such a conflicted society as it seems on the internet, as they try to portray. I have seen the same thing at the protests in the regions, and here I felt very clearly that we are people standing by each other, which gives me strength and hope,” Salome shares, adding that her and Dato’s act of solidarity cannot be considered something special, because this should be the norm — “How can you calmly watch injustice, violence, frankly, cruelty. The most peaceful form at this time is support, empowerment, encouragement. This strengthens us.”
According to Dato Simonia, expressing solidarity in this form was also driven by the experience of past protests – for him, acts that are aimed not at defeating someone, but at building them up; not at hating someone, but at caring for someone are much more effective.
“That’s why I was involved in environmental protests, and even now, what I’m doing is more of an act of care than a protest. It doesn’t bring any results, they would have released Zviad after ten days anyway, whether I was sitting here or not. With such acts, we can simply show each other that no one will leave anyone alone, unprotected, we won’t abandon each other to this violent system, and at the same time, we show those in power that we have relatively fewer resources, but in return we have each other, and this unity takes on such a powerful form in the end that the power simply retreats. Acts of care are for each other more than for defeating someone, it’s just that in the end, all this is shaped as someone’s defeat, someone’s retreat.”
Yearslong Protest of the Siblings and the Authoritarian Turn of the “Dream”
“We are involved together everywhere, in various protests. We don’t have a big age difference, and our support for each other comes from deep childhood. I am happy that we share the same values. I have friends whose families have differences of opinion, and it is difficult for them to deal with this,” Salome tells us.
The siblings tell us about their involvement in environmental protests. They unanimously note that the protest movements that began around the Namokhvani hydroelectric power plant, the Racha forests, and the Baldi Canyon, and the government’s position, showed how much the repressive approach had grown, how it became clear during the protests still ongoing in various regions that we were dealing with the authoritarian aspirations of the “Dream.”
“When I first realized with all my might that we were heading towards authoritarianism, the fight for the survival of the Rioni Gorge had begun. A large part of the population of two regions there — Imereti and Lechkhumi — was treated very badly when they decided the fate of the region without warning the people living there and the fans of these regions. Rather, they blackmailed, intimidated, and cornered people into selling their lands and then announced the project. That’s when I realized that the government’s priority was not people, but financial benefits and personal interests.
Then there was the news of the beautiful, paradise-like village of Shkmeri, Chiaturization of which was announced. There too, the process went on secretly and it was clear that the people’s elected ruling team directly declared war on the people. Then the movement that began for the Racha forests clearly demonstrated the whole vice of what is called the alienation of resources secretly from the people. Now the same is happening with the Baldi Canyon. In short, the environmental protests showed me that people in Georgia were being pushed into the background, and the main values were established as dubious money, capital, power and the interests of a few people.”
Salome also says that they saw from the very beginning how the repressive methods of the “Dream” were strengthening and how Georgian territories were being alienated from Russian citizens or people connected to Russia.
“It’s very difficult, do you know what you are holding onto? You see that you are talking to a wall, you constantly have the feeling that you no longer feel like a human being, because they neither listen to you nor care about what you think. We asked for a conversation, for sharing arguments, for negotiation, for explanations, but from the meetings we had with representatives of various agencies, we came back with even more questions, realizing that the situation was worse than we had imagined. […] In my opinion, we have the strength, resources, and energy to overcome this disaster.”
Dato says that the environmental protests were a kind of foundation for the general protests that are taking place today — “We are slowly learning about solidarity, how to deal with the propaganda machine, and the forms of protest. The struggles we have gone through so far may seem futile to some, but in my opinion, they were a very strong foundation and introduction to what is happening today.”
Massive Protests Arising from the Russian Law and Unity Despite Attempts to Divide
In 2023, when the Georgian Dream announced the adoption of the Russian law, large-scale protests began, which united a large part of the Georgian population. The law, which was quickly repealed, was followed by a unity of citizens in 2024, even after the reversal, and soon after the post-election disappointment, protests erupted once again. This time because the Georgian Dream stopped the European integration process. Since then, for two months now, the protests have not stopped, finding different forms and stubbornly continuing.
Dato Simonia believes that the reason why the protests related to the Russian law have become widespread has already been understood by everyone, and it has become clear that the government was doing everything it could to dismantle the levers of unity that were turning the people against the government.
What did the “Dream” not try, it made its propaganda machine even more powerful, and wanted to extinguish the protest by dividing the people. They resorted to many methods for this, even declaring the rallies as party gatherings or “Pride”, but to without results. Salome tells us that she is not a voter of any party and has always been critical of the authorities. She tries to substantiate her critical opinion constructively, with arguments, and she doesn’t even care now if someone tries to label her.
“Some people are worried that if I stand there, they will label me as someone’s supporter. I’m not afraid of that, if I tell the truth, how can they label me as something that I am not?! The public cannot have any kind of sentiment towards a group in power, because that means that these powerful people are taking advantage of your loyalty, your silence, and then they start doing things that are completely not in the people’s interest. We don’t have the luxury of being silent and we don’t have the luxury of being positive.
We must ask questions, demand answers to certain issues, and be as mobilized as possible, demanding that our interests be pursued. We must tell the government that we are hiring it to pursue our interests. It is unthinkable that you would feed on my money, enjoy privileges, and not hear my voice, and even more so, that you would repress me and want to kill me,” says Salome, adding that the number of adults born after the restoration of independence exceeds 700 thousand, who neither know what slavery is, nor have any sentiments towards Russia; they know what independence is and are confident in Western values; most of them want to create an equal state that cannot be silenced or oppressed in any way, and if you try to do this, you are the wrong government.
The “Dream” says the phrase: “if we are not here, there will be war”. I have a question for neutral and confused people: Georgian Dream cannot ensure and cannot protect us from the creeping occupation, the so-called border is being drawn up almost every day; Georgian Dream cannot ensure and cannot protect us from being kidnapped — they did not say a word about the murder of Tamaz Ginturi near the church; It cannot ensure that every sixth child in the country does not starve — this is official statistics, not my opinion. 34% of the country’s population requests social assistance.
The “Dream” failed to save Gelati, it is destroying the most important monument of our identity, and how many more can I list? Therefore, I have a simple question – if the power, the government that is fighting some global power, cannot provide these things, how can it protect us from anything at all? If it cannot solve all this, what is it really capable of solving? If you turn a blind eye to all this, then honestly say that you are a party or that you expect specific benefits from someone. Georgian Dream has people tied to it by the umbilical cord and when it throws two cents at them, it tells them: if I am not there, you will lose this too. It does not tell them that, on the contrary, they should live well, create wealth, no, it tells them that they should be in a frozen state, without prospects,” Salome asks the question and also addresses some of the parents:
I also want to tell those parents, if they understand everything, the strategies of China, Iran, Russia, and America, geopolitical news, how can they not understand the desires of their own children?! The generation of children says that they will not tolerate injustice, violence, nepotism, corruption, we say that we want to live in a healthy society, where everyone’s interests will be taken into account, equality will exist.
Vigor for Continuous Protest
Zviad left prison on the evening of January 22, and was met by supporters and friends, including Dato and Salome, at the detention center. The siblings unanimously told us that their protest continues with all the means and resources they have.
“I intend to do what I have been intending to do until now – to resist,” says Dato. Salome notes, “As long as I am alive, my protest will continue, but I am not going to rest now, because I am not tired.”
According to Dato, years of protest involvement have taught him how to resist continuously over time in a way that conserves strength, while also trying to move forward by restoring the memory of the past.
“I am actively learning about our past and trying to restore the memory that Soviet Russia erased from us — I mean the battle of Kakutsa Cholokashvili, the battle of Mikha Khelashvili, the uprisings of the 19th century. That is also a kind of experience. It is true that it happened a hundred or two hundred years ago, but it is an experience. You already know that your ancestor could fight against huge monsters sparingly, peacefully, consistently, this historical experience helps me,” says Dato.
We ask him how he thinks historical heroes or myths brought to life for a modern audience, which take on a new form in his hands, can be acceptable to the government, which is trying to rewrite history.
“I remember when I started this series, Shalva Ramishvili was discussing it with his little boys and they concluded that someone was paying for it and that’s why I was doing it. What Georgian Dream is doing has no connection with history and traditions. We can easily demonstrate this, we can go up to the Jvari Monastery and see a building on the verge of collapse, its walls are crumbling, and the previous Minister of Culture did not sign the project started to solve this problem. There are many such cultural centers in danger. Memory is also in danger, because we saw that the 19th century uprisings were removed from the education program. So, I with my illustrations and campaigns, and Georgian Dream with its policy of forgetting, continuing the tradition of the Communist era and sterilizing history and Georgianness, will never become acceptable to each other.”
Salome says that even in moments of being tired, she remembers that she, like every citizen, has a responsibility; she is also obligated to those children who went to the isolation ward and brought them food and water, so that they would not leave the country in ruins. She says that we woke up in authoritarianism, but this difficulty also brought us good:
“We found each other, we grew, we became stronger, the protest took on new forms, new ideas are being born. We must use this opportunity and connect more, because the government, which is based on violence, propaganda and everything bad, unfortunately, will not give up this power easily. I am deeply convinced that Georgians have never accepted a master and will not accept one.”
Dato tells us that for him, the most important thing is to be here and now, not to think about what is happening in China or what Trump will say, but to think about friends and plan battle strategies accordingly, rather than being in a distant, uncertain place and worrying about not knowing what will happen. Finally, as one of the participants in the protest, he leaves the reader with a promise.
“No one will be alone and no one will be free as long as at least one unjustly detained prisoner is in prison.”