Eight young people from mountainous Adjara went to different parts of Georgia and the world to get education. They were united by the experience of living in the municipalities of Adjara, as well as worries that they wanted to share and problems that they were in a hurry to solve. Another important word and value united these young people – solidarity. That is why they gathered in 2021 and founded a non-governmental organization “Solidarity Community”.

Young people have already started researching the problems in mountainous Adjara within the framework of the organization, voicing them through various programs and platforms, including film screenings and public discussions. Accordingly, the projects were planned in response to the challenges of the locals.

Aprili Media spoke to two members of the organization – Tornike Abuladze and Maia Rizhvadze –  about the activities of the Solidarity community, needs in mountainous Adjara, political narratives and future visions .

Mountainous Adjara and Its Needs

Maia Rizhvadze is one of the founders of the solidarity community. She works in the direction of strategic communications and creation of an inclusive environment in the organization. Maia’s master’s thesis was about strategic communications of non-governmental organizations working with the Muslim community in Adjara.

“It became clear that the centralized organizations, despite helping the Muslim community living in Adjara, could not go deeply into the problems that Muslims faced every day,” Maia tells us, recalling how this finding became a kind of inspiration to establish an organization with like-minded people to identify identified, experienced or still existing needs, to find solutions, to set an example for others and most importantly, to contribute to the creation of a solidary, fair and inclusive environment.

“In Khulo, for example, there is a water problem, there are also villages where there is no electricity. There is no road in some villages of the municipalities. We have a lot of wooden mosques, which are monuments of cultural heritage, and no one takes care of them… there is no proper health care system, so locals often go to the city with their own funds to see doctors”, Tornike Abuladze, another founder and executive director of the Solidarity community, tells us.

The solidarity community has several target audiences: the Muslim population, women, young people living in the highlands of Adjara, the queer community, Muslim cultural heritage sites, as well as women who wear the Muslim attribute, the hijab. For example, one of the studies conducted by the Solidarity community is about how many challenges Muslim women face while wearing the hijab.

“We had a case when Muslim women were refused employment because of hijab. They went through several stages, which were online and virtually, but at the interview, when the employers discovered that the women were wearing a headscarf, unfortunately they were left out of the process and there was talk of discrimination,” Maia tells us.

One of the goals of the solidarity community is to empower and support these women so that, despite stereotypes, they are actively involved in civil life, their voices and needs are heard.

Muslim Community and Political Agenda

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“If we talk about political parties in general, we will see that neither governmental nor non-governmental political parties care about the well-being of the population living in the mountains (and not only those living in the mountains) and they have no pre-election political promises – what can be changed or what can be done,” says Tornike.

The Muslim community has been talking about the problem of prayer space in Batumi and the need to build a new mosque for years, although this issue remains unresolved. It is also worth noting the conflicts that arose on religious grounds in different regions of Georgia during the past 12 years, when they were not given the opportunity to pray, in some cases, even at home.

Tchela village, where the minaret was removed from the mosque, Samtatskaro, Kobuleti, Buknari – Tornike recalls the restriction of the right to pray for the Muslim community and tells us that in some cases there was no response from the government, and in some cases, the conversation and agreement took place behind closed doors.

These conflicts arising on religious grounds are also directly provoked by the state. When a citizen does not see the supremacy of the constitution and the law, they give themselves the right to rudely interfere with the rights of others and violate them; They know that the judicial system, the police regime will not demand an answer from them. It is because of these injustices that the Muslim community is often oppressed.

On October 12 of this year, the Solidarity community publicly responded to the speech of the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, at a party event in Batumi. The organization writes in its statement that it has not once mentioned the needs of the population living in Adjara, including Georgian Muslims, and moreover, the opinions expressed by Ivanishvili are a threat to the unity and peaceful coexistence of the Georgian society.

“Patriotism has been repeatedly tested by the ravages of centuries”, “Adjara is one of the most Georgian and patriotic regions”, “Women and men of Adjara have never stopped loving Georgia and instilling Georgianness in their hearts for their children”. The mentioned opinions were not voiced in any other region during his speech, which makes us think that the high political official is still questioning the Georgianness (ethnicity) of the Adjarians and their love for their homeland. It is completely unacceptable that we still hear narratives of similar content in the Georgian political space,” we read in the statement of the Solidarity community.

In the opinion of the Solidarity community, it is also problematic that Ivanishvili, who arrived in Adjara, in case of obtaining the constitutional majority, talked about the plans to protect and strengthen the Orthodox Church, although he did not once mention the Georgian Muslims praying in the open air and in the rain in Batumi.

Why Europe?

Irakli Kurua / Aprili Media

The members of the Solidarity community try to take care of the well-being of people living in the mountains both through organizational activities and individually. For example, Maia Rizhvadze won a Chevening scholarship of the United Kingdom government in 2022. She studied for a year at the University of Glasgow on the Master’s program – Inclusive Education, Research, Practice and Policy.

One of the main motivations for studying abroad is the example and sharing of experiences with people born in the religious minority or the highlands of Adjara.

I was born in the highlands of Adjara, I graduated from Khulo public school. Although I was actively involved in the projects as a student, I still had delays in the availability of resources. For example, we didn’t have internet for a long time, I was probably in the eleventh grade, when the first fiber internet came out in Khulo, before that we had some kind of modem type, limited internet. Or, for example, there were no English teachers in Khulo. Every Thursday and Friday we went to Batumi to prepare for the national exams.

The experience of studying in Europe convinced Maia that one’s own identity is very important and no one should try to hide it or push it to the background because of stereotypes. There was also a well-equipped prayer space at the University of Glasgow, where Maia had the opportunity to pray 5 times a day.

“This is a clear example of the fact that Europe does not take away our Georgianness, the identity we have, on the contrary, it gives us more opportunities to be proud of it and be the unique people we are.”

Maia tells us that due to the problems in the education system in Georgia, state policy or simply the lack of good will, the Muslim person is still perceived as a second-class citizen, and the concept of “good” always includes the Orthodox. Consequently, there are many stigmas and stereotypes.

For example, you don’t have a shrine. Or you don’t have the right to express your good will to be who you are. It constantly prevents you from self-realization, you have to give up your identity. All this contributes to the emergence of Islamophobic sentiments; For example, you keep hearing that you have returned to your country. But this is not the opinion of the people, but the influence of the state policy; For example, I studied in a class where 99% of the students were Muslim, although we started the religious lessons with the Lord’s Prayer.

This invisible wall, which, according to Maia, exists in Georgia due to the state policy towards religious minorities and other groups, was not in Europe. In creating an inclusive environment, where everyone will focus on common problems and concerns and not on differences, the civil society and those young people who value human rights and values ​​and actively participate in the European integration processes are involved in it.

Practice-based teaching at the university was also new for Maia in Europe. She says that studying on a one-year master’s program at the University of Glasgow is equivalent to many years in Georgia, because the quality of education there is very high. Student life was also different.

“There are paid internship programs for students. This is enough for the student to be able to study at the same time as the grant. You’re not stressed, or you don’t work 8 hours a day and then you don’t have to go to university.”

Russian Law and Community of Solidarity

At this stage, the Solidarity community is working on many projects. For example, women living in Adjara are financed by interesting courses that will help them find employment. For months, public discussions and meetings were held for schoolchildren and young people on such topics as European integration, human rights, gender equality and others.

The organization has many other projects and plans, but how the activities of the solidarity community will continue after months is unclear. This is one of the organizations that was not registered in the “Register of Agents” after the adoption of the Russian law. Tornike tells us that this law is both offensive and unconstitutional.