GEORGIA: Mary Russell reports from Tbilisi on a country and a people crying out for a brighter future
When the 13-car cavalcade swept past, headlamps blazing and horns sounding, few people dining out in the street cafés of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi turned to look: they are familiar with President Eduard Shevardnadze's daily journey between his home and the presidential offices.
Shevardnadze is now halfway through his second and final term of office and the national elections here on November 2nd are seen by many as a run-up to the presidential elections in 2005, when many of the political parties currently campaigning will be jostling for the ultimate position of power in this dramatically beautiful but stricken country.
This is a country of 4.4 million in which corruption is rife, poverty is distressing, roads go unrepaired, and everyone looks towards the United States or the EU for help. "It is our dream to join the EU," said Dr Avelina Davituliani, president of the Association of Women Scientists of Georgia.
"We are still in shock," she told me at a recent conference organised by the British Council. As well they might be. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the average monthly pay of a scientist or university lecturer is 60 US dollars. And it is here that corruption comes into play. Policemen augment their meagre wages by demanding on-the-spot bribes, and most people prefer to pay, because it's quicker and cheaper that way. Teachers make a bit on the side by awarding higher grades - at a price. Taxes, when they are paid, go straight into the pocket of the desk clerk.
Small wonder then that the electorate, and especially the younger voters, is disinterested and demoralised. Where Shevardnadze was once seen as the man who would bring Georgia to its rightful place at the international table of commerce and investment, he is perceived now as at best weak, unable to stand up to the dishonest practices of his own politicians - or as guilty as they are. (One of Georgia's two mobile phone networks is owned by his son-in-law and his followers are suspected of having been behind the violent physical attack on Levan Ramishivili, director of Liberty Institute, an NGO dedicated to the promotion of human rights and transparency in government.)
It is 14 years since I first visited Georgia and people inevitably ask me what differences I see. Some things never change, of course. The men are still gallant and old-worldly in their courteous attitudes to women. Georgian women are as beautiful as ever and the wine is excellent and all the sweeter since a bottle costs the equivalent of €2.50.
The differences are easy to spot: there are now two McDonalds; school canteens are decorated with Coca Cola logos; shops display clothes from France, Germany and Austria; and there is a proliferation of amusement arcades, these last widely thought to be money-laundering facilities. There are also a couple of "Irish" bars, although one Georgian told me that the cost of drinking in them was beyond him.
More tragically, the Iveria Hotel - a communist state-of-the-art high-rise construction - is now completely inhabited by Georgian refugees from Azerbaijan. The bright clothes, carpets and bedding of these stateless people can be seen dangling from the balconies of the former hotel. At the top of the building, fixed to the crumbling wall, the hotel's sign is rusting. Iveria, like decent salaries for scientists and tolerable housing for all, is a thing of the past.
Help from the US, or some of it, will also soon be a thing of the past. Together with Armenia, Georgia is the third-ranked recipient of USAid, after Israel and Egypt. One reason for this is the desire of the US to secure Georgia against any attack from Russia.
However, Shavardnadze's failure to implement change in civil law has meant that foreign investment has failed to materialise, and the USAid programme is even now being cut back. Yet many of the individuals and organisations working here - there has been a flowering of foreign-backed NGOs - feel that the people of Georgia deserve better. For that reason alone, many are prepared to continue to work alongside the doctors, teachers, environmentalists, human rights activists and lawyers in whom the hope for a more democratic society must lie.
Catherine Nakashidze, editor of a Swiss-backed environmental magazine, is passionate about her country. "We must protect it and educate young people about it. It is our main resource," she says.
Ms Nakashidze was distraught when the BP oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey was routed through Georgia's magnificent Borjomi National Park. "Were there no Green Party people to campaign against this?" I asked. She shook her head. "There was one, but when he was elected to parliament he turned into a politician," she replied.
Ms Nakashidze is one of the young people who will not be voting on November 2nd, yet she is the type of person who has attracted the attention of those organisations which are promoting democracy - and with good reason. She has worked as a teacher, in market research and as a webmaster.
Set against the corruption and bribery which is endemic in Georgia, she is a beacon of hope. But if those like her are not going to vote, that hope may fade. Unless, of course, they can be persuaded, at a later date, to stand for election themselves. That would undoubtedly be a wake-up call for the old guard.