Guerilla Gardening Camp, Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2014
BBC Azeri yesterday published some of my photos documenting the environmental protest in Tbilisi’s Vake Park and so I paid a return visit the night before to check if there were any new developments. Basically, there are none although legal action has not been rejected by the courts. Instead, more information needs to be provided before any case against the construction can proceed.
Organizers of the camp view this as positive.
Captions in English are below.
1. For a month now activists and residents of Georgia’s capital have been camped out in the city’s central Vake Park. Resembling a ‘mini-Gezi Park’ the objective of the protestors is to prevent the construction of a 7-storey hotel in a corner of one of Tbilisi’s last remaining green areas.
2. Organised under the umbrella of the Guerrilla Gardening Tbilisi movement, protestors have put construction on hold and prevented work from extending by blocking access to the work site. Attempts by security and police to evict the camp have so far proven unsuccessful.
3. Ellen Malashevski-jayeli walks a tightrope. Every day small groups of activists and residents assemble at the camp and engage in activities. Even a small library has been established in the camp’s main tent to help them pass the time.
4. Visitors to the camp bring food and water to the main tent that accommodates half a dozen activists who camp overnight to maintain a vigil over the construction site. An SMS alert system using Twitter can assemble dozens more if attempts are made to evict them.
5. Tbilisi’s Mayor’s Office maintain that the construction in a corner of Vake Park is legal. Protestors disagree and say that there was no proper consultation with the public and local residents. They also see the battle as part of a larger one to save the city’s green areas.
6. On weekend larger events are staged which attract hundreds of residents. Music is performed and families take their place alongside the activists. Some other groups such as the Alternative Cultural Centre of Tbilisi are also moving their events to the protest camp.
7. DJs perform at the weekend events while others walk their dogs. In recent days the action in Vake Park has even attracted the attention of some Turkish social media users who note the similarity between the protest and Gezi Park, albeit on a smaller scale.
8. Others play frisbee. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 9 square metres per capita, but in 2001 Tbilisi offered only 5. With new construction in the city over the past decade, it is even less today, activists say.
9. According to Article 37 of the Georgian constitution, “everyone shall have the right to live in a healthy environment and enjoy natural and cultural surroundings.’ A sign at the Vake Park camp personifies the park, asking “Why are you treating me like this?”
10. As the activists seek a legal ruling in the courts, a student warms herself by a campfire as she keeps watch over the park at night. “This action is important for everyone,” says Sophie. “This is our park. We need it. We need trees. And we want kids to have a space to play.”
Since BBC Azeri published the photo story, the BBC’s Turkey service has also made it available in Turkishon their site:
Incidentally, slowly the Tbilisi protest is attracting the interest of some Turkish groups and social media users, with tweets and posters such as these starting to appear.
Gürcistan’ın ‘Gezi İsyanı’: Vake Park’la ilgili bilgileri #tbilisi #activismetiketleriyle aratabilir ve güncel bilgiler için @onewmphoto
— BakırköyHalkMeclisi (@BHalkMeclisi) February 21, 2014
Görüntüler tanıdık geldi mi? Gürcistan’da bir avuç çevreci #VakePark‘a otel yapılmasını engellemek için direniyor. http://t.co/eE3jt7ApzV
— MugeCerman (@MugeCerman) February 21, 2014
Anyway, the visit for BBC Azeri also gave me another opportunity to take some new shots. Interestingly — and contrary to my experience to date documenting activism in the region — there have so far always been new faces appearing at the camp. That’s quite positive for the action, but whether or not they’ll be successful still remains unclear. At some point, someone will have to give in.
On the side of Guerrilla Gardening Tbilisi might be the weather. If they can remain camped out in the park for another month, Spring will have arrived and many more are likely to join them or at least use the park for recreational purposes. Until then, in true Guerrilla Gardening style, flower beds are being sown — something that will continue in an action planned for this weekend.
