“Stop promoting moral corruption in our country” – Georgian Intelligentsia writes open letter to EU special adviser on human rights

By J.C. von Krempach, J.D. | October 28, 2013

The leading newspaper of Georgia (not the US State, but the Republic situated between the Black Sea and the Caucasus) has published an open letter signed by 36 of the country’s leading intellectuals, criticising the EU’s Special Adviser on Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg in reaction to a controversial report he wrote on the country’s human rights record.

A traditional wedding in Georgia

It is not that there were no serious human rights abuses in Georgia, like in many countries emerging from Soviet rule. But those abuses do not seem to interest Mr. Hammarberg, who passes over them in silence. Instead, the single issue of what he and his political masters in Brussels believe to be a “human rights policy” is the promotion of sexual immorality under the guise of concepts such as “diversity”, tolerance”, or “fighting against homophobia”.

Some passages from that letter:

“It would never have occurred to any of us that homosexuals and the promoters of other sexual depravities should be treated in the same way as if they were some kind of a religious or linguistic minority. This newest trick is completely unacceptable … We believe that equating those who practice sexual perversions with representatives of religious and ethnic minorities … is an artificial, deliberately imposed ideology that has nothing to do with the age-old rules that are common to human society.”

“You write that ‘the celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia is the realization of rights, not propaganda.’ We cannot agree. Any public event is promoting what it says, and there is no point in denying it.”

“The norms of diplomacy require you to respect the traditions of the country where you are located. In one of the most tragic moments of our history, 100.000 inhabitants of Tbilisi laid down their heads to have them chopped off by butchers, sacrificing their lives in defence of Christian morality. In Tbilisi these people are venerated as saints. You seem to think that you have the right to teach the inhabitants of this city and this country, pointing out them what is right and what isn’t, and, as it turns out, to lecture us about our duty to give you the right to freely express yourself. Let us draw your attention to the fact that, having given you the right to freely express your opinions in our country, we nevertheless reserve the right to respond to it.”

“Your action on May 17 of this year was a provocation, aimed at destabilizing and sirring up confrontation in our society. We recall to you that on 26 May 2011 at the same place – on Rustaveli Avenue – peaceful demonstrators were killed by the Saakachvili regime. The bodies of the murdered civilians were hidden on the roof of a shopping mall near by to keep them out of sight while a military parade took place on the site. Representatives of the European Union were present at this military parade a few hundred meters from the dead, … but they have not raised any protest against the violation of the right to life and the brutal mutilation of hundreds of people. Instead they manifest on behalf of those who propagate sexual depravity. …. What conclusions should our society draw from this with regard to the West’s priorities in the area of human rights?”

“Marxism also came to us from the West … Marxism has also forced us to celebrate some international ‘holidays’ that did not reflect our values.”

“‘Faith is a matter of personal conscience and hope, and everyone must be free and safe in this regard’ – these are the words of our great writer and public figure Ilia Chavchavadze. Georgians have always lived by these words. In Western Europe, the so-called processes of the Enlightenment and the Reformation cost the lives of millions of people. In our country faith and knowledge have always coexisted without bloodshed, while Marxism, which has come to us from the West, resulted in rivers of blood spilled here in the name of a false concept of ‘freedom’.”

“Freedom must not be confused with the promotion of corruption, or with insulting a traditional society by an ideology that, under the false flag of ‘free choice’, leads to the misery of millions of children whose parents are divorced… This ideology generates isolation and hopelessness; it makes people to build all their hope on money and on new legislation that, in the West, has, despite material wealth, lead societies into existential decline.”

"Unstable moral values" - Thomas Hammarberg's views on morality are not shared by all

“What has happened in the West, the past 30-plus years, unfortunately, is a massive collapse of family values, spirituality and decency. The history of our nation and our state is much greater than this short stretch of time. So we cannot accept the teachings you are making at the time of the experiment. Look at the history of your own generation, Thomas – which part of your life do you want to believe in? That part when you were brought up by your parents in the traditional European values, or the later part, when, already adult, you learned the new ideology? And if your generation has been so unstable in its moral views, how do we know that the future you will not come up with some further innovations in respect of ethical standards?”
“We feel sorry for you and your problems, … but we think that our Europe was not based on the debaucheries of the hippie generation, but on Christian values, which defended with bitterness and joy in the era of Soviet socialism, and which we will continue defending in the conditions of Western capitalism and globalization.”

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