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The Georgian Helsinki Union has drafted an economic program that attempts to prove that the republic can survive alone. Georgia not only can feed itself but also has sufficient reserves of oil, coal and hydroelectricity to meet its energy needs. Furthermore, the republic boasts mineral deposits plus undeveloped forests, Black Sea beaches and Caucasus mountain peaks. The major drawback for Georgia, argues the document, is that "its energies are constrained by the limits of an economic system imposed from the outside." The union proposes "shock treatment" for one year to build a free market out of the republic's thriving underground economy.
Such grandiose plans may come to naught if the Georgian independence drive sparks ethnic tensions among the republic's minority peoples, who make up a substantial 30% of the population. Many are concerned about the Georgia-for- Georgians tone that has been creeping into the political debate. Gamsakhurdia believes Moscow is "fighting against us through the hand of other nationalities."
For the moment, the Kremlin seems to be hoping that if it ignores the Georgian national movement, it might somehow go away. But what will happen when Moscow wakes up to the fact that independence is a word not limited to the Lithuanians? Gorbachev makes no secret of how deeply he fears the movements seeking to redraw the boundaries of his country. At a meeting with young Communists last week, he predicted, "If we begin to divide up, I'll give it to you bluntly, we'll end up in such a civil war, in such bloody ! carnage that we won't be able to crawl out of it." Given the tragic memories in Tbilisi, it was a fate Georgians were determined to avoid.