Shaking their fists defiantly, protesters last week massed at the government house in Tbilisi, capital of the Georgian republic, chanting, "Lithuania! Lithuania! Lithuania!" For this fiercely independent nation of 5.4 million in the Caucasus, the troubles in the Baltics far to the north seemed alarmingly near. Georgians had already felt the Kremlin's determination to keep the union intact, when Soviet paratroopers armed with sharpened spades brutally dispersed a nationalist demonstration in April 1989, killing 20 people. Just as the Baltic states showed support in that hour of crisis, Georgians embraced the tragedy in Vilnius last week as if it were their own.
"It is impossible to preserve an empire by democratic means!" cried a speaker at the rally. Zviad Gamsakhurdia, chairman of the parliament in Tbilisi and leader of the republic's drive for independence, urged Georgians -- and all ethnic peoples in the Caucasian melting pot -- to set aside their differences and join in opposition to the Kremlin. But he warned against giving way to provocations or taking up arms alone.
Georgians have every reason to be worried that they may be high on Moscow's target list. The republic has been on a collision course with the Kremlin ever since Gamsakhurdia's nationalist coalition won an election victory last October. The first acts of the new parliament were to drop the words Soviet and Socialist from the republic's name and inaugurate a transitional period to full independence. Georgia has announced that it will not sign the new Union Treaty proposed by Gorbachev and has sent only 10% of its quota of conscripts to the armed forces. Says deputy parliamentary chairman Akaki Asatiani: "We make no secret of the fact that we are anticommunists committed to Georgian independence."
Fears are widespread that Moscow is creating a pretext for a military crackdown by inflaming unrest in the South Ossetian Autonomous Region, an ethnic enclave created for the Ossetians as a reward for their political loyalty after the Bolsheviks took control of the republic in 1921. Last September, as the rest of Georgia was moving toward independence, the South Ossetian regional council declared the area to be a "Soviet Democratic Republic" loyal to Moscow. The parliament in Tbilisi responded by dissolving the autonomous region altogether. Conflicts between the Georgian police and local separatists have resulted in at least 12 deaths.
Two weeks ago, Gorbachev struck down both legislative acts and gave the Georgians three days to withdraw their "armed formations" from South Ossetia. Gamsakhurdia rejected the ultimatum. "We understand," he told Moscow, "that you have the power at your disposal to try to suppress the national independence movement in Georgia. But what would be the price of that victory? And would it be a victory?" A visiting Soviet parliamentary commission hinted last week that Moscow might be willing to allow Georgian police to remain in the region but wanted guarantees of its "cultural autonomy."
Georgians remain suspicious of the Kremlin's intentions. They are worried that the gulf war gives the central government an excuse, under the guise of a military "alert," to reinforce troops in the republic, which shares a border with Turkey. If tanks should roll, they have vowed to take to the streets to defend their right to autonomy -- whatever the risks.