Some notes on Georgia's infamous 'protest TV' show, 'Cell No. 5', from my column in The Moscow Times:To some people, it’s a new kind of chat show which is challenging the establishment and fuelling righteous dissent. To others, it’s a crude piece of propaganda produced by degenerates. For the past month, the reality-TV programme Cell No. 5, which features a popular singer holding topical discussions and ranting against the government from a purpose-built ‘prison cell’, has been highlighting the political divisions within Georgian society.
The singer, Giorgi Gachechiladze - better known as Utsnobi, or ‘The Unknown’ - is the brother of opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze, who unsuccessfully challenged Mikheil Saakashvili for the Georgian presidency a year ago. A notorious video clip for one of his songs depicts Saakashvili as a deranged Nero, cavorting with scantily-clad women and dispensing brutal injustice until his people rise up against him.
Cell No. 5 opens with images of the disturbing Mickey Mouse-style riot masks worn by police when they dispersed opposition protests in 2007, and a map of Georgia shorn of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the regions which were effectively lost during the recent war with Russia. During the programme, the scruffy, unshaven Gachechiladze chats about political developments with his guests, usually opposition activists, civil-rights advocates or journalists.
It’s broadcast by a small independent channel which can only be seen in the capital, and while it may not be subtle, it has caused strong reactions. One senior government politician, Givi Targamadze, raged about “drug addicts” who were “preaching to society from a ‘cell’”, and insinuated that the singer and his opposition friends were Kremlin stooges. “They are so deep inside the Russians that only their legs can now be seen on the TV cameras,” Targamadze said.
President Saakashvili has also watched the show, and even mentioned it during a televised question-and-answer session with the public last month. Critics claim that Georgia’s main television channels are effectively government mouthpieces, and that media freedom has declined under Saakashvili. But the Georgian president said Cell No. 5 proved that wasn’t true: “When they say on TV that we haven’t got freedom of speech – and they say it while speaking live for three hours – it is ridiculous,” he declared.
Gachechiladze has vowed to remain in self-imposed incarceration in his studio jail until Saakashvili resigns, although the Georgian president still has four years of his term left to serve. But while the show may not provoke the kind of uprising seen in one of the singer’s videos, in terms of provoking controversy, it has already been a success.
The singer, Giorgi Gachechiladze - better known as Utsnobi, or ‘The Unknown’ - is the brother of opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze, who unsuccessfully challenged Mikheil Saakashvili for the Georgian presidency a year ago. A notorious video clip for one of his songs depicts Saakashvili as a deranged Nero, cavorting with scantily-clad women and dispensing brutal injustice until his people rise up against him.
Cell No. 5 opens with images of the disturbing Mickey Mouse-style riot masks worn by police when they dispersed opposition protests in 2007, and a map of Georgia shorn of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the regions which were effectively lost during the recent war with Russia. During the programme, the scruffy, unshaven Gachechiladze chats about political developments with his guests, usually opposition activists, civil-rights advocates or journalists.
It’s broadcast by a small independent channel which can only be seen in the capital, and while it may not be subtle, it has caused strong reactions. One senior government politician, Givi Targamadze, raged about “drug addicts” who were “preaching to society from a ‘cell’”, and insinuated that the singer and his opposition friends were Kremlin stooges. “They are so deep inside the Russians that only their legs can now be seen on the TV cameras,” Targamadze said.
President Saakashvili has also watched the show, and even mentioned it during a televised question-and-answer session with the public last month. Critics claim that Georgia’s main television channels are effectively government mouthpieces, and that media freedom has declined under Saakashvili. But the Georgian president said Cell No. 5 proved that wasn’t true: “When they say on TV that we haven’t got freedom of speech – and they say it while speaking live for three hours – it is ridiculous,” he declared.
Gachechiladze has vowed to remain in self-imposed incarceration in his studio jail until Saakashvili resigns, although the Georgian president still has four years of his term left to serve. But while the show may not provoke the kind of uprising seen in one of the singer’s videos, in terms of provoking controversy, it has already been a success.
You can watch 'Cell No. 5' (in Georgian) here.
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