In the villages surrounding Ozurgeti, the capital of Georgia’s Guria region, it is not unusual to find houses that have been locked up for decades. Young people have left for the capital, Tbilisi, Italy, or Russia, and have taken their family stories with them.
A region that once built one of the earliest experiments in participatory democracy in the Caucasus, the Gurian Republic of 1904, is now known to be one of the most politically passive regions in Georgia.
The Komli Initiative for Civic Engagement is trying to change that by focusing on preserving local history, enhancing civic engagement, and promoting sustainable development. By using exhibitions, workshops, digital storytelling, and collaborative activities, Komli links communities with their history while encouraging active participation in social and civic life.
Decades of deliberate erasure
Guria’s information landscape today is shaped by two dominant forces: Facebook and Imedi TV, a channel that has been repeatedly flagged for pro-Kremlin narratives, historical revisionism, and anti-Western messaging.
In this region, independent media access is limited and digital literacy remains low. Guria has a civic tradition that most of its own residents have never been taught. In 1904, local peasants organized boycotts against imperial institutions, formed self-governing structures, and proclaimed the Gurian Republic, an early experiment in participatory democracy that predated many European equivalents.
That tradition was violently suppressed under Soviet occupation (1921–1991). Its memory was then fragmented further by decades of deliberate erasure and the families who lived through that erasure and learned to stay quiet for their survival.
A native of Guria, I was born in the 1960s and spent most of my adult life in the capital, Tbilisi. However, I felt something was missing. Every summer, I would visit my ancestral home, where the smoke slowly wafted from the chimney. When my mother, Meri, turned 80 and could no longer manage the property alone, I decided to move from Tbilisi and started rebuilding the ancestral house.
I started asking questions she had asked before, to her own grandfather, but those questions had long been forgotten. What exactly happened in this place during all these years, and why does almost no one talk about it?
The answers came in pieces. My grandfather, Amberki Chanukvadze, was arrested on August 8, 1937, just eight days before his daughter, my mom, Meri, was born. Amberki was a 23-year-old working-class man who joined the local “Young Marxists” action group in the Guria region when the socialist movement was gaining popularity before 1921, putting him on the side of the Mensheviks.
After the Red Army took over Georgia in 1921, he was imprisoned in 1926 for being affiliated with the Mensheviks and exiled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for six years, until 1932.
The second time, they came for him and kidnapped him at night. He was sent to Siberia. This time, Amberki came back in 1947.
In 1949, they took him again, this time to the Krasnoyarsk region, indefinitely. He was rehabilitated in 1955, after Stalin’s death.
In total, he spent 26 years in Soviet prisons and exile.
As his daughter, Meri remembers when her father finally returned home. Amberki rarely talked about the horrid stories he had witnessed. His diaries describe his torture in Ozurgeti, including 11 days without water or food, and list the names of Georgians, including his neighbors, who died in the same district. He kept quiet, as Meri understood it, since he was afraid for his children.
The story of Amberki Chanukvadze is one of the forgotten stories of local Gurians, which most young people have never heard of, even though similar stories happened in many families.
Connecting the past, present, and future
These stories were never systematically documented, digitized, or placed in a context that connected them to today. But finally, the time has come to tell these stories.
In spring 2026, the Komli Initiative for Civic Engagement launched a new project called “From Understanding the Past to the Digital Future.” The project runs from April to September 2026 and has three concrete objectives, including strengthening digital storytelling skills of local journalists, activists, and community members; promoting critical thinking and media literacy among local communities; and documenting, digitizing, and sharing historical and civic stories from Guria.
Starting from June, the project generated strong initial interest across all three municipalities of Guria, reaching nearly 50 community members in Ozurgeti, Chokhatauri, and Lanchkhuti, with particularly strong participation from women and young people.
The project launched with a public discussion titled “What Drove Gurians Crazy? – Propaganda Now and Then” on June 24, which brought together 25 participants from all three municipalities and explored Guria’s democratic history, Soviet occupation, propaganda, and contemporary challenges.
The subsequent Online Content Creation and Storytelling workshop on July 10 drew 14 participants, including 12 women, who received practical training in digital storytelling and online content creation. The AI and Digital Creation workshop on July 24 engaged 15 participants, including 12 women, and introduced participants to AI-assisted content production.
“I participated in the project because I was interested in connecting history with modern technologies. I believe that understanding the past helps us better understand the present and plan for the future. Participating in the project gave me the chance to develop my digital skills, gain new knowledge, and work with interesting people to bring meaningful ideas to life,” said Elene Mepraishvili from Chokhatauri, one of the workshop attendees.
On August 12, Komli hosted a theatrical performance named “My days and my father’s diaries” dedicated to Meri and her father. More than 35 people attended the performance and joined a discussion about the play afterward.
More locals are learning about their ancestors’ lives and working on sharing their stories through digital content. These activities have laid the foundation for a cross-municipal network of young people, activists, and aspiring digital storytellers who can continue producing and sharing civic content independently.
