I AM THE WAVE
Today, nearly three thousand people are imprisoned for drug related charges in Georgia. Majority of the prisoners serve sentences of 8-20 years on the allegations of drug use, most of them arrested for possessing unbelievably small quantities. Individuals should have a right to act as they deem appropriate, given that their actions are not detrimental to the rights of others. Drug addiction can surely cause severe health problems and should be treated with serious medical attention if need be. However, imprisonment is definitely not one of the credible remedies.
Number of studies have shown that zero-tolerance drug policy, in the long run, is not only inefficient but has a strong negative impact in a community, both socially and economically. Tremendous amounts of finances are spent on enforcing these policies that destroy the lives of its citizens.
There is yet another factor that strongly reinforces the injustice of the current politics. Individuals who due to their financial and social status, are capable of paying huge amounts of money for drug related charges, can buy out their freedom. Meanwhile, the ones who do not possess such financial resources are doomed to spend years in prisons. Basically, government is issuing a 21st century analogy of the medieval Indulgencies.
Moreover, as the recent events have shown, the zero-tolerance drug policy is frequently used by the law-enforcement as a weapon for terrorizing and discrediting individuals who refuse to concord with political agendas of the governing bodies.
Ministry of Internal Affairs, constantly demoralizes drug consumption through all available communicational channels, meanwhile shifting focus from the more urgent issues at hand. While people indulge in polemics over the good and the evil of the drug use, the less fortunate of the community rot in cells, deprived of the company of the loved ones.
The Wave is a group of artists that was formed as a reaction to these inhumane laws and the murderous law-enforcement of the Georgian government. Movement is a voice of the people, who have had enough of the gestapo-esque terror and want to live in a civilized environment, where the pillars of freedom are regarded as the fundamental blocks of society.
Artists released a song that echoed the pain, frustration and suffering of the population. They organized a demonstration that thousands came to attend. The subject is very urgent, requiring immediate action and the numbers were an obvious evidence to that.
Due to the constant demagogy and propaganda of the governing bodies people often forget how strong they really are. It is the people governments and laws should serve, not the way around. In this project I documented some of the members of the movement and the protesters who took upon themselves the responsibility of echoing the voices of the repressed. I can only hope that these portraits remind us that no matter how vast the ocean, it is still made up of drops. Every voice counts and if we gather enough courage to stand together nothing and no one can stand in our way.
