The finale of Beethoven’s “revolutionary” Fifth Symphony was greeted with deafening applause at Tbilisi’s State Opera and Ballet Theater last Thursday night. The cheers grew into a powerful expression of solidarity with the protests outside Rustaveli Street.
People hoisted EU flags on theater balconies and chanted “No to Russian law!” Europe!georgia [Sa-kar-tve-lo]! ”
They say they will move forward with second reading of a controversial bill that would require NGOs, civil rights groups and news organizations to register as “foreign agents” if more than 20% of their funding comes from abroad. He was reacting to the decision of the Georgian parliament the previous day. abroad. Protesters say the law is inspired by Russia’s authoritarian laws and could be used to crush opposition ahead of elections later this year. . The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party says the law on “foreign influence” is needed to “increase transparency”.
Thousands of people have been protesting in Tblisi in recent days, and dozens have been arrested. I was also out on the street. I’m a Georgian journalist who has spent my life resisting Soviet and Russian oppression. I believe that sovereignty, freedom and democracy are the most important values for our country.
I joined these protests when they started about three weeks ago, and I plan on participating until the end. I don’t want to feel like I have to leave my homeland because of this authoritarian law.
On Thursday, the Tbilisi Opera House was packed with the country’s intellectuals and business elite. But most of the people rallying in the streets against the Foreign Influence Act are young people. My 23-year-old daughter Anna also joined us.
Gen Z has been leading the charge in resisting this law since the first attempt to impose it last year. For more than a month, college and high school students have been energetically marching, singing, dancing, and expressing themselves freely and creatively. These young people are far more informed, connected, and digitally savvy than their elders, and they display incredible organizational skills.
These diverse groups of young people, without formal leadership, form a broad and effective volunteer movement. They distribute water, food, emergency supplies and first aid. They have also created groups on social media, run advice campaigns on how to stay safe during police crackdowns, and helped provide travel and accommodation for protesters from outside the city.
They do all this by happily hugging, smiling, and offering to help. At first glance, it looks like a youth festival is being held on the streets of Georgia. But each night their peaceful party turns into an authoritarian nightmare of arrests and battles with government forces using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Civil society and a free media provide checks and balances on Georgia’s state system, and Western-funded institutions have been an effective remedy against the strengthening of authoritarianism. Thanks to the media and NGOs, Georgian society is well aware of the dark side of the governance system: full-fledged oligarchic crony capitalism, corruption, and “state capture.”
Western officials daily urge the ruling party not to rely on these strict mechanisms to control society and the media, and not to endanger Georgia’s fragile democracy. The EU has warned the government that adopting the Foreign Influence Bill would jeopardize Georgia’s EU accession negotiations. John Kirby of the National Security Council said the White House was “deeply concerned” about the bill because of “what it could do in terms of suppressing dissent and free speech.”
GD authorities continue to ignore these concerns. Demonstrators believe the party is a puppet in the hands of its founder, oligarch and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Since Georgia won independence, its EU ambitions have steadily grown. Most people want their country to join the EU and NATO. For Georgia, turning its back on the West would mean returning to Russian domination. Russia is able to exert much greater military and economic potential against Georgian sovereignty and still de facto occupies 20% of our territory.
Civil society and independent journalism disappeared in Russia after it introduced a “foreign agent” law in 2012. This is why protesters are calling Georgia’s bill “Russian”.
In the opera house, the seats reserved for government officials were empty. Many politicians are afraid to appear in public because they are so unpopular.
The spring of 2024 was marked by unprecedented protests. Considering that our country’s population is less than 4 million people (1 million Georgians have migrated mainly to Western countries), there are thousands of protesters on the streets of several cities. The sights will be worrying for the government.
But while our government continues to pursue controversial legislation, we will continue to wear gas masks and goggles and stand with our families and friends for freedom and democracy.
