What's happening in Georgia? In October 2024, the Georgian Dream party extended its 12 years in power following rigged elections. A month later, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia was freezing its application to become a member of the European Union. His speech sparked outrage, and daily public protests. Police, special forces and state-approved heavies (or 'titushkies') were deployed to brutally supress protests and target protestors and journalists. Repressive laws (FARA, the Law on Grants) were enacted to make it almost impossible for NGOs, civil society groups, independent media and lawyers to remain solvent, and to challenge the government... but still they do.
What is the story of Georgian Dream, and its backer, the billionaire oligarch Bidzhina Ivanishvili? When did this nominally 'pro-European' government cast off its mask and reveal its desire to create a Russian-style authoritarian state in pro-European Georgia?
English language podcast about the situation in Georgia.
#GeorgiaProtests #TerrorInGeorgia
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What's happening in Georgia? In October 2024, the Georgian Dream party extended its 12 years in power following rigged elections. A month later, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced Georgia was freezing its application to become a member of the European Union. His speech sparked outrage, and daily public protests. Police, special forces and state-approved heavies (or 'titushkies') were deployed to brutally supress protests and target protestors and journalists. Repressive laws (FARA, the Law on Grants) were enacted to make it almost impossible for NGOs, civil society groups, independent media and lawyers to remain solvent, and to challenge the government... but still they do.
What is the story of Georgian Dream, and its backer, the billionaire oligarch Bidzhina Ivanishvili? When did this nominally 'pro-European' government cast off its mask and reveal its desire to create a Russian-style authoritarian state in pro-European Georgia?
English language podcast about the situation in Georgia.
#GeorgiaProtests #TerrorInGeorgia
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In 2022, the campaign to villify civil society intensified. The Georgian Dream fake news machine went into overdrive. False claims about NGO finance and the personal wealth and beliefs of senior leaders appeared on an almost daily basis. Posters appeared identifying those running some of the country's most high-profile NGOs, and questioning their commitment to Georgia. These very public attacks were followed by threats and physical violence, as the target audience for this propaganda took the law into their own hands.
In 2023, Georgian Dream attempted to introduce the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, aka The Foreign Agents Law or simply the 'Russia Law' due to its striking resemblance to a 2012 Russian Federation Law which sought to choke opposition in that country.
In this episode, we hear from two women who targeted by Georgian Dream - Nino Dolidze, who was at the time Executive Director of ISFED, the independent election observer, and Eka Gigauri, Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, which focuses on exposing corruption. The journalist Anna Gvarishvili, Democracy Defenders co-founder Gvantsa Samkharadze and Droa Party politician Marika Mikiashvili help to explain the Russia Law and its implications.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
