In April, the Georgian government submitted a controversial “Foreign Agents Law” to parliament, sparking massive anti-government demonstrations in Tbilisi. Thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest against the so-called
“Russian law”, resulting in clashes between protesters and police, dozens of injuries, hospitalizations and arrests. As thousands of Georgians poured into Tbilisi from the regions to participate in the massive demonstrations, public calls for the Georgian
Dream government to repeal the problematic legislation grew louder. The protests also spread to other major cities in Georgia. In the eyes of the public, the new law was a decisive shift for Georgia from the European path to a direct alliance with Russia. With pro-EU slogans, EU flags, anti-Russian and anti-government banners, Georgia’s young people made it clear that the pro-Western path was non-negotiable for them.
The Foreign Agents Bill has so far passed two of three readings in parliament
with 83 lawmakers from Georgia’s ruling. Georgian Dream party voting in favor each time. If it becomes law, it will require all organizations that receive. More than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register Lead Generation Telemarketing themselves as “agents of foreign influence.”
The law is indeed reminiscent of Russia’s. Foreign Agents Law, which came into effect in. 2012 and became the Kremlin’s justification for shutting down nearly all Western-funded. NGOs and independent media outlets.
The law was initially limited to NGOs engaged in “political activities,” but its reach has been relentlessly. Expanded to suppress nearly all non-governmental sources. Of information and stifle civil society. In 2017, the law was first applied to media outlets; in 2019, it was expanded again
to include individuals or groups that produce “print, audio, audiovisual or other reports and materials”; and in 2021, it was expanded again to include ordinary citizens who report information about crimes and corruption in state agencies. On May 6, 2024, Russia made it illegal for anyone registered as a “foreign agent” under the law to participate in elections at any level.
Georgia’s Western partners and many Georgians fear that the Georgian
Government will follow the same path. These fears are fueled by rhetoric from Georgian government officials. On April 29, the Georgian Dream coalition held its own public event, with speeches by the party’s leadership and its founder and current “honorary president,” billionaire oligarch
Bidzina Ivanishvili. In typical Putin style, Ivanishvili Design spoke of “Georgia’s enemies” — the United National Movement (UNM) and the mistakes its leadership made when it came to power 12 years ago.
But this time, Ivanishvili was no longer veiled in his anti-Western and anti-democratic rhetoric. Instead, the oligarch directly accused the West of collectively acting as a “global war party” that is using Georgian opposition forces to “open a second front in Georgia” after Ukraine.
“There is no greater enemy than a pseudo-elite cultivated by foreign countries… These people are easy to control from the outside because they have no principles. This is the face of the radical opposition today, and this is the face of these people when they are in power. “
In his speech, Ivanishevili positioned
Himself as a leader who is concerned about Georgia’s sovereignty. The tone and rhetoric of his speech were reminiscent of anti-Western narratives of Russian politicians, aimed at promoting anti-
American conspiracy theories. “The funding of NGOs, which they often envy us and pass off as aid, is almost entirely used to strengthen proxies and keep them in power. Therefore, these funds have nothing to do with aid, on the contrary, their only goal is to deprive Georgia of its national sovereignty.”
In an ominous warning, Ivanishvili explained that he expects his government’s power to be fully consolidated after the upcoming parliamentary elections in the fall of 2024:
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