Why Georgians Are Protesting Russian-Inspired Bill, Explained
The implications extend beyond Georgia's borders
Fun tid-bit: I served in Georgia as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2003-2005 and studied advanced Georgian language in Tbilisi in the summer of 2008, when the Russians invaded. I go back to the country almost yearly. The war in Ukraine has kept me away the past few years, but I’m planning to return this year!
Thousands of people continue to protest in the capital city of Tbilisi against a bill pushed by the ruling party many critics say amounts to a Russian-style crackdown on government watchdog organizations. Dubbed the “foreign agent” bill, the proposed legislation by Georgia Dream requires any independent NGO and media organization that receives more than 20 percent of its funding outside of Georgia to register as an "organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power."
A generous observation says the bill will safeguard the small Caucasus nation’s sovereignty, but experts I’ve interviewed for this story tell me the legislation’s intent is far more sinister.
I spend most of my time reporting on Ukraine, but what’s happening in Georgia has geopolitical implications that extend beyond its borders.
Here’s a breakdown of why.
What, exactly, is in the “foreign agent” bill?
Introduced by the Georgia Dream party as the “On transparency of foreign influence” bill, it requires non-governmental groups, and print, online and broadcast media that receive 20 percent or more of their annual revenue – either financial support or in-kind contributions – from a “foreign power” to register as “agents of foreign influence” with the Ministry of Justice, according to Amnesty International.
Furthermore, the bill defines “foreign powers” as any entity that isn’t established under Georgian law. If an organization does not register as a foreign power or disclose its full financial records, it is subject to a GEL 25,000 (US$ 9,600) fine.
Georgia Dream introduced this legislation in March of last year, but pulled it back after thousands of people hit the streets in opposition to the bill. In an interview on my Black Diplomats podcast, Transparency International Georgia’s Katie Shoshiashvili told me Georgia Dream changed the language from “foreign agent” to “foreign power” to blunt criticisms that it is similar to the bill Russia first passed in 2012 that all but wiped out any remaining civil society organizations and independent that exist in the country.
Why are people protesting the Foreign Agent Law?
Protesters believe the bill, if passed into law, will bring a more Kremlin-style rule to Georgia that pulls it closer to Russia and farther away from the European Union (EU), which most polls show that a majority of the population wants.
NGOs and independent media have served as watchdogs of the government and protesters fear the bill’s passage will strip them of any power to continue that work.
“They're slowly making it hard for civil society organizations to exist,” Shota Dighmelashvili, founder of civil rights organization Shame Movement that is active in the protests, told me. “Not only the legal status, but also the resources, right? Because the private business is afraid to, you cannot fundraise anything now.
You could say there’s nothing wrong with a law ensuring foreign entities don’t undermine a nation’s sovereignty. But that’s a bad-faith, uncontextualized take. Unlike in western nations, most Georgians don't make enough money to support local media or NGOs with donations in substantive ways. This makes foreign support essential for these organizations to exist.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that foreign-funded NGOS, rights groups and media have done anything to undermine Georgia’s sovereignty.
Who is Georgia Dream and why do they support It?
Led by Russian-made billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the party came to power in 2012 after the western-leaning president Saakashvili lost that year's presidential elections. Georgia rapidly headed down a western path that is largely responsible for the country’s current positioning to possibly join the European Union some day, thanks to Saakashvili’s aggressive reforms in the early 2000s. But he eventually fell into authoritarian-esque governance that soured Georgian people’s perceptions of him and they voted him out of office in favor of Ivanishvili’s promise to stabilize the country after the 2008 Russian invasion and Saakashvili’s own political mishaps.
He is currently serving a prison sentence in connection to abuse of power charges. But his supporters feel his sentence was politically motivated and should be released because of his ailing health.
Since 2012, however, Georgia Dream has slowed down Georgia’s European trajectory in favor of a controlled democracy style similar to that of Hungary’s Victor Orban. (Several Georgia Dream members have gone to speak at the conservative CPAC conference in Budapest; Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze is there this week) This includes accusations of election interference, pressuring opposition candidates, voter intimidation, infringing on NGO and independent media work and manipulating the judiciary.
“They have failed time and again to listen to the Georgian people, to understand the value of having civil society organizations, of having that independence because ultimately they are the offspring in the worst sense of those Soviet legacies that Georgia has been trying to shed since the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Tinatin Japaridze, Eurasia region analyst at Eurasia Group, told me. “They are gradually bringing back a lot of those systems, but with window dressing. For them, the very essence of having civil society and grassroots movements such as independent media, independent judiciary system, anything that is seen through that prism, it's potentially risky for them and they feel an immense threat emanating from these systems that are in many ways seen as elements of a democratic society.”
There is much debate over whether Georgia Dream is pro-Russia or not. What most experts do agree on is that they are very much not pro-European Union.
What’s the EU’s reaction?
Pretty tough.
EU's diplomatic service said in a statement that "This is a very concerning development and the final adoption of this legislation would negatively impact Georgia’s progress on its EU path.”
Just today, the EU parliament called for sanctions against Georgia Dream founder Ivanishvili over the proposed bill and warned its candidacy to join the bloc hinges on how the party moves forward with the bill.
The problem is that Georgia Dream doesn’t care what the West thinks about their internal politics. They regularly flout western critique and express more interest in courting Orban, the thorn in the EU’s ass. Hungary, which has its own laundry list of authoritarian ways, likely wouldn't be allowed into the bloc if their candidacy were up today instead of the early 2000s.
That said, when this foreign agent law was introduced last year, there was concern that Georgia would not gain candidacy status, but Brussels ended up granting it anyway. It was a decision that Japaridze suggests acknowledged the Georgian people’s desires but indirectly rewarded Georgia Dream with a status it didn't earn.
“I think now the fear is that not only will our EU accession talks not open early next year, but also what if something goes very wrong and the EU candidacy is taken away, " she said. “The average Georgian is really concerned that something they fought for, something that they got on their own merit could be taken away because of the trigger that was the foreign agent law coming back. The stakes are much, much higher than this one single law.”
What’s the opposition doing about it?
Let’s keep it real: the opposition is a mess.
Beyond the very credible accusations against Georgia Dream over alleged anti-democratic practices, opposition parties in the country are viewed as combative and too focused on their petty differences to establish trust with the Georgia people. When I covered the local elections in 2021, I traveled the country to speak with locals about their thoughts about the state of national politics and got the same answers: “We don’t like Georgia Dream, but the opposition isn’t any better.”
Not much has changed since.
Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) has been able to maintain majority status since 2012, but the former president’s presence in Georgian politics has left little room for UNM to mature or move away from the rocky final years of his presidency.
While it’s a great sign that young people and civil society groups are organizing the protests, the problem is that the electorate has few alternatives to Georgia Dream they can trust.
“I don't really see a single opposition party that has a massive support base because opposition has been very much fragmented,” Natia Seskuria, director of Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. “There are so many different factions that it has been impossible for them to unite or to stand together. There are few parties that more or less cooperate in certain things, but still it doesn't really give me an impression that it's something that can be sustainable. As of today, I can't really say that there is some sort of unity within the opposition or there is a single opposition party that stands out as a leader.”
On the brighter side, the opposition is pretty diverse for all of its fractiousness (there are nearly 20 parties, each with representation in parliament in the single digits; United National Movement/United Opposition "Strength is in Unity" faction is the exception with 20 MPs). Georgia Dream holds 150 seats. Also, discontent with Georgia Dream provides opposition parties a great opportunity to build coalitions, Giorgi, Kandelaki, a former MP in the Georgian parliament and project manager at Soviet Past Reset Laboratory, told me.
“I think all of the different opposition players should consolidate their own electoral bases and, in combination, gain more votes than Georgian Dream and then form a classical coalition government after elections,” Kandelaki said.
What can be a game changer and what matters in the context of this (foreign agent) law is election observation. It is why there is a widespread expectation that this will be a very dirty election. One objective of this legislation is to destroy election observation watchdogs. With this law in place, they will be unable to function.”
Takeaways
Georgians have long sought to distance themselves from Russia’s sphere of influence.
This “foreign agent” bill is viewed by most Georgians as both a throwback to the authoritarian rule its people died to unshackle itself from and a roadblock to attaining the EU membership they see as a gateway to a more prosperous future. Unless Georgia Dream pulls back this bill, the protests will continue.
The West is very much invested in Georgia joining the EU because it’ll be another geo-political blow to the Kremlin. Georgia would be the first Caucacus nation to join the western alliance. NATO membership will be much more difficult, but joining the EU will make joining the military alliance a natural next step. Having a NATO presence in the Caucasus would be a major feat EU membership could slowly pave the path for.
But until the opposition exploits Georgian’s discontent for Georgia Dream’s moves, the protests won’t produce an alternative the electorate can trust.
“I think what matters for Georgia's friends is that this law really signifies the considerable and dangerous growth of Russian influence,”Kandelaki said. “That's a bad thing. That's not only about democracy and the rights of civil society organizations to function, but it's very much about geopolitics and the growth of Russian influence is a bad thing for both the EU and the U.S.”