Georgia
In 2021, following the appointment of a senior member of the Georgian Dream party, the Ministry of Culture began to undermine the independence of the country’s main national cultural institutions. Georgia’s cultural community has spoken out against the government’s efforts to silence voices of dissent and creative freedom, organizing protests and issuing manifestos. Those concerns have intensified amid the sustained anti-government protests that began in 2024, with writers, artists, and other cultural figures joining broader demonstrations against government measures that further narrowed democratic space and freedom of expression.
What You Need to Know
Since 2021, the government has escalated its intimidation, harassment, and interference in the work of writers and cultural figures voicing dissenting opinions.
Georgia’s slide into authoritarianism includes unfair election practices, violent dispersals of protestors, and attacks on and interference in independent media.
Laws that restrict freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly have fueled politically-motivated arrests of dissenters and penalized protests.
News
Taming Culture in Georgia: Georgian Government Clamps Down on Freedom of Speech and Cultural Expression
For many years, Georgians and the international community had high hopes that Georgia would be the democratic and rights–respecting foothold in a region of, at worst, authoritarian countries like Russia and Belarus or, at best, countries with shaky democratic systems and persistent human rights concerns. Sadly, these hopes have faded in recent years, particularly since Russia’s full–scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Georgian activists and experts warn that the country is headed towards authoritarianism.