Georgia
After regaining its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia experienced a decades-long flowering of culture. Then in 2021, following the appointment of a senior member of the Georgian Dream party to the Ministry of Culture, it began to actively undermine the independence of the country’s main national cultural institutions. Georgia’s cultural community has actively opposed the Ministry of Culture’s actions and continues to do so, organizing protests, issuing manifestos, and orchestrating boycotts.
What You Need to Know
Over the last two years, government intimidation, harassment, and interference in the work of critical voices in the cultural sphere have increased significantly.
Georgia’s slide into authoritarianism includes unfair election practices, violent dispersals of protestors, attacks on and interference in independent media, and obstruction of the work of anti–corruption activists.
Concerns about civil society and culture are increasingly shared by international actors. In its initial opinion on Georgia’s application for EU membership, the European Commission raised concerns about media freedom and other human rights issues.
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.
