Tbilisi, Georgia - Georgia is in flux. Protests erupted in the mountainous nation in the Caucasus region in mid-April over a "foreign agents bill" that requires organisations receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from overseas to register as "agents of foreign influence". Critics see the measure as resembling Russia's own "foreign agents" law, which is used to crack down on critics of the Kremlin.
It was first introduced in 2012 and expanded in 2022 to include NGOs, media outlets and individual Russian citizens, such as journalists and activists. Russia's law, like Georgia's, requires those who are labelled as "foreign agents" to regularly report on their income and spending and undergo financial audits. Many among Georgia's Western-leaning younger generation view the law, which was passed in May, as a sign that the ruling Georgian Dream party is tilting towards Russia.
They fear such a shift could potentially scupper the country's chances of joining the European Union, an ambition enshrined in its constitution. Opposition parties have, in turn, been accused by the government of allowing Western narratives to pervert traditional values. Georgian Dream says the law is needed to promote transparency and protect the country from foreign influence.
Its billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has accused NGOs of being under foreign control and plotting a revolution. Antigovernment protesters have now turned their attention to October's elections when voters will choose between re-electing the Georgian Dream party for a fourth term or ushering in an opposition party. A national poll in March showed that Georgian Dream enjoyed 31 percent of support, roughly double that of the strongest opposition party.
The ruling party pulls much of its support from older Georgians while most protesters who flooded the streets this year were young. Amid the growing generational divide, Al Jazeera spoke to several Georgians about the protest movement, Russia and the EU. Tamer Mindiashvili, 77 Mindiashvili, an erudite museum worker, grew up in Gori, the country's fifth largest city.
She conducts tours through an opulent train carriage that was once used to ferry Joseph Stalin, who was born in Gori, to diplomatic engagements. "During the Soviet period, all the republics felt as one. People from all over got along, but in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union [in 1991], Georgia suffered a lot and lost a lot of land to Russia.
" "I am for change. I think Georgia should join the EU as our traditions are similar to Europe, but Georgia is a small country, and we need to be better than Ukraine at keeping a balance." "We simply need to keep a relationship with both Russia and the EU.
" "I will not support the opposition as they are not pure people. I would vote for fresh faces, but the current opposition parties are connected to [former Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili's government." "There were lots of human rights abuses under his regime.
People were terrorised." "I am just an ordinary museum worker, but I felt if I just complained about a human rights issue, I would be jailed. This is why I can never vote for the opposition.
" Saakashvili is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for "abuse of office" and ordering the beating of an opposition lawmaker. Katie Shoshiashvili, 29 Shoshiashvili works for Transparency International, a German-based NGO tackling government corruption. If the NGO does not disclose sensitive information under the foreign agents law, it will face steep financial penalties beginning in September.
But Shoshiashvili's concerns go beyond that law. In June, Georgia's Parliament gave its initial approval to a package of bills that limits LGBTQ rights, a move Shoshiashvili believes further stigmatises the LGBTQ community and same-sex relationships. She says Georgian Dream "uses homophobia as one of the main pillars of the election campaign".
The government has also fast-tracked the "offshore law", which hands a range of tax benefits to individuals transferring assets from offshore zones to Georgia. Shoshiashvili said the law benefits Ivanishvili, whom Transparency International has linked to at least 20 offshore companies. It also risks "Georgia becoming a black money hub to benefit the oligarch".
"The generation I am a part of grew up with freedom and opportunities to grow abroad." "My generation simply can't go back to living under Russian terms, and the protests now are because our Western-oriented way of life and trajectory here feels threatened." "The government says we don't love our homeland, but actually, we are full of patriotism.
Gen Z is protesting now to defend our country, its sovereignty and its Euro-Atlantic future." Tina Lagidze, 50 A well-known actress who used to work in Moscow, Lagidze returned to Georgia after the five-day war with Russia in 2008. The conflict ended in a decisive victory for Russia after its troops swiftly reached a vital highway and camped within striking distance of Tbilisi.
Several hundred people were killed in the conflict, and thousands of ethnic Georgians were displaced. "I do not support Georgian Dream as it is pro-Russian, but I think it will win a fourth term in October," Lagidze says. "Russia has an imperialist view – they must have power in the Caucasus.
If a country wants to stand alone, it will swallow it up. First, it was Chechnya, then Abkhazia and then South Ossetia in 2008." "In recent years, all money for research, education, culture and infrastructure has come from the EU and the US, but now the authorities are trying to take us back to Russia.
" "In the cultural world, I feel it. The government censors films, and there is little room for arthouse or independent productions." "I often vote not for someone but against someone.
And that's how many others think." "People don't want to vote for parties in the opposition that originate from Saakashvili's government as his second term was a disaster, so that is why some people will vote for Georgian Dream." "In Georgia, there is a pattern in politics: In the first term, the government tries to change things.
In the second period, it becomes a disaster, and in the third, it only gets worse." Mzia Chlaidze, 70 Living in a house heavily damaged in 2008 during the war against Russia near the separation line with South Ossetia, Chlaidze has grown disengaged from the political machinations that shape power in Tbilisi. "I have lived on the front line with Russia for 30 years.
In the '90s, the Georgian military stayed in my house. After 2008, my husband never repaired the damage to it." "I still remember the Russian tracking flares lighting up the night sky above the house in 2008.
I will never forget the smell of burning. I was surprised my house wasn't burned to ashes." "I have always hated the Russian government, but I can always separate the people from those in power.
I know kind Russians, and I have Russian relatives." "I don't know if this [foreign agents measure] is a Russian law. I just know I am tired of war.
I prefer to be deaf now to politics and grow roses. War is war, but in the end, we need beauty in our life." "Now I listen to my grandchildren for guidance, and they are all against the government and the law.
I trust them." Liana Mkheidze, 70 Mkheidze is a long-serving programme manager for Caritas, a global Catholic relief and development agency that is affected by the new law. "This law is very necessary, but how it was introduced is not right.
" "When Saakasvili's regime ended and there was a change in power, many people from his government founded NGOs, which means they have been artificially created and not grassroots organisations." "This law can be useful in finding individuals connected to Saakashvili who found safe places in some NGOs". "However, labelling organisations like ours as foreign agents when we are not agents is not the right way.
This will not be good for us as we don't know how it will be perceived outside [Georgia]." "This is a political game. It was called a Russian law, and simply labelling something as Russian instantly makes it unacceptable for our people, especially the younger generation.
" "It was a slogan that brought many people onto the streets. Young people were very inspired, singing and dancing, but this is not a Russian law. This is a war of power, and young people are an instrument.
" "This does not influence my opinion that Russia is an absolute aggressor, but the [current] government is not pro-Russian." "I am for EU membership, but we must strike a balance against an aggressive neighbour [Russia]." "Russian troops are only 30km [19 miles] from us, and Russian soldiers can see straight down the main road between Tbilisi and Gori, so we must be neutral.
Russia would not even need one day to take us." Lado Kolkhii, 38 Kolkhii, a taxi driver, was born in western Georgia. Kolkhii remembers the War in Abkhazia in 1992 and 1993 between ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia and separatist Abkhaz and Russian forces.
This experience, followed by the subsequent war in 2008, left Kolkhii deeply mistrustful of Russian influence and fiercely pro-EU. "For me, this law does not mean anything. It has no practical impact, but I have problems with the authorities, so the law is a weapon for me.
The law is the reason why people now care about the election." "I was detained in a protest five years ago, so now I cannot go to these demonstrations as I might have problems with the authorities." "But I am helping the protesters.
If they don't have enough money, I drive them home for free." "If Georgian Dream keeps power, Georgia will become a puppet state for Russia like Belarus is." "We either go towards the EU or the Soviet Union.
And the Soviet Union is a dead idea." Dimitry Loboda, 59 A gregarious multilingual retired military officer and qualified engineer, Loboda now sells army memorabilia from the Soviet Union between the hulking trunk of a tree and a bus stop in central Tbilisi. "I think Georgia should work on being independent and not relying on the EU or Russia.
" "Many young people want to move towards the EU; many old people want Russia. For me, I have lived in both, and it doesn't matter." "Instead, we need to work on our own country.
We need to stop sleeping." "Many people my age lack job opportunities. This makes people feel left behind, and older people can think it was better in the Soviet Union.
" "I have spoken to my family, and I think we will vote for the Georgian Dream, but I also know it doesn't matter who is in charge. Politicians will only look out for their own pockets.".
