Since the elections in Georgia on 26 October, thousands of Georgians have been protesting constantly in the streets, and many have faced brutal reprisals. Saba Buadze is an MP in the Lelo for Georgia party, one of four forming the pro-Western Strong Georgia coalition. He and his fellow opposition MPs are boycotting parliament in support of the protesters. I talked to him on Christmas Eve about what is currently happening in his country and his hopes and fears for the coming weeks.
Georgia, EU membership and the Russian playbook
Buadze says that an overwhelming majority, 90% of the public, supports the opposition parties’ aspirations for EU integration. The governing Georgian Dream party, which has announced Georgia will not pursue EU membership, won in elections that were, in his words, “rigged, falsified, with the official data manipulated”. This view is supported by international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. As Buadze says:
“A lot of the tools used by the pro-Russian government in this election, which we believe is in direct contact with the Kremlin, are the basic tools from the Russian playbook. This includes election rigging techniques. This also includes propaganda, misinformation and various other tools of corruption and intimidation that are all part of a well-tested Russian playbook that we have seen in other countries. In the US elections, Serbian elections, you name it. These Russian hybrid warfare tools have been of wide use internationally.”
The Georgian Dream party, which is controlled by the Russian-backed oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has selected a pro-Russian former football player to replace the elected president Salome Zourabichvili. She has said she will not step down until new elections are held. According to Buadze:
“She is speaking for the bigger part of the public, and she is the only legitimate highest representative of our country. I believe that she is currently representing the national sentiment that is overwhelming and that has the support of the majority of the Georgian population.”
Repression and the Georgian Dream party
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze recently said “President Zourabichvili will have to leave office on December 29. Let’s see where she continues her life – behind bars or outside”. Buadze believes “anything is possible at this moment, including the incarceration of the president, including the incarceration of political leaders, myself included. Members of the public have been already jailed”.
Zourabichvili spoke on Friday 27 December to Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart on their ‘The rest is politics’ programme. She would not say what she plans to do on 29 December, but it is to be hoped that increasing international pressure will help stay the ruling party’s hand. On Saturday 28 December, US Republican representative Joe Wilson tweeted: “As the only legitimate leader in Georgia, I am grateful to extend an invite to President Salome Zurabishvili to attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump. I am in awe of her courage in the face of the assault by Ivanishvili and his friends in the CCP and Iranian regime.”
As the situation becomes more tense, Buadze believes Georgian Dream is capable of anything, and the use of repressive methods will increase: “We are at the stage of autocracy, and we are going downhill now.” Over recent years there has been a process of state capture, with public institutions and branches of the government, including the judiciary, the constitutional court, and many others, falling into the hands of the Georgian Dream party:
“The only institution that is outside the party’s grip is the office of the presidency. The president herself. And that’s why we’re saying that the president is the only highest, legitimate representative of the country and the Georgian people. Repression is going to increase proportionally, or maybe disproportionally. And I believe that pressure on public servants and other types of intimidation techniques are going to increase as well.”
Resistance in Georgia
There have been some optimistic signs of resistance. A few ambassadors have resigned and some civil servants have issued open statements in support of EU integration and “against the Georgian Dream decision to turn its back on the EU”. But this resistance is sporadic, and “we have to understand that over 12 years, Georgian Dream has done everything to gain total control over the civil service in Georgia, and to transform it into a party-serving machine. The judicial branch is fully in the pockets of Bidzina Ivanishviliand is a major service provider for the autocratic tasks that Ivanishvili is giving them”.
Buadze welcomes the sanctions and interventions announced by various Western countries, including the UK, though he says “I believe that they are a little too late, but it’s better late than never”. Emmanuel Macron’s direct intervention was a very clear and very important signal to the Georgian people that European leaders are directly concerned. He hopes Macron’s example will encourage other leaders to “participate in the process of saving Georgia from this Russian operation”. The presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic have also issued statements.
International pressure on Georgian Dream
On 18 December in Strasbourg, Zurabishvili told the European parliament that “Europe has so far only met the challenge halfway. It has been slow to wake up and slow to react. Much more could and should be done”. Buadze recognises that it is difficult for the EU to act, with Hungary and Slovakia wielding vetoes: “We have seen that Russian interference and the partners of Vladimir Putin are also to be found inside the European Union.” There are, he argues however, many other tools that countries and blocs of countries can use to get around the “deadlock” in the EU because of the Hungarian factor.
The UK was one of the signatories of the Vienna Mechanism letter that was sent to the Georgian ambassador to NATO on 20 December, with 28 other countries, including the US. Buadze believes that:
“Any pressure is priceless at this moment. Any kind of pressure that our partners are willing to exert against Georgian Dream and in favour of the Georgian people is of critical importance, because there are two things that are keeping our European and pro-Western aspirations alive. These are the protest of the Georgian people and the steps that our international partners are taking. Any international endeavour, any international tool or sanctions, or whatever our partners are pursuing, is of critical importance to us at this moment, especially from such a major player as the United Kingdom.”
UK support for Georgia
Buadze spoke of the UK’s strong historic ties to Georgia dating to the period after the First World War, when British troops were stationed there to support the first republic until the Soviet invasion. British support resumed after the Soviet Union collapsed, and “has been manifested in many ways, financial, intellectual, cultural and media, over the years. This is part of the soft power that the UK exerts internationally”.
When the Red Army invaded Georgia in 1921, the republican government reached out to Britain and other Western forces for help. “Unfortunately, this call was left unanswered 100 years ago. I hope this time Georgia will not be left alone and I’m optimistic, because we have seen very close international involvement of our partners since this turmoil has started in Georgia.”
What will Trump do about Georgia?
Much now depends on the direction the new US administration takes. The Republican congressional leadership is making the right noises, but “we will have to wait for January 20 and what will happen afterwards”. Zurabishvili did speak informally with Donald Trump at the Notre Dame reopening ceremony, urging him “to see the urgency of US involvement in this process, because the US has been a very close and important partner for Georgia in the process of democratization and in the process of Western integration”.
“Trump is unpredictable, but I hope that this unpredictability will play out in favour of the Georgian public, because the pseudo-conservative, ultra-right political power that Georgian Dream has crystallized into, they think that they have a lot of similarities with Trump, and they share some ideas with Trump, which I believe is completely false. I believe that the Trump presidency can be an important opportunity for the US-Georgia relationship to improve and reach a new strategic level.”
The signs are hopeful and since we spoke, the US has announced sanctions against Ivanishvili, which have been widely welcomed by the Georgian protesters.
How can we help Georgian protesters?
Finally, I asked Buadze what democracy activists and media channels outside Georgia can do to raise awareness of the protests, without endangering the people there:
“What has happened is fully equivalent to torture and inhumane and degrading behaviour. We have seen people who have been detained, robbed by the representatives of the police and the thugs that are serving Georgian Dream. We will do what we can to maintain the international focus.
“It is very difficult for Georgia to stay on top of the news cycle. But then again, it is a challenge that we have to address locally, with our local resistance and with a very clear demonstration that we are not going to back down and that we’re going to continue to fight. And I believe that this message is what keeps Georgia in the international spotlight.”
Ordinary protesters in Georgia fear reprisals if they speak out in the foreign media. Buatze says he has himself experienced police brutality. “But I am a political leader, so anything I say and do is public and out in the open.” Politicians, activists and all concerned for the future of democracies around the world will be watching Georgia over the coming days and wishing the Georgian people well. In Buatze’s words:
“Georgia needs all the help there is from its international partners, others who share the democratic values, who believe that democracy is the best form of governance, who believe that European and pro-Western values that are based on the supremacy of human rights. All those who believe in these causes, all those who believe in the UN Charter, all those who believe in the European Convention of Human Rights must, must do anything that is in their power to assist the Georgian people in the fight against Russia and Russian style authoritarianism…
“It is in the interest of the collective security of Europe to contain this aggressor, and people, especially on the eastern part of the European Union, especially those sharing borders with Russia or close to Russia, should understand that this aggression, these methods, they do not stop with Ukraine and Georgia.”
