We are seeing large protests in Georgia. Few know what it’s really about, but the media say the current government has passed a ‘pro-Russia-law’ that will make EU membership more difficult for the small country.
It is actually about regulating foreign organisations. The new law requires media and non-governmental organisations to register as foreign agents if they receive at least 20% of their funds from abroad and imposes heavy fines on those who do not comply. This is not unusual for a country to want to counter foreign influence, and occurs around the world.
Why are so many people protesting against this law? And moreover, it is a rather obscure legislation that people should not care about?
That’s exactly the point. Who is getting all these people to take to the streets and protest?
Presumably it is the affected organisations that encouraged and even paid the activists. The whole point of these non-governmental (often American) organisations is to influence the development of a country. The best-known organisation is the Open Society Foundation, which gives money and resources to people all over the world working towards its goals.
These organisations seem to be particularly fond of former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, where they have been operating for a long time. Strangely, the country is not becoming more open or democratic. The democratically elected president was even deposed in a coup in 2014. And the current president, Zelensky, remains in office even though his term has expired. The country is increasingly corrupt, even military material is being misappropriated during ongoing wars, such as the barricade and bunker constructions north of Kharkov. They were planned, but not built, and now the Russians can cross the border with relative ease.
Many argue that these organisations are not at all what they claim to be, but rather a disguised instrument of US power ambitions around the world, or the interests of wealthy individuals. It is perhaps not surprising that some countries have realised what they are doing, and are legislating against them. A country’s main task is to maintain its sovereignty, if they fail they also lose their democracy, because they are then ruled by someone else, and not the people.
