Hans Gutbrod: The approval of Georgian “foreign influence” bill can be seen as a “coup”

Hans Gutbrod: The approval of Georgian “foreign influence” bill can be seen as a “coup”

Let’s cross live to tibl on the program Hans good BR joins me now he’s a researcher and an associate professor based in the Georgian Capital big moment today then in Parliament iny your thoughts on what we’ve just seen and what may happen now well it was a big moment it was a bad moment for Georgia in many ways because this is part you can be seen as part of a kind of seizure of power I think it’s accurately described as a coup uh the Georgian Dream government has seized control over various sectors of society in recent years the courts the media the the the the cultural sector and now it’s in a position where it can snuff out Civil Society at will the Georgian president salom zurabishvili has been very clear that she does not support the government on this she’s against uh this plan can she intervene now stop it from happening or is this really a done deal well we we will see a lot of people are out on the streets it’s important to understand it’s a kind of the the the president has veto power but Parliament can actually over write that veto after after that uh there is a sense that lots of people are mobilizing students are going on strike some school students have said that they’re they’re going to go on strike so the government may be able to push the law through Parliament with lots of Riot police around it whether it can put the country back on track that’s a very different question and look if this does happen if this bill divisive as it clearly is becomes law who do you think will be impacted first in Georgia well it’s important to say that it’s not really divisive because uh you know it it it uh it mobilizes lots of people but actually it’s it’s a small click that pushes this through it will immediately impact uh nonprofit organizations organizations have pointed out the terrible corruption that we’ve seen in Georgian government recently it will imp nonprofit media but it will also or impact institutions like anim people that help Stray Cats because they too now will be at at the mercy of a government that that can kind of shut them down at a whim could it prevent Georgia joining the European Union well I mean it’s Georgia is going in a totally opposite direction the Georgian government is going in a totally opposite direction and it’s important to say that the very same party a few years ago put into its Constitution that is kind of obligated to try and integrate into European structures so it’s even running against the own Constitution that it wrote it’s very clearly uh there’s no no path into Europe with that law on the books so Georgia then really in your view leaning very much towards Moscow now well I mean I think there there is a geopolitical com comp uh uh aspect to all of this but it’s important to understand that the M the main thing is driven forward by uh the the singular ruler of Georgia a reclusive billionaire someone that one can describe as kind of the loneliest man in Georgia he’s been very removed and it’s him fighting out his own vendettas it has there is a geopolitical dimension but it’s only one angle of it all but the protesters say the law itself is just a copy of a law in in Russia is that accurate it’s accurate that it’s very similar in in the kind of region that what if that is applied and if it goes through we’ll see something very similar to Russia which is a sniffing a snuffing out of civil society and that means literally I mean you you won’t be able to run organizations that help people with disabilities nobody who runs a civil society organization will be safe because there’s going to be there’s so many ways of intruding into its activities so the impact will certainly be like that of the Russian law so it’s an appropriate description H good BR talking to us there live from tii this afternoon good to talk to you thanks very much thank you very much

Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a “foreign influence” bill that sparked weeks of mass protests, with critics seeing it as a Russian-style threat to free speech and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. More information with Hans Gutbrod, researcher and associate professor, Illia State University, Georgia.
#Georgia #Europe #Russia

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