“I personally don’t feel safe as a citizen in my country and as a person who has worked for independent media for a long time,”Ā Georgian media expert and advocate for press freedom Nino Robakidze told DW. Her activism with international civil society groups has made her a target in her home country.
Similarly, Georgian journalists are currently facingĀ “physical threats, digital threats, psychological threats. And there is also financial and legal pressure around their media organizations,”Ā she reported.
Robakidze was one of the participants at DW’s panel discussion “Democracy under pressure?Ā The situation for cultural and media professionals in Georgia,”Ā held on Thursday in Berlin’s James-Simon-Galerie.
Host Jochen Rosenkranz, director of DW’s Culture and Sports department, pointed out in his introductionĀ that it had been difficult to find Georgians willing to participate in the panel.Ā Many had refused, saying they feared the repercussions not only for themselves, but also for their friends and family.
“We’re all afraid of the intimidation,”Ā Georgian-born musician, filmmaker, journalist and cultural organizer Marika Lapauri-Burk explained. She nevertheless agreed to take part in the discussion, alongside Nino Robakidze and journalist Juri Rescheto, head of DW’s Riga bureau.
Lapauri-BurkĀ addedĀ that the government hadĀ become increasingly creative in its arbitrary reasons to detain those with critical voices.
Local civil society groups and human rights organizations estimate that from 90 to over 100 political dissidents and protesters are currently imprisoned or in pre-trial detention.
Russian influence impactingĀ democratization efforts
Once thought of as a leading democracy of the Caucasus region, Georgia is undergoing a rapid transition toward authoritarianism under the Georgian Dream (GD) party, in power now since 2012.
The party originally declared itself pro-European, but in recent years has soughtĀ more overtly to align with Russia. The party gained an increased majority in a contested October 2024 parliamentary election.
A month later, the GD announced the suspension of EU accession negotiations until 2028, despite a substantial majority of Georgians strongly favoring European integration. Halting the talks ignited demonstrations across the countryĀ as the government increasingly aligned its policies with Moscow.Ā
But the transformation could be felt years before the election:Ā “The real pressure on independent media and professional journalists escalated after the Russia’s unprovoked invasion in Ukraine,”Ā says Robakidze. An important anti-Western campaign followed the invasion, which “had a huge impact on Georgian media environment at large,”Ā she added.
The country was also rocked by anti-government protests in 2023-2024Ā as pro-EU protesters took to the streets. They wereĀ Ā pushingĀ back against new, Russian-style “foreign agents”Ā legislation, which requiredĀ all organizations that received foreign funding to register with the state and comply with extensive reporting requirements.
That came into force in June 2025, and aĀ stricter version has introduced criminal liability and prison sentences of up to five years for individuals and groups who fail to register their activities as being “under foreign influence.”
Culture directly affected by the law
Many independent cultural institutions, festivals, arts organizations and heritage projects are heavily reliantĀ on funding from the European Union, European foundations and international cultural programs.
Critics say the law stigmatizes institutions for their vaguely defined “foreign influence.”
The same laws that target activists and journalists threaten the grants, partnerships and institutions that have connected Georgian artists to Europe for decades.
The state agency responsible for enforcing the “foreign agents”Ā law, known as the Anti-Corruption Bureau, uses the law to persecute prominent civil society groups, launching inspections and freezing their bank accounts.
Another law also operates in tandem with the controversial “foreign agent”Ā legislation.
Georgia’s anti-LGBTQ law, officially a legislative package entitled “On Family Values and the Protection of Minors,”Ā explicitly bans the “popularization” or “propaganda” of same-sex relationships and non-binary gender identities in public spaces, media, education and the arts.
Freedom of expressionĀ under threat
Cultural producers are forced to risk choosingĀ between self-censorship, shutting down entirely or facing severe state retaliation.
“The situation is becoming increasingly difficult for critical thinkers ā€” especially artists,” explainedĀ Juri Rescheto, who notes that many critical thinkers can be found within artistic circles. They are affected “not only in their art but also in their private lives,” he added.Ā
Rescheto citedĀ the example of a small gallery he visited in the city of Gori, where protesters’ slogans were projected onto a wall as part of an exhibition. It all felt “harmless, really ā€” or so we would say here in the West,”Ā the journalist said. Yet the gallery is now facing closure because the city refuses to renew their lease since the action, he added.
Artists have generally been playing a powerful role in the protests: “There were many actions that were very artistically conceived,”Ā Lapauri-Burk noted.
“Ode to Joy” from Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony ā€”Ā the official anthem of the European Union ā€” has often been played as a pro-European symbol of democratic resistance at anti-government protests in Tbilisi, Georgia,Ā Rescheto added.
DW’s new Georgian-languageĀ service
This year, Georgia is the focus of the Beethovenfest’s Campus Project; a cultural exchange project developed in cooperation with DW.Ā
“Music transcends borders and language barriers and brings people together,”Ā DW’s director general Barbara Massing noted at the opening of the panel discussion, which also celebratedĀ the recent launch of DW’s new Georgian-language service on Instagram.Ā Georgian has now become Deutsche Welle’s 33rd language.
“With the new Georgian-language service inĀ cooperation with France Medias Monde and TVP World, we are strengthening the European commitment to free media and trustworthy information in a region that is specifically targeted by disinformation campaigns and faces unique political and social challenges,”Ā saidĀ Massing.
Robakidze welcomes such an initiation supportingĀ Georgians who still hope for a democratic future. Severe fatigue, state crackdowns and a sense of despair among participants is seeing protestĀ dwindling. Even so, “We still need to remain ready to take action,” she said. To that end, “We need all the media support we can get.”
Edited by: Hans Kellett