Opinion: 'Three conditions are essential for success of Georgia's pro-European protests'
How can Georgian protests succeed
The goal of the ruling Georgian Dream party is to maintain power in Georgia for an extended period, but it will not succeed. This is the opinion of Tamta Mikeladze, one of the founders of the Social Justice Centre.
Mikeladze believes that Georgian Dream will not be able to hold onto power for long because “within just one month, it has faced: 1) increasing international pressure; 2) sanctions and the threat of stricter sanctions; 3) ongoing protests; 4) catastrophically undermined trust within society and the elites; and 5) internal conflicts.”
As a result, the party may take several drastic measures to retain power but will lose even more supporters in the process.
These steps include:
- Suppressing protests even more brutally;
- Expanding and institutionalising cooperation with Russia, the CIS, and Eastern countries.
However, in doing so, Georgian Dream risks completely destroying its electoral base.
“That’s why they don’t dare to take these steps,” says the expert, asserting that Georgian Dream “has essentially reached a dead end.
“This is why we must believe that Georgian Dream will not achieve its goal, but for our victory, at least three new conditions are necessary,” Mikeladze continues, referring to the success of the pro-European protests.
Specifically:
- Expanding the protests to include new social classes and communities;
- Strengthening the political spectrum by creating real and significant alternatives;
- Improving the media climate in the country by providing content that promotes depolarisation. This means replacing Georgian Dream propaganda with meaningful content that shows ruling party supporters they too will benefit from living in a fairer state if the protests succeed.
