Podcast | A history of homophobic violence

July 6, 2023 5:39 PM

This week, Tbilisi is celebrating Pride Week. But unlike most Prides, this one is being held behind closed doors.

The fight for the right to be queer in public in Georgia is not new.

We spoke to Natia Ghvianishvili, one of a handful of activists who gathered on 17 May 2013 only to be attacked by thousands of people led by priests, and to Mariam Kvaratskhelia, co-founder and co-director of Tbilisi Pride, about their activism. OC Media’s Mariam Nikuradze also discusses the changing face of Georgia’s anti-queer movement.

Screenshots of Azerbaijani state news agency Azertac’s coverage of Georgian politics and elections.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Azerbaijani state media cover Georgian Dream’s pre-election campaign

Aytan Farhadova

••2 min read

Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates. On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years. ‘These elections are

Illustration by Tamar Shvelidze/OC Media.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Podcast | Georgia gears up for the 2024 parliamentary elections

OC Media

••2 min read

With Georgia’s parliamentary elections inching closer, both the ruling Georgian Dream party and the many groups representing the opposition are scrambling to prepare for the critical vote on 26 October. This week, OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha discuss how the pre-election campaign period has been going, claims of electoral violations by Georgian Dream, and the atmosphere in Georgia ahead of the vote. Read more: * Who’s who in Georgia’s pa

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Ranking Georgia’s political parties by gender balance in the 2024 elections

Shota Kincha

••5 min read

Georgia’s parliamentary elections on 26 October, unlike the previous vote, will be held without any gender quotas. As women’s representation in Georgian politics remains an issue, we have examined the electoral lists of all the major parties and groupings and ranked them based on how many women they included — and how highly they were placed. The ruling Georgian Dream party pushed through mandatory gender quotas ahead of the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 local elections in an apparent bid to pro

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Deep fakes ‘target’ Georgian opposition on TikTok ahead of elections

Shota Kincha

••2 min read

A Georgian elections watchdog has published a report outlining the increased use of AI technology in the pre-election period, including the creation of deep fakes based on opposition politicians. On Tuesday, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) reported that anonymous actors had used AI technologies to forge the voices of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and For Georgia chair Giorgi Gakharia in videos shared on social media. According to ISFED, one such a