Georgian civil society forced into survival mode
After decades of striving for independence and democratic reform, Georgia is now facing a reversal towards authoritarianism. The ruling Georgian Dream party, mimicking the Kremlin, initiated controversial laws in an accelerated manner to legalize its repressions over independent voices of society. The elimination of independent media outlets, grassroots movements, non-governmental organizations, professional unions, and activists has now become the priority for the Russian-backed government.
September 27, 2025 -
Nino Lezhava
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Hot TopicsIssue 5 2025Magazine
Despite the current situation, core civil society organizations, independent media outlets, and activists persist in their work with determination. However, Georgia’s civil society cannot survive without sustained and strategic external support.
Photo: Mirko Kuzmanovic / Shutterstock
After 30 years of fighting for independence and sovereignty against Russian autocracy and the Soviet totalitarian legacy, Georgia has found itself trapped in a situation where a single-party parliament is mirroring the Kremlin’s practice of suppressing independent voices. The Georgian Dream (GD) party has established a state grants management agency for cultivating an alternative civil society through GONGOS: a state-controlled imitation of non-governmental organizations. This is a clear throwback to Soviet times, when so-called independent organizations, facade institutions, served as ideological instruments to reinforce the regime’s power, and did not reflect genuine civic autonomy or impartiality.
The state grants management agency was swiftly established following the amendment of the law on grant making, which was recently adopted alongside the so-called “foreign agents law”. This was all done with the intent of dismantling independent civil society organizations. The agency will provide funding to NGOs directly from the state budget and will be directly subordinate to the government. Meanwhile, the Tbilisi court froze the accounts of seven leading Georgian civil society organizations, claiming that the organizations had facilitated violence in the early phase of the ongoing anti-government demonstrations. Yet, no evidence was presented to substantiate these claims.
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civil society, Georgia, protests
