Georgia

How do the state and politics define the formulation of culture into one officially sanctioned “ideologized” direction, and what should state policy be to allow for an open, free and inclusive environment? Is there a “radical” change in Georgian culture, and is the preservation of existing cultural memory necessary for public development?

The first speaker, a journalist and political analyst from Tbilisi, Mikhail Vignanski began by pointing out that the situation in Georgia is developing very rapidly and attracts a lot of attention.

In the history of the fight for LBGT rights in the South Caucasus, 17 May 2012 is a milestone. On this internationally recognized day, a group of activists took to the streets in the center of the capital Tbilisi for the first time to demonstrate for the rights of sexual minorities. The campaign had been registered with the mayor’s office. Police were present to protect the demonstrators. It did not take long before their service was necessary.

With the support of the South Caucasus Regional Office of the HBF three activists from Georgia and Armenia: Eka Aghdgomelashvili, Nino Gamisonia and Elvira Meliksetyan participated in the International Conference - “Feminism. Assemblage Point” organized on 5-7 March, 2013 in Kiev by feminist organization Ofenziva supported by the HBF Ukraine Office.

49 photos and 3 essays presented in catalogue “Playing with Statues: Stalin Here and Now” is the imprint of the Soviet regime on modern Georgia. This regime had been waging the war against its own people for decades by persecuting its own citizens, restricting their freedom of speech, choice and movement, spying and using violence against them.

On April 20, the Heinrich Boell Foundation organized a public discussion in Poti entitled “Why is Lazika being built?”

“The stereotype that we shifted the attention only to NGOs should be destroyed… In our society it is almost considered that civil activism relates solely to a type of organizational or non-governmental sector.” This view expressed at the discussion precisely reflects the problem or puzzle that the Georgian civil society sector currently faces.  

What is a function of student’s self-governance, how student self-government bodies are elected, what is a duration of the elected self-government bodies, how the functions of the student self-governments differ from each other at various Georgian universities, what is a rate of trust in this institution, what are major problems students in Georgia face and how the student self-government bodies support students in solving these problems, what was the reason for establishing an alternative student movement – these were some of the issues discussed during the debate held at the HBF on 14 December 2011.

A public debate at the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office held on 16 November 2011 was devoted to the issue of Administration of justice and protection of human rights in the justice system in Georgia.

The reaction of the Georgian public to the adoption of "The Rule of Registration of Religious Organizations as Legal Entities of Public Law”, endorsed in July 2011 by the Georgian Parliament, was not homogenous.