“Hate speech from the NGOs, opposition-owned media, and so-called civil activists is ubiquitous in Georgia. By exploiting freedom of speech, these people encourage not only political polarization but also civil strife and vie for power in combination with political parties, not even hiding their intentions,” the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili wrote on social media.

As Papuashvili notes, “fomenting hysteria and setting up the targets for mass hatred have become the preferred tactics of the pseudo-liberal forces.”

“A group of aggressive radical oppositionists congregated at late night in front of the house of the Vice-Speaker of Georgian Parliament, Thea Tsulukiani, and issued loud threats and insults to her and her family members, including a minor.

Just before that, along with multitude of menacing and humiliating social media posts, one of opposition NGO leaders, Baia Pataraia, in a public social media statement, wished death, in the worst terms that Georgian language would allow, to Thea Tsulukiani.

These NGO capos (it is very hard to call them civil society leaders) and opposition-owned media increasingly sound like the ‘Thousand Hills Radio’ from Rwanda, which greatly facilitated the genocide over 30 years ago.

Hate speech from the NGOs, opposition-owned media, and so-called civil activists is ubiquitous in Georgia. By exploiting freedom of speech, these people encourage not only political polarization but also civil strife and vie for power in combination with political parties, not even hiding their intentions.

They may not be pulling the triggers themselves but they contribute to the creation of the discursive environment that enabled recent assassination attempts against US President Trump or Prime Minister Fico of Slovakia. Fomenting hysteria and setting up the targets for mass hatred have become the preferred tactics of the pseudo-liberal forces. Only luck and a few millimeters saved both Trump and Fico, but the luck may not always be at hand when needed.

In this dangerous and massive hate campaign, they are supported, through generous funding, by the same foreign donors who rhetorically declare their commitment to democracy, the rule of law, and most ironically, protection of human rights. At the same time, their favorite grantees act as main disruptors of social cohesion, democratic consolidation, and constructive political engagement.

You cannot fund terror and relinquish responsibility at the same time. Recent trend of foreign diplomats paying demonstratively supportive visits to the groups involved in street violance and hate campaign encourages further the sense of permissiveness among those groups.

Democracy cannot be consolidated with dirty methods. The NGOs that spread hatred and polarization cannot be taken as civil society. What they do is taint the very idea of the West and democracy. It seems there is only a small step from civil to uncivil society.

Unfortunately, we see that the current US administration’s frank admission of previous foreign aid malpractice was not reciprocated by the European and British donors, who have now vowed to continue the old trend of political undermining of foreign governments,” the Speaker stated.

A group of aggressive radical oppositionists congregated at late night in front of the house of the Vice-Speaker of Georgian Parliament, Thea Tsulukiani, and issued loud threats and insults to her and her family members, including a minor.

Just before that, along with multitude… pic.twitter.com/0DCwHWgdT6

— Shalva Papuashvili 🇬🇪 (@shpapuashvili) April 14, 2025