Violence once again marred yet another attempt by Georgia’s marginalised and embattled LGBTQ community to hold Tbilisi Pride events in the capital. For the first two of three events held 1-5 July 2021, however, it seemed as though things might be different this year.
It should have just been a fun afternoon in Tbilisi’s Old Hippodrome, but the planned punk festival, the first in ages because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, took a violent turn when a group of neo-Nazis decided to disrupt it apparently because of one track, გერჩი – ყარს (Georgien über allen), by Georgian punk band, Gerchi.
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso has published my latest update on how the 2020 Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan might affect Georgia’s two largest ethnic minorities. In 2016, OpenDemocracy published a similar piece of mine following the 4-day war. Local ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society activists warn that radicalisation among some individuals in the two communities continues, but that the situation still nonetheless remains relatively calm. This is an issue that does need to be monitored, however.
Georgia is no stranger to the specter of international terrorism. But never has the threat struck so close to home as it did toward the end of last month. Panic, fear and anger quickly spread among the population when counterterrorism forces conducted an operation in the capital, Tbilisi, targeting a small group of militants believed to have links to the Islamic State. Drawing from the scant information available about the operation, it’s difficult to figure out precisely what happened.
A meeting yesterday with a visiting US researcher looking at far-right movements in Europe reminded me that I hadn’t posted any of the photos I’ve taken at various ultranationalist marches and counter protests that have happened in Tbilisi. I had used one in my recent piece for Stratfor on radicalization in Georgia, but haven’t had much time this past year to do anything other than post them on Facebook.
Last month Stratfor published my latest piece on radicalization in Georgia and what needs to be done in order to prevent and counter it. Since becoming involved in this sphere from 2013 on, it’s become an increasingly active area of interest of mine and not least because while other countries have been quick to introduce national strategies to combat the phenomenon, Georgia has not. Indeed, the same is true for civil society.
No sooner than I’m back from Yerevan, where I presented my work on alternative and counter narratives in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in general, than yet another exchange of fire has left innocent civilians dead on the Line of Contact (LoC) separating Karabakh forces, which include a significant number of conscripts from Armenia, and the Azerbaijani military.
Things have been a bit quiet on this blog for quite a few months and not least because since last December I’ve been on contract as an external consultant for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Transnational Threats Department / Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU).
A little late in posting because of other work, but now details of last month’s conference and workshop in Bishkek organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Kyrgyzstan, OSCE Academy, American University of Central Asia, Internews, Soros, and the PromoTank Research Institute. The event, Cooperation between Media and Civil Society for Countering Information Threats and Promoting Transparency and Accountability, was held on 28-30 and I was a panelist and also held a workshop for the OSCE on the media and counter-narratives.