GRASS Disinfo Brief - February 27th – March 4th
11 March, 2024
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- Georgian Dream plans to initiate a law limiting "LGBT propaganda" to defend society from "pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable malign consequences"
- People’s Power movement positions as main proponent of the initiated anti-LGBT law
- Shalva Papuashvili leads the ruling party’s attacks on CSOs and donors
- The ruling party denounces the European Parliament resolution calling for Mikheil Saakashvili’s release
- Georgian Dream defends the Patriarch from President Zourabichvili’s remarks
- Pro-Russian groups react to the ruling party’s plan to initiate an anti-LGBT draft law, says LGBT propaganda is imposed by the EU
- Pro-Kremlin groups reprise the narrative about the EU wanting to start a “Maidan” revolution in Georgia, says it is silencing opposing opinions
- Propaganda asserts that Georgia’s path to prosperity leads to Russia
- Propaganda says financial aid from the US is used to undermine Georgian values and identity
Georgian Dream plans to initiate a law limiting "LGBT propaganda" to defend society from "pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable malign consequences"
After responding to the news about US Secretary of State Antony Blinken allegedly sending out a memo to State Department staffers, which urged them to use gender-neutral language and avoid using terms such as “mother” and “manpower”, Georgian Dream and People’s Power movement members ramped up anti-LGBT rhetoric, stating that LGBT propaganda is one of the biggest challenges facing the civilized world (See the previous edition of GRASS Disinfo Brief). US Ambassador Robin Dunnigan said she was surprised at how much attention the US State Department’s internal memo received and underlined that it has nothing to do with Georgia. Evidently, the ruling party used the memo to prepare grounds for a legislative initiative limiting “LGBT propaganda”.
- On February 29th, Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream, Mamuka Mdinaradze, announced the ruling party’s plan to initiate a law to protect society from “pseudo-liberal ideology and its inevitable malign consequences”. Mdinaradze underscored that the Georgian Dream adopted the anti-discrimination, and Georgian society has always been tolerant. However, it cannot be tolerant of “pseudo-liberal propaganda”, which, according to him, has dire consequences. He referred to a study done by “Gallup” in the US, which showed that the percentage of people who identify themselves as members of the LGBTQI+ community did increase, however, contrary to Mdinaradze’s claim, the study does not conclude that this was caused by “LGBT propaganda”.
- The Executive Secretary of the ruling party also claimed that foreigners once pressured the Georgian Dream to introduce the terminology -“men and women and gender equality”, which would ultimately mean that the state would have to recognize the existence of a third sex. “Today, pseudo-liberals in the world are campaigning against terms like mother and father, wife and husband, etc. They ask for the introduction of the so-called “gender neutral” terminology. Therefore, we should actively oppose this propaganda and use legislative mechanisms to do so”, concluded the leader of the Parliamentary majority.
- Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that there are “harsh tendencies” in many countries, and as such, the fact that the Parliamentary majority is concerned and wants to protect Georgian society from “similar developments” is understandable. According to Kobakhidze, the draft law must be prepared in accordance with the principles of the Georgian Constitution, and if the Government of Georgia’s engagement is required, it may get involved in the process.
- The mayor of Tbilisi and General Secretary of the Georgian Dream, Kakha Kaladze, underlined that human rights are one of the most important issues. According to him, despite religious affiliation or sexual orientation, every citizen’s rights are protected in Georgia. However, LGBT propaganda is unacceptable. “The draft law will help prevent this propaganda from spreading,” said Kakha Kaladze.
- Chairperson of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Gharibashvili, purported that 90% of the Georgian people are against LGBT propaganda. Notably, a study released by the Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG) in 2022 showed that 42.6% of respondents supported restricting the right to assembly for the LGBTQI+ community rather than 90% alleged by the ruling party. Regardless, Gharibashvili stated that we must protect children from “this anti-national, anti-human propaganda”. “This is happening in America, Europe, in schools and kindergartens… It is an alarming situation”, said the former Prime Minister.
- Apart from announcing the initiation of the draft law, on a different occasion, Mamuka Mdinaradze stated that the Georgian Dream “locked the door” on same-sex marriage in 2017 when it specified that marriage is a union between a man and a woman in the Constitution, and if ambiguous foreign forces pressure the Georgian government to adopt same-sex marriage, the ruling party will use the Constitution to push back on the pressure. Similarly, the newly initiated draft law aims to “lock the door” on LGBT propaganda in case Georgia gets pressured by the same foreign forces.
- Mdinaradze also stated that LGBT propaganda should not be equated with European integration and hoped that the issue will not be raised in this manner. “We want to become full-fledged members of the European family with dignity, by standing on two legs, by protecting traditions and national identity, with Christian values”, said Mdinaradze. He also argued that the ruling party is open to discussions with the opposition parties about how to separate human rights and propaganda but none of the opposition parties have responded with their own ideas about the matter.
- Georgian Dream MP Irakli Kadagishvili stated that the traditional way of life is being changed worldwide, which urged the ruling party to reflect that marriage is a union between a man and a woman in the Constitution. Kadagishvili also stated that events supporting the LGBTQI+ community are funded by foreign Embassies, which indicates that the LGBTQI+ issue is exacerbated from outside of Georgia.
People’s Power movement positions as main proponent of the initiated anti-LGBT law
- Leader of the People’s Power movement, Guram Matcharashvili, expressed that human rights and propaganda of “an unhealthy lifestyle” should be separated as the latter is unacceptable for the absolute majority of the population. Similar to the ruling party members, Matcharashvili pointed at an unspecified group of people allegedly trying to reach into the children’s psychology and establish non-Georgian, non-human traditions. He also stated that the Georgian Dream and the People’s Power movement are waiting to see whether the opposition will engage in the process and their response.
- Another prominent member of the movement, Dimitri Khundadze, assessed that LGBT propaganda has reached a massive scale in Europe, and there is no doubt that “they” will ask Georgia to take steps in this direction as well. According to him, propaganda is teaching children that they can change their sex whenever they want. At the same time, it also undermines the institution of parenthood. As Khundadze argued, the end goal of this propaganda is to replace people in the world with a stateless, biological mass that will not have the ability to think critically.
- Mikheil Kavelashvili claimed that since the absolute majority of Georgian society is against LGBT propaganda, organizers of Pride events are basically using violence to conduct these events. According to him, LGBT organizations are justifying these events by portraying the situation as if they are being persecuted – “They are using disinformation and receive funding”, he alleged. Kavelashvili also stated that the opposition is awaiting orders from outside forces about how to respond.
- Member of the movement, Davit Kartvelishvili, stated that whoever goes against the law against LGBT propaganda, be it a politician, CSO representative or an Embassy employee, everyone will be declared an enemy of Georgia and the Georgian Church.
Shalva Papuashvili leads the ruling party’s attacks on CSOs and donors
- Chairperson of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, stated that every CSO and foreign actor who is claiming that the judiciary is politicized and is demanding the implementation of the vetting system should apologize for the “smear campaign” against the Georgian justice system, which was operated with foreign funds. According to him, it is shameful that Georgian citizens are using the examples of Albania, Ukraine and Moldova when talking about reforming the Georgian judiciary system when Georgia is ahead of these countries in many regards.
- Papuashvili also claimed that opposition parties create fake CSOs to access foreign funds. According to him, foreign donors directly finance a big part of the opposition parties, and since 2024 is an election year, this can be regarded as election interference. Although Russian interference is the main challenge for the upcoming elections, the Chairperson of the Parliament stated that it does not matter where the interference occurs from – Russia, the EU, or the US, any type of interference with the Georgian people’s choice is unacceptable. “Therefore, I once again urge the donors, who are part of this hidden scheme and are hiding their finances, to make sure that not one cent is going to political parties”, stated Papuashvili, who pointed out The European Endowment for Democracy, established by the EU, for hiding its finances, funding opposition parties, and “interfering in the elections.”
- The Chairperson of the Parliament once again accused ISFED of rigging the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) results with the help of its donor, USAID, during the 2020 Parliamentary elections to assist the “radical opposition” in attacking the CEC, the Parliament, and starting demonstrations. Papuashvili argued that ISFED is attempting to clear its name by saying that the Director of the organization resigned after the mistake was acknowledged. “Look where the resigned Director is now; she is a member of a European election observation mission with a good salary”, Papuashvili argued.
- Mamuka Mdinaradze reiterated this narrative and stated that when the elections were held in Georgia with a high degree of democracy and transparency, a historically unprecedented event occurred when ISFED falsified the PVT results. According to Mdinaradze, falsification cannot be blamed on one person as it is an organizational problem, and these types of mistakes do not occur - they were deliberate to cause chaos and instability in the country. “ISFED, along with others, a fraudulent organization, is engaged in falsifying the reality today... they want to question the legitimacy of the elections in advance,” stated the Executive Secretary of the ruling party.
- Kakha Kaladze also attacked ISFED and stated that it had a malign plan to convince people that the 2020 Parliamentary elections were rigged since ISFED wanted to help launch a revolution. “Which elections are they going to observe?! It [ISFED] was in charge of rigging the PVT results! It is insane”, stated Kaladze.
The ruling party denounces the European Parliament resolution calling for Mikheil Saakashvili’s release
On February 15th, the European Parliament approved a resolution expressing concern about Mikheil Saakashvili's health. The resolution was voted in favor by 577 MEPs and against by 33. MEPs call on the Government of Georgia to release the third President and send him abroad for treatment. The resolution also states that the lack of progress in improving Mikheil Saakashvili's condition will damage Georgia's reputation and hinder its prospects for EU membership.
- Prime Minister Kobakhidze stated that it would be preferable if the EU’s executive institutions distanced themselves from the European Parliament’s unfair decisions as it would positively reflect on Georgian society’s attitudes towards the EU. The Georgian Dream is doing everything to ensure that the support towards European integration remains at 85%, although the European Parliament is making it difficult. “Certain odious MEPs should not spoil the perception of the EU and the European Parliament in Georgia, and the European Parliament should be perceived in the Georgian society as a fair institution “, said the Prime Minister.
- Chairperson of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, dedicated a long social media post to the European Parliament’s resolution. He attached Abraham Lincoln’s quote on the post: “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” According to Papuashvili, it is regrettable that MEP Anna Fotyga regards Saakashvili as “Putin’s personal enemy and prisoner”, while Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs referred to him as “a symbol of modernization” when the Georgian people have severely negative attitudes towards Saakashvili and his foreign patrons. Papuashvili called on the EU to officially distance itself from the European Parliament’s defamatory statements. “Our question to the EU is whether they share common values with Georgian people or MEPs’ particularistic interests guide them,” concludes the statement.
- According to Kakha Kaladze, past instances demonstrate that such harmful resolutions get passed because someone is paying money for them, which undermines relations between Georgia and the West.
- Georgian Dream MP Irakli Zarkua said that the European Parliament’s resolutions have become comical and worthless. According to him, previously, the European Parliament adopted a resolution about the Government of Georgia poisoning Mikheil Saakashvili, but this was not proven. Additionally, another resolution purported that Georgia was helping Russia avoid international sanctions, which a White House representative rebutted. “These resolutions will remain as a shameful stain in the European Parliament's history, and now they came up with a new one”, said Zarkua.
Pro-Russian groups react to the ruling party’s plan to initiate an anti-LGBT draft law, says LGBT propaganda is imposed by the EU
- One of the anchors on Alt Info’s broadcast referred to the same “Gallup” study as the Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream and claimed that more people identify as members of the LGBT community when they are exposed to propaganda. According to him, in Western countries, the rights of the majority are limited, while minority groups are privileged. “They give us these countries as an example and proceed to tell us that propaganda has no effect”, said the propagandist
- Sezoni TV host and pro-Russian propagandist Nikoloz Mzhavanadze positively assessed the plans to initiate a draft law that would limit “LGBT propaganda”. Since “a very good Foreign Agents Law” was not adopted due to protests, the new initiative should be protected. Moreover, he argued that Georgia should adopt an anti-LGBT law which operates in Russia, “where LGBT perversion is prohibited”. According to him, at a time when the US President talks about transgenderism and gender-neutral language being America’s pride, a law against pseudo-liberal ideology is vital.
- A guest on Alt Info welcomed the ruling party’s initiative. However, according to him, since Georgian Dream adopted the anti-discrimination law in 2014, conservatives must remain vigilant.
- A propaganda social media profile affiliated with Alt Info, which repeatedly spreads disinformation, published a post according to which the ruling party recognized Alt Info’s fight to protect Christian values. The West is demanding the Government of Georgia to legalize same-sex marriage, which is why it arrested people for the July 5th attacks, allowed gay bars to operate, and gave the title of Tbilisi’s honorary citizen to an openly gay Georgian designer – Demna Gvasalia. Despite this, the ruling party is starting to listen to the Georgian people, which expressed its opinion numerous times when it united under Alt Info’s flag and did not allow LGBT events to take place.
- Another social media profile affiliated with Alt Info also welcomed the ruling party’s initiative and stated that Alt Info will help the government so that “liberals do not dare to do anything against this law.”
- Another propagandist on Alt Info claimed that LGBT events are imposed upon Georgia as it will demonstrate that Georgia is obedient and a colony of the West. “They want to break us, that’s the significance it has”, said the propagandist.
- A guest on Alt Info argued that since one of the demands of the EU is to “support LGBT people,” by initiating an anti-LGBT law, Georgia is basically refusing to become a member of the EU.
- Another guest stated that Georgia should have close relations with the EU. However, when some union demands that “our children must accept the LGBT agenda”, Georgia must refuse to become a member.
Pro-Kremlin groups reprise the narrative about the EU wanting to start a “Maidan” revolution in Georgia, says it is silencing opposing opinions
- Guram Palavandishvili, a prominent pro-Russian propagandist who often appears on Alt Info’s broadcasts, claimed that a “Maidan” is expected in Georgia after the elections. He insisted that the West has “placed a bet on very radical powers” and wants to eliminate those it deems untrustworthy. Most likely, the propagandist meant that the West wants to remove the Georgian Dream from power. According to him, if people are convinced that the elections are rigged, fighting the protests that can erupt after the elections will be hard. Therefore, the ruling party either has to outlaw LGBT propaganda or the United National Movement to prevent this threat.
- Mikheil Zgenti, a member of the pro-Russian Solidarity for Peace party, stated that no matter how many EU priorities the Georgian Dream completes, it will continue trying to remove the incumbent ruling party from power and start another “Maidan”. He also stated that the West has been destroying Georgia’s traditions since 1992, which is why natural catastrophes are occurring. According to him, these are warnings from god.
- One of the hosts on Alt Info’s broadcast asserted that the priorities given to Georgia by the EU mention the need for the inclusion of NGOs in political discussions. He stated that NGOs only serve the West’s interest as they receive funding from Western countries. According to him, through Georgian CSOs, the West is meddling in Georgia’s internal affairs.
- A propagandist insisted that at a time when the EU does not even allow Ukraine to export agricultural products, it will never accept Georgia as a member as it would have to “economically drag it along”.
- Another propagandist on Alt Info said that Brussels is trying to censure any type of opinion that is against the EU in Georgia and demands that a relevant law be adopted. He uses the EU ambassador to Georgia as an example, who, according to him, talks about it openly under the guise of fighting disinformation. Another speaker on the broadcast supported his narrative and claimed that it is important for the EU to clear the information space from opposing opinions and that the establishment of “an LGBT, dark dictatorship” is the by-product of such cleanse.
- Pro-Russian priest Spiridon Tskipurishvili claimed on Alt Info that there is an ongoing genocide of the Georgian nation, which is in the interests of the liberal West. He also related the current situation to the USSR and said that while there was a “Red Union” in the 20th century, today, there is a “Blue Union.”
- A propagandist on Alt Info argued that European society is devoid of faith and values, which makes them easy to control. This is indicative of what the EU is trying to accomplish in Georgia as well.
Propaganda asserts that Georgia’s path to prosperity leads to Russia
- The host of Sezoni TV, Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, claimed that Georgia has a choice between the West, which is filled with sodomy and decreased Georgia’s population from 5.3 million to 2 million, or Russia, which developed Georgian industry and helped increase its population. According to him, Georgia should choose the path of religion, which means protecting Christianity alongside Russia. Moreover, Mzhavanadze argued that Georgia will cease to exist without having good relations with Russia as it is a small country and needs security guarantees. He also alleged that if Russia wanted to take away Georgia’s occupied regions, it would annex them. Instead, it is refusing to do so to maintain room for negotiations.
- A prominent pro-Russian propagandist and Stalinist, Grisha Oniani, claimed that representatives of the Georgian government had visited Moscow and that “soon many good issues will be solved in Georgia,” meaning that Georgia would restore control over Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.
- Mikheil Zghenti, a member of the Solidarity for Peace party, stated that the Government of Georgia is occupied by the West. However, Georgia still has a chance to align with Russia, and the ruling party should publicly discuss the pressure the West puts on Georgia to open a second front.
- Pro-Russian propagandist and businessman based in Moscow, Mamuka Pipia, argued that Georgia should abstain from choosing a side in the war between Russia and Ukraine and try to bring the people together to ensure that the West does not spark another conflict in the future. He believes that the problem of the occupied territories cannot be solved without Russia because it is the only power that can act as a mediator between Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians.
Propaganda says financial aid from the US is used to undermine Georgian values and identity
- Mzhavanadze claimed that the US Ambassador’s remarks in the Georgian Parliament about the need to conduct free and fair elections and fulfil the EU’s nine priorities demonstrate that Georgia is not sovereign and is controlled by the West. According to Mzhavanadze, the EU’s priorities dictate “the support of sodomists, arrest of the organizers of the July 5th, 2021 demonstrations, and other things that oppose Georgia’s national interests”. “Why is an Ambassador telling us what to do?! How long are we going to remain as slaves?!” said the propagandist.
- Alt Info propagandist argued that the US is not Georgia’s strategic partner as it is an unequal partnership – Georgian citizens have to stand in line at the Embassy for months to acquire a visa, and in case of a real strategic partnership, there would be a visa-free regime between the countries. The propagandist also purported that the protests against the Russian law on Foreign Agents in March of 2023 were supported and directed by the US embassy.
- Another propagandist on Alt Info said that the $6 billion in financial aid that the US is constantly pointing to went to CSOs and is spent on undermining national spirit, national platforms and the Georgian Church. This narrative was also voiced on a different Alt Info broadcast, where a propagandist argued that the US is using this financial aid to pursue its interests in Georgia, including by supporting LGBT propaganda, while another speaker asserted that the funds go to organizations that spread “satanic-demonic filth.”
- Mikheil Zghenti stated that the US is using Georgia as a polygon against Russia and will never protect its security. “the US abandoned Israel, Afghanistan, Iraq… imagine what it will do to Georgia”, claimed the propagandist, who continued by saying that Ukraine was destroyed by the US and the West. Ukraine was a prosperous country, and when Viktor Yanukovych realized that relations with the EU had a damaging effect, he distanced Ukraine from the West. However, the West staged the Maidan revolution as a response.
