'We Never Thought it Could Happen Here'

Amid massive anti-Government protests, the former British Ambassador to Georgia, Alexandra Hall Hall, examines the growing threats to democracy in the country

A demonstrator with draped Georgian national and EU flags stands in font of police blocking the way to the Parliament building during a protest against "the Russian law" in Tbilisi, Georgia, 14 May 2024. Photo: Shakh Aivazov/Associated Press/Alamy

In an impassioned recent address at the International Republican Institute’s annual John McCain Freedom Award celebration, Senator Marco Rubio spoke about how “while liberty is a natural right, it is not natural. One of the most basic instincts of those who acquire power anywhere in the world has been oppression.” He also added that “elections and democracy are not the same thing. You can have elections, and not be a free society, especially if the media is controlled by one party, if candidates are oppressed, and if no-one can run against you.” He went on to say that, “It’s critical that we continue to line up behind those who stand up for freedom, that we continue to speak on their behalf. Freedom is not some quaint old idea whose time has come and gone. It is as important today as it’s ever been, and the threats to it are as elevated as they have been since 1991 or 1989.” 

Some of us have become a bit sceptical about Rubio’s democratic credentials, given his decision to genuflect to Donald Trump, even to the extent of voting against the recent US aid package to Ukraine, on the unconvincing grounds that the US needs to focus on border security at home first. However, the relevance of his message is impossible to deny, in a world where authoritarianism is on the rise, Russia has invaded Ukraine, China is threatening to take Taiwan, by force if necessary, and elections almost everywhere have become tainted by misinformation, and the use of dirty practices to give an unfair advantage to incumbents.   

Another country which now appears on the cusp of falling into autocracy is Georgia, the country where I served as British Ambassador from 2013-2016. The immediate cause of today’s crisis is the ruling Georgian Dream Government’s decision to ram through parliament this month a new law which would require any non-governmental organization receiving more than 20% of its funding from overseas to register as a “foreign agent”, a deeply loaded term for a post-soviet country, implying pernicious foreign influence tantamount to treason. Any NGO which fails to register as a “foreign agent” risks being subject to intrusive police investigations, seizure of its assets, and potentially, down the road, criminal charges against its staff.