An Open Letter to Georgia’s Citizens

 

 

Georgia has many supporters abroad. We are among them as scholars and students of Georgian history, culture, and politics, working in universities and colleges around the world. We are Georgia’s friends and allies and have followed Georgia’s uneven but incremental progress toward democracy since independence in April 1991. We all welcomed the significant advance toward membership of the European Union in November of last year, when the European Commission granted candidate status to Georgia. The entry of Georgia into the European Union reflects the wishes of the majority of Georgia’s citizens. It is a step toward the consolidation of civil and political rights in your country and promises greater security and economic progress for Georgia.

 

We have been alarmed by legislation passed in 2024, such as the law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” and the law “On the Protection of Family Values and Minors,” which restrict the civil liberties of Georgia’s citizens and undermine their ability to freely exercise their rights. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) sent 500 international short-term observers to nearly 2,000 polling stations across Georgia during the October 26 parliamentary elections. On November 29, it released its report which expressed serious concerns as to whether the elections “truly reflect the will of the voters.” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s announcement on November 28, 2024, on the suspension of negotiations for Georgia’s candidacy in the European Union, deepened the chasm between the government and you, its citizens.  The unprecedented mass resistance to government policies among Georgian citizens in the country’s cities and towns has led to violent repression, including the systematic beating of journalists. On December 4, we witnessed the arrests of Georgian opposition leaders and civil society activists. This represents the government’s abandonment of democracy. It is a very dark day in Georgian history.  

 

To prevent the possibility of further human tragedy, we urge the government to immediately withdraw the special security forces who have systematically violated Georgian citizens’ civil rights. Georgia’s political prisoners – as indeed they now are – must immediately be released and the rule of law restored. We appeal for a dialogue between government and opposition representatives and the restoration of peace and security on Georgia’s streets. This is the first step toward the restoration of Georgia’s European path and to the creation of a government that is both legitimate and democratic. This requires the rescinding of the law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” and the law “On the Protection of Family Values and Minors,” and the end to the usurpation of citizens’ rights to protest and organize.

 

We are in solidarity with you - Georgian citizens -  who at great risk are exercising your right to protect Georgia’s democracy and the population’s long-standing aspiration to be part of the European community of nations.

 

December 4, 2024

 

Signatories:

 

  1. Professor Stephen Jones, founder of the Program on Georgian Studies, Davis Center, Harvard University. Professor of Modern History, Ilia State University
  2. Professor Florian Mühlfried, Ilia State University, Georgia
  3. Professor John Colarusso, McMaster University, Canada
  4. Michael Bernhard, Raymond and Miriam Ehrlich Chair, University of Florida, United States
  5. Dr. Claire Kaiser, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, United States
  6. Sebastian Elischer, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Florida, United States
  7. Dr. Anna Ohanyan, Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of International Relations, Stonehill College, Massachusetts, USA
  8. Dr. Jo Laycock, Senior Lecturer in Migration History, University of Manchester, UK.
  9. Peter Skinner, historian
  10. Julie A. George, Associate Professor of Political Science, City University of New York.
  11. Vicken Cheterian, lecturer, University of Geneva.
  12. Dr. Leila Alieva, Associate, REES, OSGA, University of Oxford
  13. Professor Erik Scott, University of Kansas, United States
  14. Martin Demant Frederiksen, Associate Professor in Anthropology, Department of Culture and Society, University of Aarhus, Denmark
  15. Michael Dobbins, Adjunct Professor of Policy Analysis, University of Konstanz
  16. Gorkem Aydemir-Kundakci, FWO Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology, KU Leuven, Belgium
  17. Paul Manning. Professor of Anthropology. Trent University, Canada.
  18. David S. Siroky, Professor of International Relations, University of Florida, USA
  19. Hubertus F. Jahn, Professor Emeritus of the History of Russia and the Caucasus, University of Cambridge; Fellow, Clare College, Cambridge; Chair, Friends of Academic Research in Georgia (FaRiG)
  20. Stephen B. Riegg, Associate Professor of History, Texas A&M University, USA
  21. Anne Meneley, Professor of Anthropology, Trent University, Canada
  22. Katrine Bendtsen Gotfredsen, Senior Lecturer in Caucasus Studies, Malmö University, Sweden
  23. Professor Sir Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History, University of Cambridge, UK.
  24. Harsha Ram, Associate Professor, Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of California, Berkeley, USA
  25. Mikel Venhovens, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark.
  26. Dr Laurence Broers, Associate Fellow, Russia & Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
  27. Altay Goyushov, Invited Researcher, Sciences Po
  28. Dr. Sofie Bedford, IRES Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University
  29.  Bruce Grant, Professor of Anthropology, New York University
  30.  Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, Lecturer in Social Anthropology and the Holocaust, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
  31. Professor Silvia Serrano Vice-chancellor, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
  32. Professor Susan H. Allen, Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, United States
  33. Philip Gamaghelyan, Associate Professor, Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego
  34. Gerard Toal, Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, Arlington Virginia, USA.
  35. Evelina Gambino, Margaret Tyler Research Fellow, Girton College, University of Cambridge.
  36. Camelia Dewan, Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University, Sweden
  37. Professor Mathijs Pelkmans, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
  38. Professor Oliver Reisner, Ilia State University, Georgia
  39. David Rypel, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London
  40. Laura Mafizzoli, Postdoctoral researcher, Czech Academy of Sciences
  41. Myriell Fußer, PhD Candidate, Philipps-University Marburg
  42. Kevin Tuite, Professor of Anthropology, Université de Montréal
  43. Tomasz Chwałek, PhD Candidate in Anthropology and STS, IT University of Copenhagen
  44. Miguel Vale de Almeida, Full Professor of Anthropology, Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon and CRIA - Center for Research in Anthropology, Portugal
  45. S. Neil MacFarlane, Professor emeritus, Oxford University, UK
  46. Klaudia Kosicińska, post-doc researcher, anthropologist, AMU (Poland)
  47. Karsten Lunze, Associate Professor, Boston University; Honorary Professor, David Tvildiani Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
  48. Andrea Weiss, Social Anthropologist, Independent Researcher, Berlin
  49. Alexander Mikaberidze, Louisiana State University
  50. Veronika Pfeilschifter, Doctoral researcher, Friedrich Schiller University Jena/Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) Berlin
  51. Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Emeritus Professor of History and Political Science
  52. Maria Louw, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark
  53. Sophie Falschebner, Center for Conflict Studies, Marburg University, Germany
  54. Bo Petersson, Professor of Political Science,  Director of Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research, Malmö University
  55. Stéphane Voell, Center for Conflict Studies, University of Marburg, Germany
  56. Johanna Kocks, Center for Conflict Studies, University of Marburg, Germany
  57. Raminta Jakucevičienė, Anthropologist, Lecturer at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  58. Dr. Stefan Dorondel, anthropologist/environmental historian, Lead Researcher, Francisc I. Rainer Institute of Anthropology, Romanian Academy