DISINFO: Recent demonstration in Tbilisi is western-backed colour revolution
SUMMARY
The West uses NGOs for its own purposes such as coups, revolutions in different countries. The recent demonstrations in Georgia are an example of this process.
The Western centres that were able to build a wide network in Georgia gained significant influence over the civil society institutions of this country. At the right moment, partner organisations have even formed mechanisms capable of inciting coups d'état. The recent events in Tbilisi confirm this fact once again. Local activists, NGOs, mass media and parties affiliated with Western donor institutions have started an action under the name of preventing the adoption of the law on "foreign agents".
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as Western-led colour revolutions, in this case the protests in Tbilisi, Georgia against the so called "foreign agent" bill.
The so-called Foreign Agents Law, inspired in a similar repressive measure in Russia that may endanger the democratic reforms Georgia needs in its aspiration to join the European Union, appears to be deeply unpopular among Georgian citizens, and protests have been promoted by a coalition of Georgian opposition parties.
Tens of thousands of people have attended the protests. In 2023, a similar wave of protests against a previous attempt to approved the bill forced the withdrawal of the legislation, now reintroduced by the Georgian government.
This claim is an attempt to discredit protesters and justify repressive measures against them. Human rights organisation Amnesty International has accused Georgia’s police of excessive use of force against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the West is preparing Georgia for a new colour revolution, that Poland plans to overthrow Lukashenka using trained oppositional militants, that foreign powers tried to instigate a colour revolution in Serbia, that the West plans to destabilise Central Asia, or that the US is constantly instigating colour revolutions around the world.