Minds of the Movement

An ICNC blog on the people and power of civil resistance

Giorgi Meladze

Giorgi Meladze is Associate Professor at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has extensive experience in training grassroots groups and human rights activists locally and internationally.

Writings from Giorgi Meladze

Articles

Movement Commentary

Small Victories and Stumbling Blocks: Georgian Activists Mobilize to Protect their Environment

The country of Georgia is stumbling towards parliamentary elections this autumn, against a complex backdrop of political violence and discord. Amid the disarray, a number of nonviolent campaigns for environmental protection are percolating all over the country. Although some of these campaigns—“Shukruti” and “Namokhvani” to name just two of them—are successfully galvanizing support from civil society allies to counter harmful mining and damn-building activities, the road to long-term success will no doubt be a long one. […]

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Movement Commentary

Georgia’s Pro-Democracy Movement in Full Swing as 2020 Elections Approaches

Last week, protests resurged in the Republic of Georgia when Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, failed to pass election reform ahead of the 2020 parliamentary elections. The party had promised this concession to pro-democracy protesters last summer, following political controversy that ushered in a new era of Georgian history. Although the country’s pro-democracy movement is still in its early stages, it’s never too early to evoke some key strategic considerations. […]

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Fifteen Years after Georgia’s Rose Revolution, the Country’s Grassroots Wage Nonviolent Struggle against Police and Elite Corruption

Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, had not witnessed mobilization on this scale since 2012. In May-June 2018, thousands of people joined together on the streets to support Zaza Saralidze, father of a 14-year-old boy who had been murdered in a street fight. […]

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