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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 6, Vazha Otarashvili, Alliance of Patriots: “The majority of Georgian lands are not cultivated. Peasants have already abandoned the idea of land cultivation and this is disastrous for the country. Foreign nationals are buying these lands at a miserable price and tomorrow or the day after tomorrow they will hire our population as slaves and make them work on their native land as slaves. What Turkey failed to do, what Iran failed to do, with their Shah Abbas and Sultans, now this situation compels Georgian people to become slaves and we should not allow it.”
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Kavkasia, Barieri, December 10, Giorgi Akhvlediani, Democratic Movement: “There are a lot of examples when we opened the door to foreigners … What is happening at Tsereteli Street, what is happening in many other districts… when 800 000 Arabic, Iranian families arrive to settle down here… Is not it a problem when 800 families migrated to Kumisi? The country is facing this danger!.. Foreign nationals who settled down here, who have nothing in common with Georgian culture, Georgian consciousness, Georgian religion…”
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Asaval-Dasavali, December 10-16, Jaba Khubua, journalist: “The problem is not that during a week before the new constitution enters into force, the Arabs, Iranians, Iraqis, Turks, Chinese or Indians will manage to seize thousands of hectares of Georgian land, but the main problem is that Georgian Dream could not survive even 10 days without taking perfidious steps and trampling down the will of Georgian society.”
Alia, December 10-16, Levan Javakhishvili, journalist: “Our celebrations that after the new constitution enters into force Georgian lands will no longer be sold to foreigners are futile. Why? Because some foreign nationals, or liberast non-governmental organizations that are hostile to our country will appear and file a lawsuit that this constitutional norm is anti-discriminatory and does not enable foreign nationals to buy land in Georgia, launch a business and that their activities are restricted.”
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Civil society organizations
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 9, Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center: “The question is about large areas designed for farming and unfortunately, it should be noted once again that mainly the citizens from the countries seeking migration, among them Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran have claims for these lands"
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Alia, December 10-16, Sandro Bregadze, Georgian March: “Today you allowed the Constitutional Court to legalize the sale of Georgian land and from tomorrow the Arabs, Iranians, Kizilbash and others will take possession of Georgian land saturated with blood of our fathers and grandfathers, who fought and died in the struggle against their ancestors.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, December 17-23, Giorgi Pavlov, archpriest: “Great confrontations, street rallies and even bloodshed are anticipated in Georgia. I had a vision – aliens are standing in the center of Tbilisi and a voice is heard from the heaven – while the government is busy with caring for homosexuals, a caliphate will be created in Georgia! In fact, the dreams of Shah Abbas rather than of Georgians are coming true, as so many hostile aliens have settled down on the land chosen by God.”
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Kavkasia, Spektri, December 10, Paata Koguashvili, academician: “Why do we need these poor, destitute people belonging to other nation, other language, other tradition, other religion?! It is a disaster! It is a confrontation! Look how the Abkhaz are behaving … We should build the united and uniform Georgia together with the Abkhaz, should not we? What will an Abkhaz say when you are doing it?”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 20, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “I am against the Quran centers, but why? I offer to create the Faculty of Islam at Batumi University as well as free courses for everyone willing to study the Quran or Islam, instead of opening the Quran centers, where along with feeding, clothing, lulling and allegedly teaching the Quran, they are talking about the glory and goodness of Turkey. We are against it! We do not need covert teaching of the Quran and in fact, praising Turkey, which was, is and will remain Georgia’s enemy.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, December 3-9, Jeffrey Silverman, Veterans Today: “I do not know how Georgian history will evaluate these developments [results of the presidential elections], but if it continues this way, I know for sure what kind of history Turkey will write – how it returned Adjara back to Turkey! Unfortunately, they are already writing that a Christian state is becoming a Muslim country. The incapable government trading with the country’s culture and territory has broken and destroyed Georgia from inside.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 8, viewer: “We are Christians, Orthodox Christians, our country is coming under auspices of Virgin Mary; this is the country of God; Muslims were merciless enemies of Virgin Mary. This is the fact – they were entering our country, raiding us, burning the icons of Christ, burning the icons of Virgin Mary, breaking the crosses and setting fire to everything, is not it true? We, the Christians, keep sinning today, we, the Georgians, from me to top officials, because we are giving out and selling Georgian lands to deadly enemies of our Virgin Mary, who were killing and burning her.”
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Discrimination on religious grounds
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 29, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia: “We should protect our Mother Church; it will be especially important, because the destruction and demolition of the church will mean the destruction of our country and this is just what these people plan. Irma Inashvili has even dedicated several letters to this issue, according to which the Catholic Church, Nakaidze’s Union of Muslims, Baptists and some two-member churches, who are rather sects than churches, were among those who filed a lawsuit against the Orthodox Church. The fact is that the Constitutional Court, including Mr. Turava – that very Turava, who gave his consent to drug addiction, who actually made illegal decision against the Georgian Orthodox Church, who made a wrong decision and it appeared that the Rector of Kakha Bendukidze’s University, who finances Giga Bokeria’s party, was the main co-participant and supporter of it.”
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Georgia and World, December 13, Giorgi Razmadze, cleric: “How many times have we seen our top officials, from the Mayor of Tbilisi to the Prime Minister and ministers, attending Hanukkah? Try to understand me correctly, I have no problems with the Jewish nation – I sympathize with them, but Hanukkah (everyone should understand it once and forever) means an expectation of another messiah… When messiah came, the Jews crucified him… By the way, the Jewish rabbis do not light the Hanukkah candle, they make a Goy do it – in old Jewish language Goy means a person belonging to a lower rank or race. So, what I want to say – when a top official of your country goes to the Jewish church and lights the Hanukkah candle, he unintentionally puts himself outside the church. So, it means that he does not recognize Christ as messiah and is waiting for the Antichrist, whom the Jews will recognize as messiah. This is what the participation in this festival means and let me address our government by means of your newspaper and tell them that it is nothing but the betrayal of Christ.”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 23, Jondi Bagaturia, Georgian Troupe: “All TV channels are propagandizing homosexuality and depraved rule of life.”
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Asaval-Dasavali, December 24-30, Soso Shatberashvili, Left-Wing Alliance: “Nino Lomjaria is not a public defender; rather she is the defender of National Movement and LGBT sect!.. A public defender who does not defend ordinary people and defends the National Movement and LGBT people, does not deserve to serve as an ombudsman.”
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Georgia and World, December 13, Bakur Svanidze, journalist: “Guram Kashia put a flag of pederasts on his arm and ran for 90 minutes with it. This is what the fourth President of Georgia [Giorgi Margvelashvili] appreciated and this is why he awarded the Order of Excellence. The beginning of dictatorship by sexual minorities is quite obvious.”
Georgia and World, December 26, Beso Barbakadze, journalist: “[In 2018] we simply do not have the winner in the nomination “The Best Non-Public Defender”. The question is that Nino Lomjaria cannot be called the Public Defender; she cares only about LGBT community and thus, she cannot be the Public Defender. People did not have a patron in the past; neither do they have any in the present. But, still, let LGBT people keep Lomjaria to themselves.”
Alia, December 3-9, Levan Javakhishvili, journalist: “And what did [Bidzina] Ivanishvili do? He ignored these people, the most devoted associates, he betrayed them and then sided with the betrayers like him, former members of the National Movement, flatterers, people with uncertain political and sexual orientation… They were proving to Tamaz Mechiauri that when a man has a sexual intercourse with a woman, it is a sex and when a man has a sexual intercourse with a man, it also is a usual thing. What should he do other than quitting? Others, Ivanishvili’s former associates, were bowing their heads to those liberasts, who are leading “the parade” in front of their Lord, bowing their heads to those creatures with ugly thinking – they say that if a man has a sex with a man, it is a normal sex, a norm of life.”
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Civil society organizations
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Alia, December 24 – January 13, Sandro Bregadze, Georgian March: “Is the rudeness demonstrated by Gvaramia to Kaladze a new style? Is it natural when the chickens swear? If you beat them, then you are a homophobe, persecuting sexual minorities, but how should you endure when a phallus called a human being is shouting and swearing hysterically!!! I knew previously that one should not beat the thieves, now this restriction applies to chickens – shortly speaking, the world has changed; therefore, one should look ironically at these cattle, who turned rude largely due to being chickens!!!”
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Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 24, Giorgi Gurgulia, actor: “My father’s generation considered drug addiction to be illness, looking at such persons, who cannot control themselves, as pederasts.”
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Alia, December 3-9, Levan Javakhishvili, journalist: “Tamaz Mechiauri has won the mayoral elections in Tianeti to the candidate of Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili… thus proving to them that the values have not changed for the Georgian people. People will never tolerate pseudo-values and various depravities brought from the West… If [Bidzina] Ivanishvili had had enough brain, he would have awaken after this failure in Tianeti and understood that people could not endure the policy chosen by him or imposed by the West; he would have expelled those people, who are doing nothing but destroying Georgian traditions, covertly undermining the church.”
Georgia and World, December 13, Jaba Zhvania, journalist: “The newly elected President [Salome Zourabichvili] claims that she will continue the struggle for democracy and protection of liberal values. The word “will continue” is very important here. Do you think that she will continue introducing the values dictated from the West, which are completely incompatible with Georgian national ideology?”
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Georgia and World, December 13, Giorgi Razmadze, cleric: “According to modern western understanding, liberalism means that everything that delights a person is a norm – it means that there is no morality, no honesty. Main thing is not to restrict the rights of others, whereas everything what brings physical pleasure is normal. Now, some will say that classical liberalism is an absolutely different thing and that we should not be so categorical… There are no different forms of liberalism; all interested persons should start from the beginning and see where this term comes from… Georgian nation had never been prostitutes and drunkards. Georgian nation had always been following the path of Christ, trying to protect real Christian values.”
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Hate speech/encouragement of hatred
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Marshalpress, December 3; Interpressnews, December 3; Rustavi 2, Kurieri, December 3; Netgazeti, December 3; Georgian Public Broadcaster, Moambe, December 3; Rezonansi, December 4; Marshalpress, December 4; Sakinformi, December 5.
Kakha Kaladze, Georgian Dream: “What happened there [when Tako Charkviani of the opposition coalition and her husband were insulted verbally and physically at the Kutaisi airport] is very bad… As you sow, so shall you reap, you know. Violence is categorically unacceptable for me. I have always condemned and still condemn any violence.”
https://marshalpress.ge/archives/208534
https://marshalpress.ge/archives/208691
http://saqinform.ge/news/40233/kalaZe%3A+rasac+dasTes%2C+imas+moimki.html
Rustavi 2, Kurieri, December 12; Marshalpress, December 12; Netgazeti, December 12; Georgian Public Broadcaster, Moambe, December 12; Imedi, Kronika, December 12; Interpressnews, December 12; Obieqtivi, News, December 12; Asaval-Dasavali, December 17-23
Zaza Papuashvili, Georgian Dream: “What do you want [addressing the members of the United National Movement], should we take you out one day and beat you to death? It’s enough, just stop, just stop!” https://www.myvideo.ge/v/3722691
http://netgazeti.ge/news/328010/
https://www.myvideo.ge/v/3722564
https://www.imedi.ge/ge/video/31402/sitkvieri-da-pizikuri-dapirispireba-parlamentshi#!?type=2&page=1
https://www.interpressnews.ge/ka/article/524942-zaza-papuashvili-nacmozraobis-cevrebs-ra-gindat-gamogiqvanot-gagangriot-da-dagxocot/
Obieqtivi, Gamis Studia, December 12; Pirveli news agency, December 12; Marshalpress, December 12; Netgazeti, December 12; Imedi, Kronika, December 12; Interpressnews, December 12; Sakinformi, December 13; Obieqtivi, News, December 12; Rezonansi, December 13; Asaval-Dasavali, December 17-23; Georgian Public Broadcaster, Moambe, December 14
Irma Inashvili, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia: “I think, it’s better to fight one day and we should really smash your heads [addressing the National Movement], you real criminals!”
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Marshalpress, December 26, Emzar Kvitsiani, Alliance of Patriots: “Your program is encouraging a great part of women to humiliate men and that is why conflicts are taking place in families. And these bots and ha-ha persons do not mean anything to me. You should wonder how long you will be able to live in this falseness.”
Facebook
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See full collection of examples of discriminatory statements at the website: www.notophobia.ge
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Newsletter was developed by Media Development Foundation (MDF) within the frameworks of the Promoting Integration, Tolerance and Awareness Program in Georgia, supported by USAID and implemented by UNAG.
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Opinions and ideas provided in this newsletter are those of the Media Development Foundation (MDF) and do not represent the official position of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the UN Association of Georgia.
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