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People's Power movement — Georgian Dream's radical vanguard faction — registers original "Foreign Agents Registration Act" bill on February 21, 2023, as verbatim translation of …

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People's Power movement — Georgian Dream's radical vanguard faction — registers original "Foreign Agents Registration Act" bill on February 21, 2023, as verbatim translation of US FARA. Strategy: by copying US law text, provides "American model" cover for what is functionally a Russian-style restriction. March 2023: mass protests force withdrawal of original bill. April 2024: Georgian Dream reintroduces under new title "Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence" — substituting "agents of foreign influence" with "organizations serving the interests of a foreign power." GONGO/FRONT FUNCTION: People's Power acts as legislative initiator — allowing Georgian Dream to distance itself from the bill while ensuring its progression. Pattern: radical vanguard introduces bill, ruling party adopts and defends through "transparency" framing. ANALYTICALLY IMPORTANT: same template as Serbian CZDS — civil society-named front organizations providing legitimacy cover for regime legislative agenda. Wikipedia: "People's Power registered alternative bill 'On the Registration of Foreign Agents Act', a verbatim translation of the US FARA." ORIGIN POINT CONFIRMED (November 2022): People's Power formally announces CSO foreign funding proposal in response to US Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Georgia's democratic backsliding. Claims proposal based on "best Western practices" and US FARA. Context: GD chair Kobakhidze responds "we will discuss" — establishing ruling party tacit support from outset. CSOMeter Nov 2022: "Increased attacks on watchdog organizations have considerably accelerated since the European Council's decision not to give Georgia the EU country candidate status." CSOs accused of agitating against Georgia's candidate status — attacks framed as "traitor" labeling. MARCH 2023 WITHDRAWAL: mass protests force withdrawal of original bill. Lazare Grigoriadis detained during protests — his father subsequently arrested for protesting his detention. Withdrawal is tactical not substantive — law reintroduced April 2024 under new name. CSOMeter Feb 21 2023: full text of original bill published (registration requirement, 25,000 GEL fines, Ministry of Justice monitoring).
country
Georgia
date text
29/12/2022
entities
sources
  • citation
    Wikipedia 2023-2024 Georgian protests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%932024_Georgian_protests); Venice Commission urgent opinion (OSCE.org); Advocates for Human Rights October 2025
tactics
narratives
campaign ids
campaign phase
Phase 2: Media Execution
channels
  • Official/Regulatory
civic response
March 2023 mass protests — bill withdrawn; Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR expose FARA comparison as false; civil society coalition maintains non-compliance position
consequence category
Social Trust Erosion
created at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
date precision
day
escalation
2
harm track
Track 2 — Social Trust Erosion
id
GEO-006
institutional consequence
Bill forced withdrawal under protests March 2023; reintroduced under cover of "transparency" framing April 2024; adopted May 2024
notes
DATE: February 21, 2023 — Wikipedia confirms exact date. GONGO/FRONT ACTOR: People's Power is analytically the Georgian equivalent of CZDS in Serbia — a political front using civil society language to push regime agenda. The US FARA equivalence framing is a documented tactical innovation: by copying US law text verbatim, Georgian Dream neutralized US criticism of the bill as "Kremlin-inspired." Venice Commission urgent opinion debunks the comparison (FARA targets individuals working for foreign governments, not NGOs; only ~5% of FARA registrants are non-profits). Cross-ref GEO-002 (law adoption). Scope note: this is the earliest anchor case — initial GONGO legislative vanguard function.
occurred on
2022-12-29
signal ids
trigger type
TR-04: Electoral Event
updated at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
version
1

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