Balanced News: Georgia: Danger Averted, for Now

Civil society in Georgia is relieved after a proposed repressive law that would have severely worsened the space for activism was shelved – for now. However, the need for vigilance remains. The proposed law was inspired by Russia’s 2012 law that allows the state to declare a ‘foreign agent’ any person or organization it judges to be under foreign influence. The law would have stigmatized civil society and independent media. The scale of the reaction took the government by surprise and forced it to back down.