Sopo Japaridze is the chair of Solidarity Network, an independent care workers' union in Georgia. She also cofounded a Soviet Georgia history initiative and the podcast Reimagining Soviet Georgia.
The layoffs of thousands of miners in Chiatura, Georgia, ought to be big news in a country of under four million people. But most outlets have ignored the story, because it doesn’t fit the narrative of a grand geopolitical battle between East and West.
Georgia’s opposition labeled Saturday’s election “totally rigged.” But its insistence that the ruling party’s campaign relied on fearmongering propaganda points to a different story: the opposition struggled to eat into the ruling party’s electorate.
Anti-government protests in Tbilisi have been hailed as a fight over Georgia’s European future — even though the government itself wants to join the EU. Amid the geopolitical posturing, the real issue being ignored is the chronic crisis of Georgian democracy.