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In the Name of God and Nation: The Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Contemporary Georgia
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2018-03-28
Author(s)
Abstract
The scene of tens of thousands of young Georgians (mostly males) together with phalanges of clerics running after a few hundred students and a dozen of LGBT activists of the International Day Against Homophobia on 17th of May 2013 in central Tbilisi - armed with chairs, sticks and stones - echoed, in a primordial déjà vu, the persecutions of infidels during the Dark Ages. Hundreds of reporters were injured and the LGBT community members severely hurt. Main organizers and perpetrators of the violence - clerics of the Georgian Orthodox Church - remained unpunished. Less than four years after these events, the crowd of several thousand took to the streets of central Tbilisi in the most radical, xenophobic and ethno-nationalist rally since the collapse of Soviet Union. The so-called ‘March of Georgian Men’ marched against ‘illegal immigrants’- essentially against anyone non-Christian, non-heterosexual and non-white. Following the march, the group continued a series of violent attacks on civil activists, feminist NGOs and a captain of the Georgian national football team for wearing a rainbow armband while playing for his club in Europe.
The events surrounding the International Day Against Homophobia and the ‘March of Georgian Men’ on the one hand illustrate how tremendous is the mobilization power of organized religion, how violent this mobilization can turn and how fragile the secular identity of the post-communist state is. By focusing on these two perhaps most divisive events in recent Georgian political history, this paper examines sociologically misunderstood phenomenon picking up steam in the post-communist context: the radicalization of Eastern Christianity and its peculiar alliance with extreme right-wing groups. What has triggered, proliferated and ‘normalized’ the xenophobic, ethno-nationalist and homophobic discourses, why have these discourses re-emerged and gained popular appeal in Georgian society, and most importantly, why have these discourses started to translate into violent political action?
The events surrounding the International Day Against Homophobia and the ‘March of Georgian Men’ on the one hand illustrate how tremendous is the mobilization power of organized religion, how violent this mobilization can turn and how fragile the secular identity of the post-communist state is. By focusing on these two perhaps most divisive events in recent Georgian political history, this paper examines sociologically misunderstood phenomenon picking up steam in the post-communist context: the radicalization of Eastern Christianity and its peculiar alliance with extreme right-wing groups. What has triggered, proliferated and ‘normalized’ the xenophobic, ethno-nationalist and homophobic discourses, why have these discourses re-emerged and gained popular appeal in Georgian society, and most importantly, why have these discourses started to translate into violent political action?
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to practical use / society
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Global Democratic Governance
Event Title
ASEN Annual Conference 2018
Event Location
London School of Economics and Political Science
Event Date
27-28 March 2018
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
254902