The Davis Center stands with the people of Ukraine and with the many people around the world who are and will be harmed by this war. Advancing the study of Georgia and the South Caucasus through research, scholarly and cultural exchange, teaching, and outreach. Auditorium calling for education reform during protest at Tbilisi State University in This article was first published by Civil. Young people have often championed progressive changes all over the world, whether by fighting economic inequality or rebelling against conservative belief systems.
But in Georgia, which broke away from the Soviet Union in , things have been much more complicated. Attitudes have begun to change over the past years, yet Georgia has yet to see a strong and more consolidated left-wing wave. The roots of contemporary Georgian left-wing movements could be traced back to the not-so-distant past. In , the walls of the university were again shaken by leftist noise with the emergence of another student movement, Auditorium Like its precursor, the Auditorium was brought to life by the need to respond to enduring problems of academic freedom and education.
But the group broadened the scope of its activism beyond academic confines to include a broader range of issues, from labor rights to environmental protection. The current situation is strictly unacceptable for the majority of our citizens. While all of these groups remained active for years, they were not enough to create a stable and strong left-wing movement.
As the generation of students changed, both Laboratory and Auditorium eventually disappeared from the scene, while internal divisions among leftist groups added to the overall disorientation. Various social problems, including pension loan schemes , forced evictions , and persistent challenges related to poor working conditions, prompted a new wave of left-wing activism.
One of the most pivotal moments in the resurgence was the opposition to the proposed construction of the controversial Namakhvani hydroelectric power plant in As various progressive groups united in solidarity with a grassroots anti-HPP movement, the construction of the HPP became a turning point for making clear connections between socio-economic and environmental issues.
