This is popular front a podcast focused on the niche details of modern warfare and

underreported conflict with me Jake Hanrahan. Today we're speaking to journalist and

activist Nordar Rukadza. He's a part of the grassroots pro-democracy shame movement in Georgia and today he's going to

be talking to us about how the clashes in Georgia this week have flared up why that happened and what's going to happen

going forward as it looks like the government has decided for now to scrap the

law that kicked off a lot of these protests. If you like what we're doing here at

Popular Front support us at patreon.com slash popular front and get merchandise at

popular front dot shop. As you'll have seen in the media, clearly in Western Europe, a lot of people don't fully understand

Georgia or its history. I keep seeing people calling it a post Soviet state rather than just a country which seems

you know quite rude so maybe you can begin by explaining to us what actually

happens where did these these clashes come from and a little bit of the

history as to why this is so important right now Georgia and Russia we we have a very difficult

history Russia being a We have a very difficult history.

Russia being a colonial imperial state

has always tried to destroy our state,

destroy our serenity, our independence. We've been invaded by Russia many times. The last war we had

with Russia was in 2008 when we formally lost more than 20% of our

territories. Georgia breaks through regions such as Abhasia and Tukin Mali region was recognized as an independent

sovereign states by Russia and creeping occupation from Russian state continues every day.

We get our citizens kidnapped, tortured, imprisoned by Russian troops and they are basically located maybe around like

certain kilometers from Tbilisi which is the capital of Georgia.

Georgian people have leads through a Soviet regime. We had thousands and thousands of people murdered, displaced because of Soviet Russia.

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