Heightened tensions in Georgia over 'foreign agents' bill

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Georgia, Serbia, Colombia, Thailand and the Philippines

Georgians have been protesting for weeks about a draft legislation requiring organisations to declare foreign funding, which many see as a turning point in Tbilisi's relationship with Russia and the West. Rayhan Demytrie explores why the law has proved so divisive.

China’s President Xi Jinping has been on a tour of Europe this week, including a carefully timed visit to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. China is one of Serbia’s biggest foreign investors and has backed several infrastructure projects. Guy De Launey witnessed a growing courtship and considers what Beijing's broader agenda might be.

The Darién Gap, an expanse of inhospitable jungle between Colombia and Panama, is now home to the largest migration crisis in the Western Hemisphere. The 70-mile route is fraught with danger. But for many of those people fleeing war and persecution, the deadly Darién is the only passageway to the US. Peter Yeung crossed the Darién on foot.

Chiang Mai in Thailand's north is popular with travellers who enjoy the famously laid-back atmosphere. But last month, Chiang Mai had the worst air quality of any city in the world – it was so dangerous that Thailand’s prime minister came under pressure to designate it a disaster zone. William Kremer met people directly affected.

You may have heard of K-pop, Korean pop music – but have you heard of P-pop? Philippine pop, or Pinoy pop is hoping to get a share of K-pop's global success, but it’s determined to do so in its own, distinctly Filipino way. Hannah Gelbart has been to meet one of the most popular groups in Manila.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Bridget Harney Production Coordinator: Rosie Strawbridge

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Today Chinese and Serbian flags lined the streets of Belgrade this week,
0:10.0	a Shizin Ping paid a visit on his European tour. We hear about his wider agenda.
0:16.7	The Darien gap crossing between Colombia and Panama is known to be one of the most lethal migration routes in the world.
0:26.0	We have a dispatch from someone who experienced it firsthand.
0:31.2	We're in Thailand's mountainous north in Chiang Mai, where pollution levels soared last month.
0:37.6	We have the tale of a family directly affected.
0:41.2	And while Korean pop music or K-pop has taken the world by storm, we encounter
0:47.4	an emerging genre on the global music scene on a visit to Manila. But first Georgians have been protesting for over three weeks
0:57.2	about draft legislation which many see as a turning point for their country. The bill would require organizations
1:05.1	receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of
1:11.3	foreign influence.
1:13.0	Last year, plans to introduce the foreign agents legislation, as it became known,
1:18.0	were shelved in the face of mass protests.
1:22.0	Opponents say the measures are inspired by authoritarian
1:26.0	legislation that neighbouring Russia has used to crush dissent. Brussels has also
1:32.2	warned it could harm Tbilisi's long-held ambitions of joining the
1:36.8	European Union. But the governing Georgian Dream Party says that the law would boost transparency.
1:45.0	Rehan Dimitri has been following the ongoing protests ahead of the final reading of the legislation on Monday. We had been editing our TV report which
1:55.9	featured a dramatic opening scene. Dozens of motor cyclists with Georgian and EU
2:01.6	flags trying to break through a police cordon with a roar U flags trying to break through a police cordon with a roar of defiance.
2:06.0	The incident had taken place a few hours earlier on at Rustavelli Avenue,
	...

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