Didn't age much

Women & minority groups in Georgia are expected to mark their ‘international days’ and to keep challenging conservative society, but never question either economic policies that feed anxieties or UNM’s anti-democratic past https://bit.ly/3dWEkz3 

Activists' advocacy for equality and tolerance comes packaged with negligence towards economic injustices and polite silence about human right abuses during Saakashvili’s rule. A quid pro quo: you keep the mouth shut and stick to your narrow minority agenda to have some support

Hence a low bar for liberal politicians and groups to join 'pro-equality struggle': they're never challenged by 'specialised activists' to call killings by police or attacks on media, cases confirmed by ECHR and still remembered by 'backward Georgians', more than just 'mistakes'

Helen Khoshtaria would accept you as queer and/or a woman struggling to break a glass ceiling but I've never heard her being challenged by timid advocates on broader issues of labour, gambling, poor queer women or what she thinks of Merabishvili's crimes https://twitter.com/Helenkhosh/status/1261763002824642562

Or take Nika Melia, a leader of a new generation with a potential to somewhat redefine UNM in a bit better way: You're anti-hate? Get in! We won't bother with awkward questions on Sandro Girgvliani murder case (he wasn't queer anyway) https://twitter.com/Tabagari/status/1262488778725351426

Is it pragmatic? It's been tested by time: Not really. As activism becomes increasingly dependent on 'unconditional allies' & lobbyist efforts for progressive laws, absence of grassroots work based on universal concept for justice and equality don't help social attitudes change

That's why outside factors like generic pro-tolerance messages from pop-icons with global fame or unexpected outside contributions beyond Georgia like Kashia or And Then We Danced contributed more than almost 20 years of local queer and gender equality struggle. It's a failure

That's how Georgia ended up as a post-soviet queer haven on Rainbow Map while being a living hell for queers now unable to get the asylum in Europe. Will activists with good careers, international contacts and nice mobility opportunities change that? Don't hold your breath

Special interest group activism reproducing a minority group member with one marker, detached from their workplaces, debts, conflicts with law, addictions, and their inalienable right, duty and potential to demand justice and equality for all has failed and will keep failing