The Campaign #ThePowerIsInUs
In the 2020 elections, volunteers from Georgia will try to reveal and expose Russian misinformation and propaganda campaigns and minimize their influence on Georgian society. For this purpose, the "Information Defense Legion" is launching the campaign #thepowerisinus (ძალა ჩვენშია in Georgian). The mentioned platform was created in Georgia in 2018 and had since united thousands of people.
“What we are fighting today is the result of our passiveness in the past,” said Giorgi Molodini, founder of the Georgian Center for Strategic Communications. “All the lies that were told years ago and left unanswered for a number of reasons, today everything has turned out to be half-true for a large part of our citizens. Today in our country they believe in such absurd constructions as the desire to join NATO irritates Russia. No-one will say that in 1992-93 either NATO or the European Union were on the agenda of Georgia's foreign policy. Today, they believe in the lie that EU membership threatens the national identity of Georgians and that no-one can convince them people that more than a dozen ethnic groups disappeared during the Russian Empire. Therefore, this year, we will do our best not to leave a free space for Russian propaganda and misinformation. Our ultimate goal is that the people at the ballot box can make a choice free from false information, stereotypes, fears, phobias and pro-Russian messages, thus paving the way for a bright future for themselves and their children”.
The Georgian Center for Strategic Communications is the author of the project ‘Information Defense Legion,’ an initiative initially implemented in Georgia with the support of the East-West Management Institute (EWMI) ACCESS project and with the funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Molodini says that this is something everyone can do, without leaving home and without much effort. He notes that often, effective protection of the truth about us and our country can merely involve sharing information posted on the Facebook page of the organization. According to him, this year, active members of the Legion will be paying special attention to helping pro-Western media outlets to fight trolls.
Experienced and active volunteers of the "Legion" call on their fellow citizens to become active and get mobilized. They rightly note that it will be a most difficult year, as there is a reasonable suspicion that the occupation forces will try to interfere in the election process. To get involved with the Information Defense Legion, head to Facebook page InfoArmy.ge, where volunteers are invited to spread the truth, spot misinformation and shine light on hostile propaganda.
Molodini says the Legion is in need of people with a variety of knowledge and experience, as well as foreign language experts, social media managers and analysts, graphic designers, and video editing specialists.
“We have already accumulated some human resources, but given the scale of the challenges, as well as the features of active defense, facing us in 2020, we will definitely need additional resources,” Molodini says.
By Vazha Tavberidze