On 9 January, Ukraine’s Parliament has recognised the Russian Empire’s 19th century genocide of the Circassians, during which Russian forced killed or deported hundreds of thousands of Circassians from their homeland in the Caucasus.

This week, OC Media’s Yousef Bardouka talks about the genocide and its impact on the Circassians and the Caucasus and the significance of the resolution, while Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko, a co-author of the resolution, talks about how the bill came to be and Ukraine’s role in supporting the people of the North Caucasus.

Read more:

• Ukraine recognises Circassian Genocide

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OC Media's Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha sit down and chat about the protests against the Georgian government’s decision to halt EU integration, going on for almost a month now as the holiday season descends on Georgia. 

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

OC Media's Robin Fabbro, Nate Ostiller, Arshaluys Barseghyan, and Yousef Bardouka talk about the regime change in Syria and what it means for the Caucasian diaspora communities in the country and what it says about Russia’s influence and power globally.

Read more:

• Armenia says ‘no opportunity’ to evacuate Syrian–Armenians
• Syrian rebel leader condemns Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognition
• Right of return? — The struggles of the Circassian diaspora to settle in Adygea

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OC Media’s Robin Fabbro and Mariam Nikuradze talk about the spontaneous protest movement which erupted after the Georgian government’s announcement that the country would ‘halt’ its EU integration. Mariam shares her experience covering the protests and details how the police injured her and damaged her cameras as she was covering their violent dispersal of the protests.

Read more:

• Anti-government protests spread to Georgia’s regions: the case of Marneuli
• Explainer | After a month of simmering protests, Georgia erupted: why now?

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

Georgian Dream have launched the new parliament without any opposition, amidst continued calls for an investigation into irregularities in the same parliamentary elections that helped them secure their fourth term as the majority.

A month after the elections, OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha sit down and talk about the developments surrounding the protests against electoral fraud and Georgian Dream’s plans for the future.

Read more:

• Georgian Dream to halt EU membership bid
• European Parliament rejects Georgia’s elections results, calls for a redo and sanctions
• Georgian Dream approves new government
• Editorial | Georgia’s rigged election

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Last week, Donald Trump was re-elected for a second term as president of the United States.

This week, Robin Fabbro and OC Media editors Alexandra Kuenning and Nate Ostiller discuss what Trump’s re-election as president might mean for the Caucasus as he appoints a new administration and the outcome of the war in Ukraine becomes more uncertain.

Read more:

• How a Trump presidency could impact the South Caucasus

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With the UN COP conference soon kicking off in Baku, we sat down with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to talk about the choice of Azerbaijan, an oil-producing state with a questionable human rights record, as host.

Read more:

• Controversy as COP29 to be held in Azerbaijan

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With Georgia’s parliamentary elections inching closer, both the ruling Georgian Dream party and the many groups representing the opposition are scrambling to prepare for the critical vote on 26 October.

This week, OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha discuss how the pre-election campaign period has been going, claims of electoral violations by Georgian Dream, and the atmosphere in Georgia ahead of the vote.

Read more:

• Who’s who in Georgia’s parliamentary elections?
• Ranking Georgia’s political parties by gender balance in the 2024 elections
• Opinion | Georgia’s new electronic voting system comes with risks

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The residents of Shukruti, a village in Georgia’s western Chiatura region, have been protesting mining under their village carried out by Georgian Manganese for years. In September, they relocated their protest to Georgia’s Parliament in Tbilisi, demanding that the government intervene in their dispute with the mining company.

Those protesting around the clock in front of parliament are constantly exposed to the elements as the weather grows colder, with at least six of them on hunger strike.

This week, we spoke with OC Media’s co-director and journalist Mariam Nikuradze about the conditions of the protesters and how the authorities have been treating them in Tbilisi, and to the Social Justice Center’s Salome Shubladze about their demands and the ongoing legal dispute between the protesters and Georgian Manganese.

Read more:

• Dying on the steps of parliament — Georgia’s Shukrutians make last bid for their homes

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The high-profile murder of Kesaria Abramidze, a prominent Georgian trans model and media personality, has sent shockwaves through Georgia’s queer community, with many accusing the government of enabling her murder through their transphobic and homophobic rhetoric and their ‘LGBT propaganda’ law. Abramidze’s suspected murder, her former partner, was charged with committing a hate crime based on gender, and not one based on Abramidze’s gender identity.

This week, we spoke to activist Monika Tigishvili about Abramidze’s murder and being trans in Georgia, and to the Rule of Law Centre’s hate crime researcher Nati Gelovani and Parntership for Human Rights criminal lawyer Tamara Zarkua about how Georgia’s legal system handles transphobic hate crimes.

Read more:

• Georgian President attends funeral of murdered trans woman Kesaria Abramidze
• Heartbreak in Georgia after murder of prominent trans woman

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…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.