Culture workers in Georgia are uniting to fight a series of sackings by the country’s populist culture minister. Since taking up her brief last year Thea Tsulukiani, who is also deputy prime minister, has courted controversy with what opponents say are a series of politically motivated interventions.
Among those joining the newly formed Union of Science, Education and Culture Workers of Georgia are 40 workers fired from the Georgian National Museum last week. Maia Pataridze, a senior curator at the museum said that no reason was given for her sacking, but that the new management, appointed by Tsulukiani, mentioned critical social media posts she had made against the government.
Pataridze, like others across agencies controlled by the ministry, says she was called in for a performance review, which was conducted not by those with knowledge in her field, but by those close to the government.
Union leader Nikoloz Tsikaridze told Agenda.ge that the Tsulukiani-appointed management are refusing to accept ‘critical views’ in relation to museum policy as well as politics.
Last year Ekaterine Kiknadze, a manager at the Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi, says she was sacked after the institution’s new director, Nika Akhalbedashvili, an ally and former colleague of Tsulukiani, confronted her with social media posts in which she had criticised a controversial refurbishment plan to the institution, with Kiknadze raising concerns over the safety of the historic collection during works.
The crackdown by the ruling Georgian Dream party has not just affected museums. In March, Gaga Chkheidze was dismissed from his position as director of the Georgian National Film Centre over claims that he misused funds and was guilty of nepotism. Chkheidze strenuously denies the charges and says he will sue in order to clear his name. He says his sacking came after a series of arguments with Tsulukiani. ‘Instead of [providing] assistance, support and cooperation, the Minister attempted, in every possible way, to diminish the role and function of the Centre’, he told Agenda.ge.
This week the minister welcomed the sentencing of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the Mtavari Arkhi television channel, to three years and six months in prison for abuse of power and embezzlement; charges which supporters of the former opposition politician say are also politically motivated.
