It’s August 2025, and while daily protests demanding new and fair elections, the release of all political prisoners, and the continuation of the EU accession process are still ongoing, Georgia—like every year—commemorated the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.
This year, however, the self-proclaimed government has been even more fervent in its attempts to rewrite history, directly accusing the former government of starting the war.
Masho Lomashvili, the 2024-2025 Bruno Investigative Reporting fellow at Coda Story, explores the dispute over national memory in a long and insightful article about „Why Georgia’s National Memory is on Trial?“.
It’s a deep dive into how „an increasingly autocratic Georgian government toes the Kremlin line, blaming its predecessors for „instigating“ war“.
„But why might some Georgians go along with the idea that we started the war? Because memory is fragile. Every time we recall the past, we reshape it, filter it through what we’ve heard, what we’ve lost, and what we choose to believe. Repeated messages from those in power can overwrite what we thought we knew. Even if it’s victim-blaming on a national scale.“
