VIDEO: The invasion Russia doesn’t want you to know about.

A note from the Editor:

Editing a video is a fascinating and often terrifying experience. And that’s not because it requires us to sift through hours and hours of footage, dig through mountains of archive and procure visual evidence for everything we are trying to communicate in our stories - though that is true too, of course. The real challenge lies in the fundamental requirement of developing deep empathy for the people whose stories we tell and in honoring the lived, often existentially-challenging experiences they are confronted with on a daily basis.

I think in international affairs and politics we too often focus on peculiar complexities of situations while forgetting that for some people that’s just the backdrop of their truly terrifying reality; a real possibility that their basic freedoms and democratic rights are being taken away from them. In some ways that’s an almost more terrifying thought than never having had these rights in the first place.

One of the first stories I ever worked on in my career as a journalist and video producer was covering Hong Kong’s protest movement in the summer and fall of 2019 for the Washington Post. I still often find myself thinking about the many young Hong Kongers I interviewed and how clear-eyed they were about their government’s not-so-subtle attempts at eroding democratic principles and freedoms. And how determined they were to not go down without a fight.

So when Johnny asked me to edit this story about a young group of determined Georgians fighting not just against a questionable new law, but for a future that aligns with the democratic values and beliefs that they were brought up on, I was immediately excited. Just as was the case in Hong Kong, these Georgians grew up in the shadow of a giant, non-democratic superpower that could take their democratic freedoms away from them at any moment. And just like the people of Hong Kong, Georgians had the optimism and courage to flood their streets, demanding a better future.

And while I may never truly understand what it feels like to go out on the street and demand more of my government, I hope that this story and how we brought it alive in the edit can provide at least a small glimpse into the reality of these people, helping you empathize with their struggle and hopes for a democratic future. After all, it may be cliche to say, but is true nonetheless: Democracy is hard to come by, and once it’s there, must be fought for to be kept alive.

~ Paji