Georgian Parliament Speaker: Trump revealed malpractice of foreign aid, often used for interference for political purposes

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday recalled the statement of the United States President Donald Trump regarding foreign aid industry and bureaucracy, which served to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that were directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.

In his address at a General Debate in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, Papushvili noted that Trump revealed the malpractice of foreign aid, which was often used for interference for political purposes, but was presented as democracy support.

“We have witnessed an extraordinary period in the development of international society, when foreign aid has negatively affected international cooperation. Undermining the rule of law in various countries, in the name of democratization and with the use of foreign-funded organizations, has, in fact, disrupted both domestic democratic institutions as well as eroded the pillars of the rules-based international order. More so, raising voice and doubting the morality and efficacy of foreign aid, especially delivered through non-governmental organizations, has become a taboo”, the Speaker said.

He emphasised that critical examination of these concepts, principles, and processes led the Government to a very inconvenient conclusion that through the manipulation of foreign aid and civil society, the very essence of democracy had been reversed from its original meaning and the rule by the people was replaced with the rule from abroad.

“Instead of democracy, we were offered alienocracy, a rule not by the people but by foreign-imposed dogmas, legitimized and perpetuated by the consensus from the foreign-funded organizations. While the strongest pillar of democracy is diversity of norms, opinions, and arguments, in contrast, alienocracy imposed an ideological straitjacket on this diversity, giving undue advantage to those groups in the society that share the foreign-imposed agenda”, he continued.

“But we know very well that democracy is a way of life not an ideology. Imposing political influence under the disguise of democratic aid contradicts the very essence of democracy. Instead of the rule of the people, we get the rule of self-appointed foreign mentors of democracy”, Papuashvili noted.

He further noted that among the nations whose democracy suffered from this imposed foreign political interference was Georgia.

“We saw the development of a strange foreign-fed narrative, when the foreign-funded NGOs were initially equated with the civil society, and then the civil society was equated with the people. Thus, effectively, foreign-funded NGOs became THE people. Thus, Georgia’s legitimately elected Parliament was juxtaposed with unelected NGOs, whose legitimacy was only measured by the volume of foreign funding that they received. The fact that real civil society became replaced with sham NGOs is a direct hit at democracy”, the Speaker said.

“The interests of democracy and the rule of law warrant that we should get back to the fundamental norms of the rules-based international order - sovereignty, democracy, and non-interference in domestic affairs. Undue foreign interference should give way to respecting national sovereignty, and foreign-funded NGOs must give way to genuine civil society, and, thus, the real democracy”, he concluded.