“Every single battlefront, every single country we lose or gain, tips the balance for or against democracy.” In June, Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Laureate and Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the World Movement for Democracy attended the ZEG Storytelling Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia. Her visit to Tbilisi took place a few weeks after Georgia reintroduced a Foreign Agents Law, aimed at closing civic space and repressing political dissent. In this interview with Civil Georgia, Filipino journalist Maria Ressa shares her experience standing up to the authoritarian regime of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, encouraging Georgian journalists and civil society leaders to continue fighting for the truth and democratic values. “In 2008, you were the first target of Russia, and you pushed them back. And when Crimea fell, Georgia held the line.” – Ressa said. “The line is your rights as a citizen in a democracy, something that you don’t compromise on so that expediency, power, and money can’t corrupt who you are.”

Read Maria Ressa’s full interview here.