Nini Alania has been a Local Coordinator for Georgian Students For Liberty since 2019. Since she joined Students For Liberty, Nini organized several events and worked on creating regular in-depth summer schools, like “Why Politics?.”
She also works for the Georgian Libertarian Party (Girchi) and, most recently, started hosting an educational show in which she explains themes like taxation, the history of Georgian constitutionalism, and deoligarchization.
When did you first get interested in politics?
Nini Alania: I have been interested in politics since childhood. I have always been following politics in Georgia and elsewhere. That is actually one of the reasons why I chose to study law. I somehow connected law with the sphere of politics, and I thought that in becoming a law expert, I would be closer to politics. So probably from high school, I was actively and in detail involved in studying this sphere.
How did you join the Georgian Libertarian Party, Girchi?
Nini Alania: One of the party members was my professor at the Free University of Georgia, where I did my bachelor’s degree in law. And in my third year, he offered me a job with Girchi. And as my interest in politics was the reason I started studying law in the first place, I was very happy with the offer and gladly accepted it.
How did the project of the educational videos come about?
Nini Alania: I work as a lawyer in Girchi, so my colleagues there know about my knowledge in this area, and that I’m interested in politics. So, we came up with this project. Specifically, the format and the details of how the show is done is my idea, but the group came up with the idea that it would be nice if I did the show.
What are the topics Georgian Students For Liberty and Girchi should focus on specifically in Georgia?
Nini Alania: There are a lot of problems to focus on in Georgia. However, the main idea should be advancing liberty through focus on current issues. For example, oligarchization, a problem that even the European Union pointed out for us, needs to be fixed. This is a problem that keeps the country from more rapid development, and as a result restricts free choice and slows down the path towards a freer future. That is why it is also one of the subjects we cover in the videos.
This is the first problem that we should focus on, to then be able to move on to the other matters. Activism and civil society are vital in solving the problems that Georgia is facing at the moment. Political parties and NGOs should therefore both work on countering the growing nihilism in certain groups of society. Close contact with Western institutions and values is crucial too. We should not let the government cut us from the West.
You touched on different subjects in the show, which subject was the most interesting and important for you?
Nini Alania: I think that there is a general lack of awareness in Georgia about these subjects, and I think that the education system in Georgia does not offer any information on these subjects. High school graduates might not even know what the constitution is, and what are the three branches of the government, they just do not know basics like these. My goal was to explain these basics to Georgian society, because I think that every citizen that can vote should also understand why they are voting, and how the state is structured.
The most important for me were the current issues – like deoligarchization and taxes. I am planning to make the next video about elections, and election fraud. This should also bring larger audiences to the video, as this is a problem everyone is aware of.
What were the biggest takeaways from working on the videos, and what are your next plans?
Nini Alania: This is an ongoing project, and I am not finished with it yet – I am planning to continue working on the videos for some time. The experience that I gained from this project is that it is difficult to write a talk in a way that will bring the information to the audience objectively, without pushing one’s own position on the subject matter. The show is educational, and the idea is to bring to the audience an unbiased insight, and the opportunity to make their own decisions on what is wrong and what is right.
This is probably the greatest takeaway from working on the show; I started thinking about how to transfer objective information to large audiences. This experience will surely be helpful if I ever decide to actively pursue a political career, as this is my first time directly addressing the public.
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This piece solely expresses the opinion of the author and not necessarily the organization as a whole. Students For Liberty is committed to facilitating a broad dialogue for liberty, representing a variety of opinions.
