Climate activist Greta Thunberg has broadened her profile to take on politically charged issues such as Israel’s bombing of Gaza. Now she has joined the Georgian opposition’s fight and appeared in front of the parliamentary building in Tbilisi on November 4 as thousands gather to protest against what they claim was a fixed election.

"I am here to express my support and solidarity to all activists and citizens who are coming forward to defend their fundamental rights such as freedom, justice and democracy,” Thunberg told InterpressNews on the streets in Tbilisi. “This is an outrageous development, an authoritarian development that is happening in Georgia now, and I have great respect for the people who again and again fill the streets and use the right to demonstrate to express their dissatisfaction with the current situation, despite the oppression.”

AS reported by bne IntelliNews, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) won the October 26 election to take 54% of the vote by dominating regional voting, in a result that western observers have refused to call free and fair.

The 21-year-old Thunberg also criticised the upcoming COP29 climate summit due to start next week for providing political legitimacy to authoritarian regimes with poor human rights records, she said in a conversation with journalist Rasmus Canbäck published on a social media post.

"I’ve travelled here from Stockholm, crossing the continent," Thunberg said over a pizza in Tbilisi while the protest was going on. "It’s been an amazing experience… but the more authoritarian a country is, the more people seem to show their best sides."

Thunberg, who refuses to travel by air, has been barred from the Baku-based summit due to her outspoken comments. The Azerbaijani authorities have been working hard to keep COP29 focused on climate images and have headed off calls by western human rights activists to link the event to the Republic’s poor human rights record. The country has closed its land borders—officially for security reasons following COVID restrictions – which makes it impossible for Thunberg to enter the country.

Thunberg remains sceptical about the upcoming summit, telling Canbäck: "The only thing that will come out of it is loopholes, more negotiations, and symbolic decisions that look good on paper but are really just greenwashing."

For Thunberg, COP29 marks another example of climate summits being "exploited by authoritarian states that don’t respect fundamental human rights."

The regime in Azerbaijan, she said, controls travel into the country, leaving its citizens "trapped" without options beyond the state-monitored airport in Baku.

Thunberg says she will remain in Georgia until COP29 begins, meeting with local activists and then travelling to Armenia, where she expects to "take it one day at a time." Her focus in the region will be to challenge what she views as hypocrisy within the climate summit's host regime, which she claims is attempting to associate itself with climate and human rights causes, even as it "oppresses its own civil population" and pursues conflict with Armenia, she told Canbäck.

Thunberg lamented the recurring trend of climate summits held in repressive nations, highlighting that the last three COP events have taken place in authoritarian settings. "We can’t legitimise COP meetings in their current form," she said, pointing to the challenges faced by climate activists who, in many countries, must prioritise basic rights before they can focus on climate action. "In countries where people face repression…activists see a clearer connection," she said, arguing that climate and human rights advocacy must be unified.

Thunberg’s activism has broadened in scope recently, including a more vocal stance on Palestinian issues and she was recently arrested in Berlin at Palestinian support demonstration, leading some in the media to characterise her as "radicalised."

She countered the criticism saying: "When there’s friction, people think I should stick to the core issue… but we’re talking about climate justice. All forms of justice are included within climate justice."

Reflecting on the challenges faced by activists today, Thunberg admitted: "In one way, it’s much harder to be an activist with the level of repression in the world… but I feel more comfortable now with what I prioritise."