Yesterday, August 23, was the 32nd anniversary of the Baltic Way human chain which drew attention to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and people gathered again for the occasion. However, the organizers of the Baltic Way could not understand the motive of the event and the linking of the anti-vaccine message to the important historic event.
People were invited to join the event described as the new Baltic Way regardless their views yet the initial definition of its goal was carried by anti-vaccination sentiment: “We support the freedom of vaccination. Everyone has the right to bodily integrity”. The organizers added that they support transparent research and open and fair statistics.
Henn Karits, who organized the original Baltic Way human chain as well as participated in the restoration of the Estonian Border Guard and the protection of Toompea, heard the news about the Baltic Way re-enactment on the radio. The retired colonel could not understand why it was undertaken and for which purpose.
“It is incomprehensible to me and it looks like hijacking of a dignified and serious initiative – if so, they shy should not behave like that, no matter the purpose,” Karits said.
Another organizer of the original event, Professor of literature Rein Veidemann, also views it as hijacking. “Yes, in the purest form,” he agreed. “I have noting else to say. There is place for demonstrations in democracy but to take over its name…” he said.
Küllo Arjakas, one of the leading figures of the Popular Front, described the event as feeble. The Baltic Way human chain which reached the UNESCO World Heritage list is the one and only event of its kind, he said, which cannot be repeated.
Veidemann, like Arjakas, pointed out that the Baltic Way has been registered in the world heritage: “If they distort it into some anti-vaccination demonstration, they can be prosecuted for calling it the Baltic Way”.
Any event of symbolic value could be celebrated, Arjakas says, and this goes for the Baltic Way as well: the route has been covered by aero clubs, veteran and vintage vehicles, runners and hikers. But he also recalled an action a few years ago when driving to Latvia for cheap alcohol was linked to the Baltic Way: “I believe that this event is of the same kind – it lacks a carrying idea. And if the organizers believe that there is one, it does not matter to many people. This will remain a feeble undertaking, not even re-enactment but plagiarism,” he said.
They held hands 32 years ago primarily so that the rest of the world would notice the small nations, Karits stressed. “It cannot be said that we were not states – we were states with our own people,” he emphasized. The gathering of hundreds of thousands meant for many participants overcoming their fears. “At that time it meant great courage for common goal,” he recalled.
“Organizing and carrying out such an internationally important event for the Baltic states displayed the determination of the people. If it is now used for a contrary purpose when the whole world is hit by epidemic – this is against everything I believe in,” he said.
Was the Baltic Way a sacred matter? Karits did not think that, especially in the people in today’s Estonia want to organize something pleasant. “You can always commemorate something. But to link your business to a symbol – this is not the Estonian way,” Karits said.
Veidemann finds that the Baltic Way should not be repeated. “It is not possible to do it again. I very much hope that we never have to do it again. The Baltic states will manage as independent states for the coming centuries,” he explained.
Arjakas agrees with him. “The first requirement would be a threat to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The second premise would be a common enemy and the third one a common belief that the action could change something,” he listed. “There would certainly be the question of who organizes it, who can call the people together. The Popular Front was an authority in 1989 and people responded to its call. I cannot imagine who could have such authority today,” Arjakas said.