Introduction
It has already been 30 years since 4 May 1990 and the barricades of 1991. Is that long enough for certain events and situations to repeat themselves?
In recent years, historically significant stories have become relevant: let us recall the opening of the “Corner House” in 2014, the publicly available part of the KGB informant card index, the return of the word “Soviet” (in the sense of the 1940–1990 period) to everyday speech, albeit often used incorrectly (instead of adjectives like “bad”, “wrong”, “old-fashioned”, or even “incomprehensible”), hearing “correct” and “incorrect” in the speeches of political figures, as well as uncritical and non-analytical references to directives created outside Latvia, and information about Latvians, the builders of Soviet Russia and the Soviet state, gradually being pulled from dusty chests.
Indeed! The comrade mentioned in the headline and the once-lauded “Father of Nations” would be pleased with more than a few modern-day events!
What would Comrade Stalin be pleased about? There is no need to organise anything, to burden carts, vehicles, wagons, or a system. By senselessly replacing the word “communism” with “sustainability” and the “Green Deal”, the result will be achieved. The careerist proponents of the “Green Deal” (like communism) will do their part; whining about problems in the regions will be forbidden or considered inappropriate, because everything is democratic and in the spirit of the “correct” course.
Introduction
The phrase still used in speeches, “back then Moscow decided everything, now there is freedom and democracy”, is not entirely accurate. “Everything” means “everything”! It is doubtful that the post-war resistance movement in Latvian forests was coordinated with authorities in Moscow. Highly unlikely! It is doubtful that the post-war inhabitants of Latvia coordinated their memories and stories about pre-war Latvia with a party committee. Using the words “everything” and “everyone” is inappropriate! The same applies when talking about today!
Analysis
Having rested for about 30 years from the “correct” phrasings of other times, we have returned to a period already experienced: “sustainability” (once, the “bright future”), “Green Deal” (once, “communism”) resound from experts and career experts (who build a career by using the right phrases in the right party), drinking buddies, party members, and it is used by people on radio and TV. If you cannot be bothered to keep your mouth shut, make sure to mention sustainability, and you will be one of the fold!
“After the war, everyone is a wise guy.” That could be said about the elections to the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) that took place last week (https://www.varam.gov.lv/lv/vides-konsultativa-padome).
Of course, we can use the classic distraction tactic: those who were not elected are dissatisfied. No! We have been used to the fact that not everyone can be elected everywhere for 30 years! But! Reading the EAC regulations and looking at the composition of the EAC (in recent years), a scene that would please the comrades mentioned in the headline becomes visible: “Cadres decide everything!” Or: “There are cadres, but there is no sustainability!”
Namely, the EAC, which “promotes public participation in the development and implementation of environmental policy”, does not and will not include those who work in the environment, tend to it, maintain it, and, importantly, generate benefits for us all. Issues that are important to forest owners, farmers, beekeepers, summer residents, peat extractors, hunters, landowners, etc., will be judged, and are being judged, by incompetent people who sit comfortably in offices, write projects, receive money into their accounts, and often feed at the tables of the industries they publicly criticise, etc.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development’s (VARAM) pretence that environmental issues can be addressed in a quality manner without the participation of landowners, forest owners, farmers, and representatives of the national economy is classic. And classically absurd. And just as unsustainable, because... The balance between the environmental, social, and economic is... Where is it?
It is very strange that the problem is known in many places, including ministries and the President's Chancery, but... Can we (or can we not) buy or bribe people in Latvia's regions with European money and the repeated invocation of the Green Deal? (A question: is the owner ready to sell their work for X euros – land, forest, meadow – so that it remains unused because it is required now? That is what a European bureaucrat, an uneducated activist, or chatterboxes in the centre of Riga want democratically...)
Conclusion
If freedom is a word and a feeling, then that is good! If freedom is a few kilograms (measured in the amount of paper) of directives, in which someone, whose knowledge is only a guess, has meticulously written down what it is, then the comrades mentioned in the headline are rejoicing in the afterlife. If the Cabinet of Ministers and the ministries have been given the opportunity to act, not just follow and obey, then act! When will you start?
In the early 90s, when talking about freedom, it was not planned to replace one master (as mentioned: with a few kilograms of directives in their briefcase) with another. What is the difference what you call them, if the neck is the same, but the burden has become heavier?
* The Environmental Advisory Council is a consultative coordinating institution, the aim of which is to promote public participation in the development and implementation of environmental policy
** Regulations of the Environmental Advisory Council