Some time ago, the then-Minister of Agriculture made remarks about things that cannot be seen (or are seen) from the window of his office. He was ridiculed.
As the Saeima elections approach, ladies are tramping through Latvia's forests and fields whose ideological foundation is militant stupidity. They also tend to talk about what they see. They are not ridiculed, yet their own supporters wish to elect and maintain them in the Latvian parliament.
Speaking of various types of activism and activities, it is hard to overlook a fact that continues to surprise, no matter how long it has persisted—namely, that activism and activities are excellent as such, but they neither demand nor require essential things—wisdom, knowledge, understanding. Of course, what are these for, if a smart voter will spit on those tramping through the forests, because there is enough stupidity in life as it is.
In this regard, an important, overlooked process must be recalled. With the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, or the “great war”, much was said about how the neighbouring country and the wider public were being prepared and conditioned against Ukraine, Ukrainians, and almost anything located to the west of Russia.
If you take the trouble to look at the information still available, you can see that, for example, in 2016, 2018, and 2021, films or programmes of various content were produced in the neighbouring country in which a negative sentence or phrase about NATO, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, etc., appeared “accidentally” and quite out of place; this has happened for years and extensively. I assume it might be impossible to research all the offerings of the neighbouring country’s TV and other media during this time, but... when listening to information in our own—Latvian—media from time to time, you can see strange similarities.
Of course, public relations methods are the same in many parts of the world, yet it is difficult not to notice how persistently and purposefully those people, who have decided to consider themselves green-thinking, have found the opportunity to feed misinformation to the wider public drop by drop. If you compare fervent war advocates with activists who speak against our forest sector, there is no difference. (It must be emphasised: the activists are not fighting for nature conservation, but specifically against the forest sector. For and against are not the same thing!) Having heard something, having listened to something, having “been to a knowledgeable person”, “if they are talking on the radio, then they are an authority”—and the result is ready.
Watch the film “The Latvian and His Forest” and think about what you know about the forest, when you were there last, and from what sources—even if you want to or have promised to believe them—you draw your information? Are they sources that are friendly to Latvia and the people of Latvia?
Watch the film “The Latvian and His Forest”
The film was produced by the association “Forest Certification Council of Latvia” in cooperation with Ansis Pūpols and the studio Nemelo.lv, with the support of the Forest Development Fund