Lovers of privilege and segregation won't back down so easily

As of February 1, almost all Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted in Denmark. This means that Danes no longer have to wear face masks or show their Covid-19 certificates. All previous restrictions on restaurants, cafés and entertainment venues have been lifted.

The Centre Party, which is part of Estonia's ruling coalition, issued a statement on Tuesday saying that it wants to stop the domestic use of Covid certificates from February 7. The statement takes a very sharp, basically ultimatum-like tone and ends with the words "The Centre Party expects a concrete solution from the head of government [Kaja Kallas] by Wednesday evening."

The Lithuanian government also decided at yesterday's meeting to significantly restrict the use of Covid certificates. There is an apparent shift in the world towards phasing out the restrictions and suspending the use of Covid certificates. Noticing this shift, some opponents of the restrictions in Latvia have already started to celebrate "victory". In the euphoria of this apparent victory, they can already see with their mind's eye the main Covid hysterics on the bench of the imaginary Nuremberg tribunal and see the politicians of the ruling coalition fighting each other to prove that they were the first to advocate the restoration of uncertified rights. Clearly, there is no such thing in reality. It is only a sweet daydream of these "winners". What is the reality?

The reality is still showing certificates to the security guard at the entrance to the shop and being unable to work without that QR code. From February 15, this human rights certificate has a limited validity period, after which everyone has to go get a booster. It is not yet known how long this will last. The state of emergency, which allows large categories of people to receive different levels of Covid support, will continue until the end of February, when the government will have to decide on an extremely difficult question: how to pacify just before the elections the many workers who have become accustomed to this decent "new" salary and who now have to return to the salaries they had before this generous state of emergency, when "there is now more money than there has ever been". This year (as in an election year), it is likely that at least the allowances for medical staff (but perhaps others too) will be maintained from the contingency funds.

The ZZS in opposition plans to push through amendments to the pandemic management law that would end the domestic use of the Covid certificates. Other opposition politicians could also join this proposal, but in the light of past experience, the coalition is likely to demonstrate its usual unity and reject the opposition's proposals no matter what the arguments.

Does this mean that certificates and endless boosting will be maintained? Fortunately, no. The Latvian political class is extremely provincial. Like country boys/girls from a deep province, they feel unsure when they walk under the lights of the big city. In order not to lose face and let their backwater goat's leg show from under their skirts, they watch very carefully what the "big city guys" do, how they behave, how they dress, how they talk, what music they listen to, and try to imitate them in every possible way. How well they manage to do that is another story.

As the world's leading fashion changes, sooner or later we too will adapt to this new fashion. The problem is that all this vaccination and the certificate thing that goes with it is linked to a huge financial turnover, to an ideological backlash and to people's psychological desire to be somehow more privileged and to feel superior. As the columnist Jānis Mednis writes: "Many have already fallen in love with restrictions." This applies not only to Latvia, but to humanity as a whole, because a human being, whether in Africa or in New York, is still just a human being.

The clarity that for many, for whole sectors of society and sectors of the economy, the pandemic is financially and operationally extremely beneficial was apparent almost from the start, but the ideological stand-off between supposed liberals and conservatives on the issue of Covid was somewhat surprising. But only somewhat. The biggest and most unpleasant surprise of Covid is precisely that the segregation and discrimination of others has turned out to be psychologically pleasing to many.

Provided that this segregation and discrimination is legal and, above all, that the moral justification for it is something that people themselves can believe in. That is, to tell oneself that it is okay to feel that way and that it is good. How good it is that "only decent people are around", "we should also introduce certificates in public transport, because..." All the nice stories about an inclusive society, it turns out, work as long as they are some airy, theoretical contemplations over a glass of wine in the Bolderāja bar, or when it comes to submitting another project application to continue drinking wine regularly in one of the intellectual oases in the center of Riga. When you sit next to someone you don't like, someone who makes you feel uncomfortable, all inclusiveness disappears in an instant. As Fyodor Dostoyevsky said, "It is easy to love humanity, but difficult to love the neighbor behind the wall."

I would like to believe that all these human rights restrictions will sooner or later be lifted, but it is too early to celebrate victory. It is also too early to dream that any of today's segregationists and human rights activists will be tried or receive even a political punishment. On the contrary, these politicians represent the interests and wishes of a certain political class which, as has already been said, is happy to support removing the "persons they do not like" from their sight. Let these individuals live on their own reservation. In their own ghetto and not be seen in front of me. That is their subconscious motivation, regardless of what is said out loud.

This means that the struggle to regain human rights and dignity will be a long one. Today's rulers will back off slowly and reluctantly. Hopes for some kind of contrition or, even more foolishly, apology, are incredibly naive. On the contrary, they will go into the elections as heroes whose decisive (?) and convincing (?) actions have been decisive in the "victory over Covid".

It is therefore the duty of every responsible citizen not to be misled by euphoria, but to carefully observe how each politician, each political party, each individual politician acts and behaves in this period. To make the right choice on October 1 and to adjust the list with pluses and strikethroughs in line with what each politician deserves.