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Gluboco's avatar

Hi Gato and Gato-pals,

A few days ago, I wrote in the Gato substack comments about the Covid Pass in my country of Lithuania.

In our country, it's called the Opportunity Pass.

Without the Opportunity Pass, you don't have the opportunity to participate in society. You cannot shop in any non-essential stores, go to any restaurant or bar, enter any public indoor spaces, enter banks for most issues, visit patients in medical facilities in most cases..... and many more restrictions.

I wrote an article about the fundamental transformation in society which has occurred in just the last month. The new regime has significantly altered both the concept of individual rights as well as the relationship between the individual and the state.

I posted the article in the substack comments. Many of you took the time to comment on it, link to it and forward it on, and to email me. I'd like to say thank you very much to all of you :-)

For those who haven't seen the article, take a look! (link at bottom of this comment)

And for those who already saw the article: I've updated it with pictures of how the Opportunity Pass works in practice, showing what you now have to do in order to enter shopping centers, hypermarkets, restaurants, and pretty much any indoor space. The pictures are eye-opening,

Also, although it's not a surprise, I've updated the article to reflect as well that my wife and I were both suspended without pay today from our jobs because we don't have the Opportunity Pass.

There's little protest here against the restrictions. Voices opposed to vaccine mandates are rarely featured in any mainstream media in our country. Principled opposition is twisted and caricatured by both the government and the media as far-right, anti-LGBTQ, conspiracy theorists, and neo-Nazis.

Opponents to vaccine mandates are muted with the dreaded label of "anti-vaxxers", which in our post-Soviet society is seen as a person who is irrationally fatalistic, mystical, illiterate, selfish, anti-modern, and anti-science.

This social stigmatization of opposition has worked. Protests are rare, opponents remain silent, and most people just meekly acquiesce to the new rules. People are now more afraid of the social stigma than of the virus itself.

The contrast with history is stark. Lithuania was occupied for decades by the Soviet Union. We fought for - and won - a revolution of independence 30 years ago.

But now, three decades later, our current population is apathetic about losing freedoms which the previous generation fought for.

We battled against the government-led propaganda and "Show me your documents!" authoritarianism of the USSR, only to acquiesce meekly in 2021 to a new regime of media-led propaganda and technocratic, fear-driven health authoritarianism of "Show me your Covid QR Code!".

I'd like to ask your help.

I'm not social media savvy. I have zero platform. I don't want personal publicity, I have no interest in building an online brand, and - despite suggestions of well-meaning people who've emailed me - I won't make videos of myself and my children to highlight the situation here. I'm not involved in politics. I'm just an ordinary person trapped in an absurd world.

In short, I'm not a political activist and I'm not a good marketing person. I mean, my favorite activity is foraging for mushrooms in the forest with my wife and children (it's mushroom season now; the chantarelles are heavenly!).

Last week, I posted the article on Reddit. In 11 hours on Reddit it drew eyeballs here in my country. But then Reddit banned the post and me (details on that in the article).

That's why I think that if I can draw more attention - this time, by asking for the help of strangers like you rather than relying on Reddit's huge in-built audience - it could have an impact.

So I'd appreciate if all of you could share the article and information on social media.

Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, whatever you think best... I'd appreciate any help to get attention to the Covid Pass restrictions here.

If you have any other ideas to draw attention to the Opportunity Pass regime in Lithuania - things you could do yourself, people I should contact by email, suggestions of other things I should do - please let me know, here or by email. I'd be enormously grateful.

And in a personal request to Gato: My wife and I have followed your writing for 18 months, from the bluebird days to here on substack. Your detailed analysis and experienced insight of medical trials has been extremely helpful to us. And on all Covid topics, I've found that you not only give clear explanations of complex issues, but using wit, satire, and a large handful of memes, you also show the absurdity and lack of logical thinking behind much of government policy and social norms. So that's why I'd like to share this information about my country with you. Based on both your topics of interest, as well as the deeper values which are reflected in your writing, I think you'll find the article interesting, particularly as it's a story which has received little attention in the English-language media. I'd deeply appreciate any help you could give to draw attention to the Covid Pass regime in Lithuania and Europe.

-----

My wife and I don't want to leave our country. We shouldn't have to become refugees from absurdity. It's our home, our language, our culture, our forests.

Instead, we'd like our society to find a way out of the madness, the authoritarianism, and the hate and othering that have somehow become acceptable. What we want is a way back to normalcy. I hope with our efforts, we can turn attitudes back to 2019. It was far from perfect then, but it was incomparably better than our present madness.

And then I can focus again on mushroom hunting instead of Covid Pass regimes. :-)

Thanks again to Gato and all the Gato-pals here.

Best wishes,

- Gluboco

The link to the article I wrote is:

https://txti.es/covid-pass/images

(My email is at the bottom of the article. Thanks! :) )

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Amagnono's avatar

We are far, far beyond this all being merely reprehensible. It is an ongoing human rights crime of biblical proportions. It has long since gone beyond partisan politics and entered the realm of pure malevolence. Those responsible should be facing not censure and ridicule but trials and capital punishment.

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