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EESTI ELU reedel, 8. mail 2020 — Friday, May 8, 2020
ESTONIAN CULTURE LINKS by Vincent Teetsov
Priit Vesilind – The Estonian adventurer and writer we all need The year 2020 marks 30 years since Priit Vesilind’s feature “The Baltic Nations” was published in National Geo graphic magazine. Reading it several years after its publica tion was my first encounter with his work as a writer and champion of the kind of values that National Geo graphic promotes: global con nections, intellectual explora tion, and a full-colour depic tion of both current events and history. I don’t just mean in terms of the photography, but “full colour” in the way the words come to life. In particular, his feature reminds me of discovering the story of August Sabbe, one of the last surviving metsavennad (Forest Brothers). Priit captured August Sabbe’s brave last moments evading capture by the KGB in 1978. As a kid, I had piles of National Geo graphic magazines to read from, but I would always come back to this narrative because it felt like someone from the past had come back to tell their story in person. Priit’s reporting on the Baltic nations’ struggle for independence, paired with the emotive photography of Larry Price, made sense of modern Estonia for me. I believe that was when the perspective through which I understood Estonia as an American kid became more balanced. The article from 1990, along with his 1980 article “Return to Estonia”, plays an important role in the legacy of reporting about Estonia. It was a thorough introduction for readers, and shaped how journalists now report on Estonia from outside. It brought increased visibility to Estonia, which was and still is crucial for the country’s con tinued prosperity. I might add, this visibility also helps journal ists report about Estonia with more contemporary focus, instead of devoting too much time to historical explanation. Imagine if Canadian journalists had to introduce the United States as a “country who gained independence from Britain in 1776 and has been making a good attempt ever since”? With the publication of The Singing Revolution in 2008, accompanying the film of the same name, the power of cul ture in instigating change was shown. In 2009, Vesilind and Mai Maddisson published When the Noise Had Ended: Geis lingen’s DP Children Remem ber, giving a voice to displaced Estonian children at the end of the Second World War. Children are often overlooked in times of global hardship, but this publi
cation gives voice to their ex periences. The collection of photo graphs in this book also concisely represents the ex perience of the Estonian dias pora as they moved across the world. In addition to his work as the head of the National Geo graphic Expeditions and Adven ture Department, he is a photo grapher. There are quite a few of his own photos available in the National Geographic photo collection. (https://www.natgeo imagecollection.com) But all of this cannot be said without paying attention to investigative works such as Lost Gold of the Republic from 2005, which follows the history of the SS Republic, a steamship that served on both sides of the American Civil War, as well as transporting cargo and passen gers. It met a perilous end in October 1865, sinking during a hurricane in the Atlantic with a heavy load of gold. The book also documents the search for the wreck, which resulted in the discovery of millions of dollars worth of gold and artifacts in 2003. Why do we vicariously seek the satisfaction of finding lost treasure? Maybe we’re all looking for a nugget of some thing valuable from the past that we can hold in our own hands. I remember when I was around 12 years old, I wrote to Priit, asking for advice. How could one see and capture the world like the folks at National Geographic do? There was a wealth of practical answers in response, but it was one reflec tion that stuck with me. He noted certain moments away from home on assignment, where he wondered what it would have been like to take another path... maybe as a chicken farmer! As an impatient 12 year old, it was distressing to think why some one would wonder about some thing like that, but it was im portant in retrospect. Curiosity and a sense of humour are what you’ll need if you want to explore our planet. Travel can take a materialistic turn if you’re going somewhere to “check it off your list”; but when you release your grip on plans and stay curious, you’ll be more suited to adventure and tell others about it like Priit has. If you can find a copy of National Geographic volume 178, number 5, go ahead and buy it. It’s exciting whenever we get to see an Estonian like one of us go out and make an impact in our North American sphere, and this article serves as an inspiration for the adventurer in all of us.
ESTONIAN LIFE
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9
China was in… (Continued from page 8)
One challenge is that the WHO had heaped praise (wrongly in our view) on China’s handling of the virus outbreak. It would be unlikely to assist in any action against China. Moreover, the failures of many countries to effectively contain and miti gate the damage from the spread of the virus would only make it more difficult to prove causation. While it is unlikely that China would ever agree to appear before any international tribunal or the International Court of Justice to defend its action, there are other ways of holding the Chinese state to account for the massive human and financial costs of the pandemic. Even before COVID-19 is brought under control, the United Nations must establish an international commission of investigation comprised of the highest level of international health, medical and international law experts to assess the extent of the damage to the entire world and examine the China’s actions, including a quantitative amount for damages. Once that commission’s report is completed, the UN Security Council (UNSC), un der its peace and security global mandate, must pass a resolution that demands all WHO mem bers provide immediate access to data on any outbreak that could trigger a global pande mic. If China uses its UNSC veto, given the widespread damage to populations and the economies of some of the most vulnerable countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, individual countries and their regional or ganizations must demand that all debts owned by these countries to China be forgiven. With regards to the human and economic toll that the developing world is facing, governments should consider the use of their capital, infra structure and commercial sectors in their relations with China, in order to recoup at least some of the trillions of dollars lost due to the Chinese government’s wrongful actions. An easy re sponse for Canada would be refusal to have Huawei have access to the 5G networks in the country for a start. Canada should also offer its immediate support for a recent proposal by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for an international investigation of the WHO’s response to the pan demic, which has been predict ably criticized by the Chinese regime as “political manipula tion.” As we look towards a postcoronavirus world, we must seek accountability for the human toll and economic devastation that this virus has wrought, and ensure that those responsible are not allowed to repeat the mistakes that have so far cost hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars,
Trevor Crossmann at renewal of swimming pond.
Plane lands at Seedrioru. From the left: Max Luiker, pilot Eric Cloverdale, Rudi Zutis, Uno Tiisler. Photos: Toomas Eichenbaum
Seedrioru update: Talgud and a surprise event! Last Saturday was a beautiful early spring day in Southern Ontario. It was an opportune day for some “talgud” work at Seedrioru. In full com pliance with the COVID 19 social distancing measures, Seedrioru esimees Eric Tiisler directed several jobs with a diligent crew of volun teers. With the swim pond drained for the winter months, one of the large jobs was the dismantling of the deteriorating 60 year old deep-end dock and jumping platform. In seeing that long-lasting wood structure be ing ripped apart, one couldn’t help but reflect on the all the camp kids, sauna users and oth er guests who have enjoyed running down the dock and jumping into the pond over so many years. Wonderful memo ries for so many! The next big task is to de molish the thick concrete pier and rebuild it (hopefully as solidly as originally built by the “previous generation talguli sed”) over the next month or two so that it is ready for the approaching summer.
irreversibly changing the world we live in. Canada’s political leaders must find the courage not to allow themselves to be intimi dated by China’s totalitarian regime, and stand up against their crimes against the Uyghurs, other human rights abuses including the arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, and rampant corruption. How ever, now is also the critical time to put in place plans to eventually hold them to account for the global spread of
Having seen the “talgud” tasks completed for the day, Seedrioru was witness to another wonderful surprise. Late in the afternoon, far off in the clear blue sky, appeared a single en gine airplane seemingly heading in the direction of Seedrioru. Closer and closer, and lower and lower… the plane seemed to check out the Seedrioru grounds. The plane then banked with a wide turn and returned lower yet, and lo and behold it landed on Seedrioru’s upper field!! Several surprised “tal gulised”, with beer in hand, went quickly to check out the flying machine and who was the daring pilot. We were happy to see that it was our esto buddy Eric Coverdale as the pilot and he said he was just up for a joy ride from the Guelph airpark. And after a short stay and chitchat Eric started up the engine and took off cleanly back into the clear blue sky. With that unique airplane landing event, Seedrioru has once again shown JoeKaaru and Kotkajarv that is first and most famous (tongue-in-cheek) of the 3 Ontario eestlaste retreats!
COVID-19. (Errol Patrick Mendes is a professor of constitutional and international law at the Uni versity of Ottawa and a reci pient of the Order of On tario. Marcus Kolga is an international human rights activist expert on foreign disinformation and influence operations and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Insti tute. Sarah Teich is a Canadian lawyer focused on human rights and security issues, and an expert on counter-terrorism.)
