What Do Putin and Gays Have in Common, or Why the Istanbul Convention Suddenly Became Question No. 1 in Latvia 0 7

Sometimes you walk with a knife – you walk for an hour, two. Three! And you get the feeling that there are no mushrooms here. Not at all. They do not exist.

It’s already getting dark, and even the air doesn’t smell like mushrooms, and you really look either like a fool or like a maniac with your knife. And just when it seems like an owl is about to hoot at you, suddenly – bam. There it is. Big and strong. And you cut it, and faith awakens in you that it can’t be that it’s the only one here.

In general, the story with thinking people is roughly the same now: their discovery resembles finding a porcini mushroom in November. What to do with just one, it’s unclear. But it’s endearing.

"Yes" and "no" not to say

Recently, I was touched: "Alesha, what about this Istanbul convention... Why are its opponents called pro-Putin? What does Putin have to do with it at all?" My dear sunshine. Putin is about as "related" to this as gays are.

The Istanbul Convention is a document. Serious, legal. If you read it thoughtfully, you can find pros and cons, hidden bonuses, and pitfalls. In fact, with most things whose structure is a little more complex than a log, that’s usually how it goes. Sit down, read it. Break it down point by point, compare it with current legislation, look at the experience of other countries, check the transparency of proposed initiatives, study several academic articles from supporters and opponents, form your opinion and... take it away. Because of Putin. Or because of gays.

All formulas are simplified to polar monochrome, and to avoid prolonged suffering, each side has labeled the opponent with a tag that causes maximum rejection. You can argue until the criminal code about whether God sent Putin to the Russians, but it is absolutely certain he was sent to the Latvians. If he didn’t exist, he would have to be invented. Just a little bit missed on the coronavirus, but that’s okay, they caught up in three years (you don’t think that if the virus appeared after 2022, anyone would consider any version other than "Putin infected?").

Any, absolutely any attempt to criticize the authorities in Latvia on any issue – absolutely any! – and you are already pro-Kremlin. Why? Because. They just show you a map and say – look: the blue ones are for the Istanbul convention, and the gray ones – that’s Russia, for example. Do you want to be like Russia? Do you want Putin? Well, that’s it.

Moreover, attention: "The rhetoric of the opponents of the convention completely coincides with the rhetoric of the Kremlin." So, if God forbid the Kremlin says that agriculture needs to be supported, do we have to liquidate it? Did I understand correctly?...

Democracy is when... how?

But let’s look at it more globally? If we talk about the main horrors of the Kremlin regime, the first narratives are the lack of democracy, freedom of speech, and multi-party system. Autocracy and "Putin decided" in response to everything – this is undoubtedly very bad.

But I have a question: here in Latvia, the elected members of parliament studied the materials of the Istanbul Convention, talked, discussed, quarreled, and brought it to a vote. That very democratic vote. And by a majority vote, it was decided to withdraw from the convention. Democratically and honestly. But – no. The president of the country, under pressure from the ruling party that lost in the honest vote, informs the elected representatives that they somehow poorly studied the issue and returns the decision for reconsideration. The deputies gather again, study the issue once more, vote again – and again decide to withdraw: 56 votes against 32. So this is not a mistake, not a shaky hand, not "we didn’t think." This is a decision. A democratic decision made through democratic voting. That’s how it should happen "not like in Russia!".

So why then does the Prime Minister accuse dissenting deputies of treason, betrayal, undermining foundations, and threaten sanctions? Why do political and public figures say: "Remember these traitors when you go to the polls next year"? Why is everyone again looking expectantly and demandingly at the president, waiting for immediate action from him – from returning the issue for reconsideration to dissolving the Saeima? That is, seriously, if the president returns the question to the Saeima, and the Saeima votes against withdrawing from the convention, will anyone dare to say: "Well, now everything is correct, everything is democratic, finally"?..

Don’t trust your eyes

Regarding the convention, it is important to understand only one thing: its acceptance/non-acceptance, entry/exit for Latvia has nothing to do with Putin, women, or gays. This is a distraction game, behind which completely different buttons are being pressed.

Did you see the rally against the exit from it? Maybe you were even there? And no one forced you, no one paid you? I believe. And there were thousands, tens of thousands of people on Maidan who came on their own, and no one paid them. But you know what the paradox is? When in June 2014, those who wanted to gather "Maidan 2.0" couldn’t gather even a hundredth of the people as in December-January. And no one paid attention to them. And they achieved nothing. And now I’ll surprise you: internet search engines don’t even remember any "June Maidan" in Kyiv. There was nothing, can you imagine? If I hadn’t been there myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.

So. That unexpected porcini mushroom from the previous paragraph wondered: okay, he says, the people are foolish, but these are politicians speaking. From the tribunes. How do they not explode with their own heads? This is absurd.

Absurd?... Well, yes. Absurd. Just as absurd as lesbians in keffiyehs alternating rallies for the rights of hens to free grazing with rallies for the rights of women and a free Palestine. Like a mask muzzle in a café that you have to wear after eating. Like the ban on fireworks in Riga according to "Moscow time." Like unaccountable financial aid to Ukraine amid a growing snowball of domestic problems.

And no, their heads do not explode. It’s so convenient. This money – those who need money. We raise taxes because of the war, we send pensioners away because of Putin, gays support the convention, against the convention – p....s. That’s all. Accept the first parts, you can still choose in the last one. But not for long.

No time to ponder

Every time you feel like you’re being pulled into some crazy whirlpool, that you’re somehow too engrossed in some issue – it’s worth taking a step back. And look at what’s happening from the side. After all, it’s not that hard to ask yourself a simple question: at what exact moment did it suddenly seem to you that the ratification or withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention is one of the most vital issues in your life?

Listen to those whose position regarding the convention coincides with yours. Listen to the opponents. Ask them what scares them? What do they want? Ask yourself the same questions. Count to ten in the end before you scream out loud "what is this?!"

Let’s accept as a fact: today we do not live either under a raised fist ready to descend on the head of a wife in case of withdrawal from the IC, nor in a puritanical pastoral where same-sex relationships are absent as a phenomenon. Rather, they are hiding in basements, waiting for the IC to come into force. The convention is neither a panacea nor a curse. Undoubtedly, it has positive and negative aspects for a multipolar society. But it is not the key that opens the gates to some new wonderful world.

So why is there such a noise around it? Why has the question that for once managed to consolidate even relatively centrist forces with national-rights suddenly fragmented society into even more parts?

Doesn’t all this seem vaguely familiar to you? "No time to delve, tell me the essence." A boomerang for kilometers of unread user manuals and text at the bottom in small print. A brief TikTok of our lives and rights for those who don’t have time to watch a full-length feature and director’s cut. Everything has already been cut for us, everything has been simplified.

In short, this column is also about Putin, yes. And a little about gays.

Aleksey Stetyukha, journalist, blogger