January 13 - Defenders of Freedom Day in Lithuania

Posted on January 13, 2021

This is an update of my January 13, 2010, post:

Key Points

In March, 1990, Lithuania had declared itself independent from the Soviet Union. But it wasn’t until this day in 1991 that that independence crystallized for many.

Unfortunately, Lithuania’s liberty cost 14 brave people their lives.

During this “Winter War,” the Soviet Union tried to crush—literally crush, with tanks—the newly reborn nation of Lithuania. Armed Soviet troops and tanks mobilized in the capital, Vilnius, and tried to take over the Parliament, the TV tower, radio buildings and the printing house. However, thousands of Lithuanians poured out into the streets and resisted. Without weapons, some were mowed down when soldiers shot into the crowd and when tanks advanced.

I read moving accounts of average, everyday people who never thought of themselves as heroes, sure they were going to die and wishing they had a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones, standing their ground against the tanks…singing songs…advising each other to stand away from the windows of the Parliament building they guarded, to reduce injury if the Soviets fired on the building…and then responding with joy and disbelief when the Soviet tanks turned around.

The small nation of Lithuania thus defended itself against the once-mighty Soviet empire.

This event is sometimes called the Singing Revolution because the crowds of Lithuanians were armed only with courage and songs. It is definitely an example of peaceful protest winning against aggression.

Commemorate the peaceful protesters who lost their lives in Lithuania in 1990 by exploring peaceful ways to resolve minor, everyday conflicts.

Discuss with others ways in which people are able to solve difficulties without resorting to aggression.

Sometimes we get aggressive just in the way we talk to other people, if we interrupt them or pounce on mistakes or argue a lot. Instead of doing those things, adopt a “Tell-Me-More Buffer” so that you don’t respond too quickly, before the other person has even gotten his or her point out.

This is useful when someone has said something that makes you mad. Instead of responding right away, you can say, “Tell me more.” You’ll have a chance to hear more—and maybe understand better—of what that other person is trying to say. You’ll have a cool-down period so that, when you do respond, you can be calm and reasonable. Good idea, huh?

Did you ever notice…
…that resolution is only one letter different from revolution?

Different words have negative or positive connotations (which is the emotional coloration that adds to the actual meaning of a word).

For example, slim sounds more attractive than skinny. You’d want to have an item of clothing that is a good value, but not necessarily one that is cheap. Careful tends to be a compliment; guarded and unadventurous, not so much.

What do you think the connotations of these revolutionary words are? Which are positive, and which are negative? Does it just matter which side you’re on?

1. rebel
2. maverick
3. agitator
4. nonconformist
5. protester
6. traitor
7. revolt
8. uprising
9. riot
10. resistance
11. mutiny
12. insurrection

ANSWERS:

There are no absolute answers! I believe that 1, 3, and 6 seem much more negative than 2, 4, and 5. And certainly 6 sounds the worst of the bunch to me. The most violent of the first 6, it seems to me, is 1.

Numbers 9 and 11 seem quite negative, and I have a pretty negative feeling about 12, too. Both 7 and 8 seem neutral—I can imagine good OR bad revolts and uprisings. Number 10 seems peaceful and probably righteous. The most violent of the last half, I believe, is 7.

Who chooses the words…?

Overall, I think that words used to describe revolution are deliberately chosen to make us feel sympathy for either the rebels or for those rebelled against.

As I sit here updating this 11-years-ago post (from January, 2010), I realize just how important this topic is to recent events happening in the U.S. (January, 2021).

The U.S. has experienced months and months of mostly peaceful protests about state violence against citizens (police brutality and the unfair justice system, both targeting minorities, and most especially targeting black citizens!) – and the police response to these protests has been mixed. In some cities, the police did not escalate, but the “peacekeeping” forces of many cities responded to peaceful citizens with a shocking amount of violence, with pepper spray and militarized clothing and weapons. A few police forces were even guilty of enabling and encouraging armed vigilantes! Of course, all of this was accompanied by a lot of right-wing media dishing out a constant stream of propaganda that painted peaceful protesters as thugs, vandals, and looters – even, strangely, as communists.

This is just a police officer in Miami, Florida, keeping
watch over a peaceful protest. This photo shocked me!

(Unfortunately, with emotions running high and a populace that is already scared because of the global pandemic, there have been a teeny-tiny fractional percentage of Black Lives Matter protesters who acted badly. And there have been some non-protesters who took advantage of the situation to become provocateurs or break laws.)

Okay, so that is the context within which we see the events of January 6, 2021: the sitting president of the United States held a rally, repeated his oft-stated and just-as-oft-debunked lie that the presidential election was stolen from him. Several times during his long, meandering speech, the president encouraged the rally-goers to walk to the Capitol, and once he encouraged them to walk to the Capitol and “fight like Hell”!

The people that went to the Capitol that day included folks with weapons and tear gas and one guy with zip-ties. Someone had rigged a gallows and noose, and loads of people smashed up TV cameras and made a noose out of camera cables. The group overwhelmed Capitol Police, broke windows, illegally entered the building, smeared feces on walls, grabbed a podium, perched a MAGA hat on the bust of Founding Father George Washington, and engaged in rough, riotous behavior such as throwing things. They injured at least 50 police officers and killed one. (Four of the rally-goers died, as well.)

Were they protesters or rebels, patriots or treasonous insurrectionists? Was it a protest or a riot? Was the group a mob? Different people have different labels for this awful event, but there are loads of photos and videos that show many of the pro-Trump “protesters” being violent and destructive – but also show that the protesters were met with a lot less resistance from Capitol Police officers than one would expect or even hope for!