On his Victory Day speech, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves called us to speak about our fears – but peacefully. To be able to do that, we ought to take time out to review the principles allowing us to do that.
To begin with, it would be solidarity and that in two ways. Firstly – as also underlined by the President – our help is needed by the very states who are currently busy helping protect us. Secondly, the xenophobic and extreme movements in nations left alone with the refugee-flood are eating away at European unity, and its outcome may not be what we desire.
The second important aspect comes down to the facts, both terminological and numerical. As revealed by a survey released a year ago, we are not able to differentiate between «immigrants», «asylum seekers», «refugees» and «fugitives». As shown by moods in this past month, the upset is based on faulty numerical assumptions on possible refugees. To say nothing about the mistaken notion that the money to support the refugees would come on account of our children or people worse off.
The third aspect concerns making a difference between Estonians options and our message. True, options need to be prudently assessed. Which will not mean that we fail to communicate the message of solidarity.