For refusing the Covid Pass, my family was banished from society for 5 months.
Finally, our country, Lithuania, suspended the Pass...for now.
Here's a look at life under the segregation of the Pass. And why it'll soon be permanent in all Europe unless we ban it now forever.
1/
Finally, our country, Lithuania, suspended the Pass...for now.
Here's a look at life under the segregation of the Pass. And why it'll soon be permanent in all Europe unless we ban it now forever.
1/
LIFE UNDER SEGREGATION:
In September 2021, Lithuania mandated a Covid Pass for all aspects of society.
It's called the “Opportunity Pass".
With it, you're allowed the opportunity to participate in society.
Without it, you have no opportunity: you're banished.
2/
In September 2021, Lithuania mandated a Covid Pass for all aspects of society.
It's called the “Opportunity Pass".
With it, you're allowed the opportunity to participate in society.
Without it, you have no opportunity: you're banished.
2/
With no Pass, my wife and I were banned for 5 months—Sept. to Feb.—from almost all public indoor places.
By law, we may only enter small shops which mainly sell food, pharma, optics, farm/pet goods.
All other stores ban us: tech, bookstores, bathroom supplies... everywhere.
3/
By law, we may only enter small shops which mainly sell food, pharma, optics, farm/pet goods.
All other stores ban us: tech, bookstores, bathroom supplies... everywhere.
3/
All clothes shops must banish us.
So we haven't been able to buy winter clothes for our kids in any shop.
Even second-hand shops ban us: we tried to sell the kids’ outgrown boots,hats,gloves to buy new ones, but we were denied entry. No one may buy or sell without the Pass.
4/
So we haven't been able to buy winter clothes for our kids in any shop.
Even second-hand shops ban us: we tried to sell the kids’ outgrown boots,hats,gloves to buy new ones, but we were denied entry. No one may buy or sell without the Pass.
4/
For food, Lithuania is unique among countries in blocking us from most food shopping.
In Sept., we were banned from all large (>1500m2) food stores.
This was too lax for the government. In Oct., they tightened the rules to force many small food shops to also ban us.
5/
In Sept., we were banned from all large (>1500m2) food stores.
This was too lax for the government. In Oct., they tightened the rules to force many small food shops to also ban us.
5/
The result: there are many food stores near our home, but only one tiny snack+candy shop let us enter. All other shops banned us.
The closest fresh-food shop allowing us entry: 30 minutes away.
Our only other options for food? Online delivery. Or an outdoor street market.
6/
The closest fresh-food shop allowing us entry: 30 minutes away.
Our only other options for food? Online delivery. Or an outdoor street market.
6/
With the stricter rules in October, gas stations also banned us: only 20% of the country's filling stations allowed us entrance without the Covid QR code.
The rest either ban us entirely or prohibit us from entering the station to pay.
7/
The rest either ban us entirely or prohibit us from entering the station to pay.
7/
The rules are arbitrary and have changed many times in the 5 months. Store policies also change.
So, every day we check to see where we're allowed.
A few weeks ago, a gas station and food store in our area changed policy to permit us entry.
We cried tears from relief.
8/
So, every day we check to see where we're allowed.
A few weeks ago, a gas station and food store in our area changed policy to permit us entry.
We cried tears from relief.
8/
With no Covid Pass, my wife and I lost our jobs 5 months ago. Can't get any new job in our fields.
To earn money, we've been selling off our furniture and home items in the outdoor market.
Before the Pass, our combined income was €3000/month. Last month: €450.
9/
To earn money, we've been selling off our furniture and home items in the outdoor market.
Before the Pass, our combined income was €3000/month. Last month: €450.
9/
We had a problem with our bank account.
Can't fix by phone. But with no Pass, we could only enter the bank for "essential services".
Is our issue essential? Bank staff don't know. So we fell into months-long bureaucratic limbo as they decided.
Our account was never fixed.
10/
Can't fix by phone. But with no Pass, we could only enter the bank for "essential services".
Is our issue essential? Bank staff don't know. So we fell into months-long bureaucratic limbo as they decided.
Our account was never fixed.
10/
We were banned from services inside our local government offices.
Want to complain to someone about it in person?
Not possible: we can't speak about our banishment with the government officials who banished us because we're banished from entering their government offices.
11/
Want to complain to someone about it in person?
Not possible: we can't speak about our banishment with the government officials who banished us because we're banished from entering their government offices.
11/
My family used to love the library.
But with no Covid Pass, we were banned for 5 months: can’t enter, can't browse, can’t go to the reading room with our kids. We may only pre-order a book and pick it up from a side door.
People with a Pass may enter and browse as usual.
12/
But with no Covid Pass, we were banned for 5 months: can’t enter, can't browse, can’t go to the reading room with our kids. We may only pre-order a book and pick it up from a side door.
People with a Pass may enter and browse as usual.
12/
In December, we tried to buy Christmas presents for our two young kids.
We went to many shops.
We begged. We pleaded. We cried.
But we were banned everywhere, shut out by the vast veil of the Covid Pass.
Reactions from shop staff reflect what the Pass has done to our society:
We went to many shops.
We begged. We pleaded. We cried.
But we were banned everywhere, shut out by the vast veil of the Covid Pass.
Reactions from shop staff reflect what the Pass has done to our society:
A kindness saved our kids' hopes for their Christmas toy wish-list.
My wife was very visibly pregnant. A man passing by exploded in righteous anger to see a toystore block her: "Give me the money, I'll use my Pass to buy for you. Wait over there so they don't see."
14/
My wife was very visibly pregnant. A man passing by exploded in righteous anger to see a toystore block her: "Give me the money, I'll use my Pass to buy for you. Wait over there so they don't see."
14/
THE END OF THE PASS?
The end of the Pass was sudden.
On 28-Dec, the government was still tightening rules even further. Dissent was stigmatized.
Three weeks later, government leaders had flipped positions entirely.
15/
The end of the Pass was sudden.
On 28-Dec, the government was still tightening rules even further. Dissent was stigmatized.
Three weeks later, government leaders had flipped positions entirely.
15/
Some EU countries have loosened Covid restrictions recently.
Lithuania stands out because:
- The strictest EU country to reverse.
- Complete turnaround. On 4-Feb: bans on all stores, food, banks, filling stations. On 5-Feb: no Pass at all.
- Cases at all-time highs.
16/
Lithuania stands out because:
- The strictest EU country to reverse.
- Complete turnaround. On 4-Feb: bans on all stores, food, banks, filling stations. On 5-Feb: no Pass at all.
- Cases at all-time highs.
16/
NEVER-ENDING:
Leaders immediately declared victory.
The Pass saved us from lockdowns! The Pass gave us freedom!
17/
Leaders immediately declared victory.
The Pass saved us from lockdowns! The Pass gave us freedom!
17/
The Pass wasn't ended. It's just suspended... for now.
By labeling the Covid Pass a success, the politicians—in Lithuania and in all the EU—are laying the foundation for the Pass as a permanent feature of society, to be turned on and off at any time.
This will never end.
18/
By labeling the Covid Pass a success, the politicians—in Lithuania and in all the EU—are laying the foundation for the Pass as a permanent feature of society, to be turned on and off at any time.
This will never end.
18/
Permanently embedded into society! We need it for autumn 2022! Need it until 2024! Need it indefinitely!
Cabinet ministers throughout the EU are explicit that it isn't temporary.
This will never end.
19/
Cabinet ministers throughout the EU are explicit that it isn't temporary.
This will never end.
19/
The Pass is the new normal! The Pass will disappear... well, at least, temporarily!
In just the last week, even as some Covid restrictions are loosened, EU medical leaders are similarly explicit about goals to permanently embed the Pass into society.
This will never end.
20/
In just the last week, even as some Covid restrictions are loosened, EU medical leaders are similarly explicit about goals to permanently embed the Pass into society.
This will never end.
20/
The EU announced plans this month to use the Covid Pass for all travel within Europe until June 2023 "to save freedom of movement."
Restrict our freedom of movement in order to save our freedom of movement?! The Pass for another year and a half?!
This will never end.
21/
Restrict our freedom of movement in order to save our freedom of movement?! The Pass for another year and a half?!
This will never end.
21/
This will never end if we allow politicians to claim success.
This will never end if we ignore the evidence of societal destruction which the Pass has caused.
This will never end if we don't acknowledge what the Pass is at its core: segregation, othering, authoritarianism.
22/
This will never end if we ignore the evidence of societal destruction which the Pass has caused.
This will never end if we don't acknowledge what the Pass is at its core: segregation, othering, authoritarianism.
22/
SEGREGATION & SOCIETAL DESTRUCTION:
The Covid Pass has redefined freedom.
Before, you were free to do whatever you want, unless the law prohibits you.
Under the Covid Pass regime, freedom was inverted: you can't do anything, unless a bureaucrat allows you.
23/
The Covid Pass has redefined freedom.
Before, you were free to do whatever you want, unless the law prohibits you.
Under the Covid Pass regime, freedom was inverted: you can't do anything, unless a bureaucrat allows you.
23/
But just get vaccinated! You'll get your freedom back!
No.
Vaccinated or not, needing government approval for food or clothes isn’t freedom.
A QR code to work isn’t freedom.
Banishment for opposition isn’t freedom.
This is about more than vaccination. This is about freedom.
No.
Vaccinated or not, needing government approval for food or clothes isn’t freedom.
A QR code to work isn’t freedom.
Banishment for opposition isn’t freedom.
This is about more than vaccination. This is about freedom.
When Covid vaccinations were released, official policy was education, dialog, and informed consent.
25/
25/
In summer 2021, dialog and consent were replaced by coercion and punishment.
The new policy became the cookie and whip of the Covid Pass: if you refuse the cookie, then they whip you until you submit.
That is not health.
It is power and control.
It is authoritarianism.
26/
The new policy became the cookie and whip of the Covid Pass: if you refuse the cookie, then they whip you until you submit.
That is not health.
It is power and control.
It is authoritarianism.
26/
Like many cases in history, Covid Pass authoritarianism has fueled—and been fueled by—segregation and hate.
Each historical case is unique. It's wrong to say it's the same.
But what's similar is the underlying psychology unleashed by the Pass: the othering of us-vs.-them.
27/
Each historical case is unique. It's wrong to say it's the same.
But what's similar is the underlying psychology unleashed by the Pass: the othering of us-vs.-them.
27/
Superiority of one group. "Our" way of life threatened by the other group. Exclusion, discrimination.
This is the essence of othering.
It's the essence of the Covid Pass.
Since summer 2021, it's come from every part of our community.
And it has ripped our society apart.
28/
This is the essence of othering.
It's the essence of the Covid Pass.
Since summer 2021, it's come from every part of our community.
And it has ripped our society apart.
28/
Our society's businesses banished us for 5 months.
Enforcement has been strict.
No big company has publicly taken a stand against discrimination. None have been willing to brave the stigmatization, censure, wrath.
29/
Enforcement has been strict.
No big company has publicly taken a stand against discrimination. None have been willing to brave the stigmatization, censure, wrath.
29/
Our police launch surprise raids to inspect the Pass: shopping centers, supermarkets, restaurants, even mothers playing with their kids in children’s centers.
The penalty for Pass violations: arrest, fine, and/or imprisonment of up to 6 years.
30/
The penalty for Pass violations: arrest, fine, and/or imprisonment of up to 6 years.
30/
Science-deniers living immersed in medieval fears! Hard-core anti-vaxxers throwing on their pants and rushing to hospital!
Our medical leaders disparage people opposed to Covid Pass restrictions, with the most strident voices featured prominently in mainstream media.
31/
Our medical leaders disparage people opposed to Covid Pass restrictions, with the most strident voices featured prominently in mainstream media.
31/
Our Church abandoned us.
32/
32/
Our media censors all Covid-19 issues.
33/
33/
Our society has been torn asunder.
No longer do we work together, pray together, eat together, shop together.
Restriction by restriction, the Pass has ripped apart the bonds which held us together in one society.
34/
No longer do we work together, pray together, eat together, shop together.
Restriction by restriction, the Pass has ripped apart the bonds which held us together in one society.
34/
Months of legalized segregation has shredded our society's very concept of equality.
35/
35/
Hate. Othering. Us vs them.
Opinion that was repugnant in 2019 was redefined as a civil norm by our political leaders in 2021.
This is wrong.
36/
Opinion that was repugnant in 2019 was redefined as a civil norm by our political leaders in 2021.
This is wrong.
36/
Principled Covid Pass opposition is caricatured as conspiracy-theorist.
Resistance to segregation: anti-science.
Protest: stigmatized.
Honest debate: dismissed.
Freedom: mocked.
This is wrong.
37/
Resistance to segregation: anti-science.
Protest: stigmatized.
Honest debate: dismissed.
Freedom: mocked.
This is wrong.
37/
Segregation. Blame for disease. Incitement.
Accusations of fascism, insanity, treason, devil-worship.
This is not a history textbook. This has been the reality of life for my family in 2021-22.
Our humanity has been erased.
This is wrong.
So deeply, deeply wrong.
38/
Accusations of fascism, insanity, treason, devil-worship.
This is not a history textbook. This has been the reality of life for my family in 2021-22.
Our humanity has been erased.
This is wrong.
So deeply, deeply wrong.
38/
With the Pass, you offered us the cookie of freedom.
But freedom is not yours to give.
Freedom is our birthright: inalienable, beyond the reach of the tyranny of a mob or of bureaucrats flipping a QR code on and off.
Freedom does not come from a Pass. Freedom is ours already.
But freedom is not yours to give.
Freedom is our birthright: inalienable, beyond the reach of the tyranny of a mob or of bureaucrats flipping a QR code on and off.
Freedom does not come from a Pass. Freedom is ours already.
With the Pass, you lashed us with the whip of banishment.
Banned from shops. No clothes,toys for our kids. Restricted on food,gas. No income.
For 5 months, you whipped us. But we did not submit.
We will never submit to the hate, segregation, authoritarianism of the Pass.
40/
Banned from shops. No clothes,toys for our kids. Restricted on food,gas. No income.
For 5 months, you whipped us. But we did not submit.
We will never submit to the hate, segregation, authoritarianism of the Pass.
40/
Success? Saved our freedoms?
No.
We will not allow bureaucrats to rewrite history to permanently embed the Pass for future waves, future viruses,future behaviors.
Segregation is not equality.
Banishment is not freedom.
Societal destruction is not success.
Never forget.
41/
No.
We will not allow bureaucrats to rewrite history to permanently embed the Pass for future waves, future viruses,future behaviors.
Segregation is not equality.
Banishment is not freedom.
Societal destruction is not success.
Never forget.
41/
With this message,we hope to document the destruction inevitably wrought by the Pass.
We hope to reach the people of good conscience who recognize the wrong but fear to speak out.
And we hope to send forth a tiny ripple of hope to those who struggle with us.
Never submit.
42/
We hope to reach the people of good conscience who recognize the wrong but fear to speak out.
And we hope to send forth a tiny ripple of hope to those who struggle with us.
Never submit.
42/
We will continue to fight until the Pass is banned everywhere, forever.
Because no one should ever again be banished as we have been banished.
No hand should ever again hold this whip.
Not today, not tomorrow. Not in our country, not in any country.
Never again.
end/
Because no one should ever again be banished as we have been banished.
No hand should ever again hold this whip.
Not today, not tomorrow. Not in our country, not in any country.
Never again.
end/
@threadreaderapp unroll
EDIT:
In tweet #18, I mistakenly uploaded the image from #17.
So the image intended for #18 didn't post.
Can't edit tweets; so, in the next message, I re-post #18 with the correct image. It's important—leaders' quotes that the Pass isn't abolished—so I'm kicking myself. Sorry!
In tweet #18, I mistakenly uploaded the image from #17.
So the image intended for #18 didn't post.
Can't edit tweets; so, in the next message, I re-post #18 with the correct image. It's important—leaders' quotes that the Pass isn't abolished—so I'm kicking myself. Sorry!
The Pass wasn't ended. It's just suspended... for now.
By labeling the Covid Pass a success, the politicians—in Lithuania and in all the EU—are laying the foundation for the Pass as a permanent feature of society, to be turned on and off at any time.
This will never end.
18/
By labeling the Covid Pass a success, the politicians—in Lithuania and in all the EU—are laying the foundation for the Pass as a permanent feature of society, to be turned on and off at any time.
This will never end.
18/
POSTSCRIPT:
Many people have emailed to offer help. I'm humbled by the generosity. Thank you, truly. But my wife and I don't want, and will never take, money or donations. And we don't care about credit or recognition.
Our only goal is freedom and equality for all.
ps1/
Many people have emailed to offer help. I'm humbled by the generosity. Thank you, truly. But my wife and I don't want, and will never take, money or donations. And we don't care about credit or recognition.
Our only goal is freedom and equality for all.
ps1/
No one should ever again be banished anywhere as we were banished here.
The Pass is global, so our opposition must be global as well: none of us will be free until the Pass is banned, forever, in all our societies.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
ps2/
The Pass is global, so our opposition must be global as well: none of us will be free until the Pass is banned, forever, in all our societies.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
ps2/
If liberty is to have any meaning, it must be inviolable.
It doesn't matter what liberty we have under law, if bureaucrats can redefine that liberty in any crisis, and then—as is happening with the Pass—claim success in order to justify embedding the changes permanently.
ps3/
It doesn't matter what liberty we have under law, if bureaucrats can redefine that liberty in any crisis, and then—as is happening with the Pass—claim success in order to justify embedding the changes permanently.
ps3/
Freedom seems so abstract.
But when it was ripped from us, we realized how real freedom is: every moment of our life depends on it.
Freedom is fragile, and it must be defended. The struggle never ends: every generation must fight its own fight to earn it and win it.
ps4/
But when it was ripped from us, we realized how real freedom is: every moment of our life depends on it.
Freedom is fragile, and it must be defended. The struggle never ends: every generation must fight its own fight to earn it and win it.
ps4/
This now is our struggle: to ban the Pass.
Bureaucratic inertia is unstoppable: once embedded,the Pass will grow to ban ever more behavior as bureaucrats expand their power.
So I'd be grateful for your help to share this message, so that together, we can stop this madness.
ps5/
Bureaucratic inertia is unstoppable: once embedded,the Pass will grow to ban ever more behavior as bureaucrats expand their power.
So I'd be grateful for your help to share this message, so that together, we can stop this madness.
ps5/
For those asking about life post-banishment:
Our third child was born. Mom, baby: great. Dad: happy he can buy them supplies with no restrictions.
No jobs yet. Can't return to our previous jobs; death wishes against us and all that. But we're getting by. Life finds a way.
ps6/
Our third child was born. Mom, baby: great. Dad: happy he can buy them supplies with no restrictions.
No jobs yet. Can't return to our previous jobs; death wishes against us and all that. But we're getting by. Life finds a way.
ps6/
We have more time now (even with the new baby).
Being banished is hard work: it turns out it's extremely time-consuming to maintain a semblance of normality for the kids while living in modern society,surrounded by modern society, yet banished by modern society.
Who knew.
ps7/
Being banished is hard work: it turns out it's extremely time-consuming to maintain a semblance of normality for the kids while living in modern society,surrounded by modern society, yet banished by modern society.
Who knew.
ps7/
And the first thing we did after the Pass?
We finally took our kids to the library again.
They were so happy that they jumped and bounced as they looked at books.
And us? We were so happy that we tried not to cry - or at least, not too much - as we were reading to them.
ps8/
We finally took our kids to the library again.
They were so happy that they jumped and bounced as they looked at books.
And us? We were so happy that we tried not to cry - or at least, not too much - as we were reading to them.
ps8/
For 5 months, we could only pick up a pre-ordered book thru a side door, while people with the Pass could enter and use the facilities as usual.
Now, we too entered thru the front door.
We too went to the reading room.
And we too read books.
Just like everyone else.
ps-end/
Now, we too entered thru the front door.
We too went to the reading room.
And we too read books.
Just like everyone else.
ps-end/
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