For many years, Lithuania’s Green Movement has been shapeless and rather voiceless, sticking mostly to the occasional public action by the ecology club Zemyna, and the deeds of the singularly nature-conscious Green activists. Even they have, for many years, been dodging thoughts on a well-defined political movement. To be more precise, the green ideas started viably sprouting back in the late 1980s, when the then-Sajudis activist Vaisvila-led Green movement was gaining popularity among Lithuanians; however, this soon died away, dooming the “green” efforts for decades. With the recent establishment of the Lithuanian Green Sajudis Party, the green agenda, many expect, may finally become purposeful, targeted and bear political weight. The Party’s future may largely lie with its chairman, Juozas Dautartas, a 52-year biologist and chemist by profession (he obtained his degree from Vilnius University in 1983), who is also one of the creators of Lithuania’s Green Movement and chairman of the council of the ecology club Zemyna. Dautartas works as deputy director of the Regional Environment Protection Department at Lithuania’s Ministry of Environment. The Baltic Times sat down with Dautartas for this interview.
Green parties are powerful political powers in Germany and Scandinavia. How do you explain the absence of a Western-like Green party in Lithuania until now?
I blame certain historical circumstances for that. As you probably know, twenty years ago, in the pre-dawn of Sajudis, the green movement was shaping up as a strong public power. I was one of its organizers. First, we founded the Green Movement; then, in 1988, to be exact, we established the ecology club Zemyna, and I was appointed chairman of its Council. I have been primarily involved in environmental protection since then, and for a living, working in different capacities in the Ministry of Environment. To tell the truth, the Green Party was founded in 1990, however, it did not assume any activities, and, as I say imaginatively, has remained throughout the years only in the special registry books. For the last twelve years I have been actively trying to take over the credentials of the party. However, I could not find common ground with its leaders. Therefore, we came up with the idea of establishing another Green Party in Lithuania, adding the word Sajudis.
Obviously, by using this word, you cater to those people who feel nostalgic for Sajudis ideals.
Well, possibly, but it is a nice, historically-charged word that precisely describes our goals, which are to reach out to the grassroots, while having a defined leadership of the party.
Is there not a danger that with the several parties and public movements preaching the same green ideology, you will get lost in the crowd and fade away?
I am not concerned about that. The comatose Green Party does not pose any risk to us. I wonder whether they have at least 1,000 members that are needed to register a party. We managed to gather almost 3,000 people in our party’s founding conference. However, the more green movements, communities and parties there are, the better it is for all of us, as they tackle different tasks. For example, the Baltic Sea Future Forum deals mostly with the issues of the particular area. How does it hinder the activities of our party? It does not. It only helps us. Or, in another example, those small community-based ecological movements against the expansion and operating of the Danish pig farms in our beautiful countryside, until now, used to stand up and voice out their convictions only on certain occasions, like in fighting against the farms. Once the small movements reach their goals, they usually withdraw from the active green movement. I would not even call them participants of the Green movement, as they fight only for practical daily-life reasons. I want to bring more cohesion to these kinds of movements and to try to make them speak in one voice.
How is the Green Sajudis Party going to position itself in the spectrum of the other Lithuanian parties?
Well, speaking of the niche and positioning, I want to say that our tasks match the goals of the Lithuanian state. Hence, our party admonishes all of the impending danger due to the planned nuclear plant constructions near Vilnius, on the Lithuanian and Belarusian border, and in the Kaliningrad region, close to our western border. With those construction plans shaping up we are put in a very precarious plight, threatening our existence.
We are. However, what can the state, and particularly the Green movement, or your party, do in averting the danger?
We can do a lot. The Green parties are a strong force in the European Parliament, taking fourth ranking, according to size there. We started getting in touch with many leading Western Green Parties, and we count on their help in our fight. More than that, we have begun coordinating our joint efforts in averting the nuclear plant building plans by organizing vociferous protest actions.
What kind of action will it be?
So far the actions have not been approved by our party board, so I cannot reveal the details. However, I can just outline that we are planning to organize continuous pickets at the Russian and Belarusian embassies not only in Vilnius, but also in major Western country capitals. In addition, we are going to have this kind of picket at our government too.
Do you sincerely believe it can stop the train gaining speed?
Well, if we do something just locally, it may go nowhere. However, with the coordination of joint efforts of Western European Green Parties, we can go far, as far as seeing continuous protests in Paris, London or Stockholm. By the way, when all the world grieves over the tragedy in Japan, and rediscovers the imminent dangers of nuclear energy, I want to remind everyone that we are about to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion. We want the anniversary to reverberate all over Europe as a reminder of the nuclear energy danger.
However, do you not overestimate such efforts? I bet you know very well that the powerful German Green Party has failed to foil the North Stream project. The gas pipeline is being built on the bed of the Baltic Sea, and the Greens have turned a blind eye to it. Why would they care much about the nuclear plants at our borders?
Are you saying we should quit fighting and put up with the status quo? All efforts aimed at reaching the ultimate goal - making the authorities refuse the plans of building nuclear power plants on our threshold - are worth taking on, as we speak of the existence of our nation. To answer your question regarding our party’s positioning in the political spectrum, I tend to reply this way: when there will be a need, depending on a situation, we will work as right-handers; upon other circumstances, as left-handers. It depends on the issues we are going to deal with. For most, I believe we will take up the political center, trying to position ourselves as a traditional European Green party with its appropriate green agenda.
However, is the Lithuanian public green-conscious? As you maintain yourself, all those sprouts of the green movement were rather sporadic and lacking a more defined ideology. How are you going to attract more of those in the grassroots, but not necessarily green-minded, into your party?
Well, look at the latest surveys in regards to green movements and ecology…
What do they pertain to?
They say a lot. One survey, conducted right after the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion, claims that nearly 60 percent of the respondents, Vilnius University students, are against any nuclear energy. The other survey, asking whether a Green party is necessary in Lithuania, showed that the majority of the interviewed people stand for its creation. Some interesting things emerged [from the survey] – the respondents would frown at just mentioning the word “party,” but they generally would be in favor of the Green Sajudis Party. Obviously, there is a trend for green-ness, and we just need to capitalize on it.
However, referring to the latter survey, following the all-hate-parties’ template, people may be frowning at your party as well in a few years. Was it not smart to expand your own Green Movement as a public movement, and seek the goals within its framework?
I disagree. The party institution has quite another quality. Speaking of ecological awareness and consciousness, sociologists discern four stages of development, starting off with occasional non-targeted ecological efforts on the local level and finishing with targeted and purposeful actions, which is something that a party does. Currently we see a rising need for green policies in Lithuania. In Latvia, for example, the Greens have been holding key positions in the Ministry of Environment for eight years now. The Green Sajudis Party will be very focused and targeted on environmental issues.
Are you saying that Lithuania was lacking the focus and purposefulness in the environmental field until now?
Frankly, the Green movement that led to the party has always been missing that. Though there are adopted long-term programs in the fields of waste management and protection of the state’s protected territories, they often lacked purposefulness, planning and clarity. Some people see our party as a radical party, but that is a big misconception, far from being true.
Well, you give the background for thinking that way. How could the attempt to instigate continuous protests throughout Europe be seen as other than radical!?
Let me tell you clearly – the initiative of the pickets is an exception, of which we are going to employ only with nuclear energy. Otherwise, we are moderate and avoid radicalism by all means. Speaking of the planned nuclear plants, I want to add one important thing. If our government continues to cherish its nuclear energy plans, we will put [the question] to the entire nation, asking it to voice its opinion through a referendum. Our party sees Lithuania as a non-nuclear country. Regrettably, over twenty one years of independence, we have not inched at all towards the direction of using renewable energy, like harnessing wind and solar power, producing bio-energy resources. On the contrary, some other key politicians have been obsessed with a grandeur mania over the years, imagining that a nuclear plant will make us a superpower. I have never received a clear answer why Lithuania does not use, for example, thatch for heating, which is something our ancestors successfully did.
I wonder how much thatch we would need to heat all the residential and industrial premises…
Well, my point is we do not think sufficiently of using renewables, which is an environmental priority of the European Union. To go further, if we had started using more renewable energy resources in Lithuania twenty years ago, we would have been substantively more independent by now. Alas, we still extremely heavily depend on Russian energy resources.
Speaking of the founding conference of your party, the launch of it got off to a nasty start, when a bunch of the Green movement’s young activists, united in the Progressive Coalition, were refused by the seniors to introduce and put for vote their statute. Are you not concerned the youth will hinder your further efforts as the party’s leader?
I am not. Over 2,000 party members voted for me at the founding conference, against a couple of hundred for their representative. It shows the actual support I have received. I wonder why they raised the issue of the alternative vote, as, during the one-and-a-half years since the initiative group of the party was in effect, they have never shown any exuberance and have never come up with any initiative; let us leave alone the statute.
How many members does the Lithuanian Green Sajudis Party unite? How many divisions do you have in regions?
We have been through a real explosion, seeing divisions being founded all over the country. To tell the truth, the process is still quite massive, maybe sometimes still lacking organization, as it follows the Japan tragedy. There were 2,500 party members at the founding conference, which is two-and-a-half times more than needed to register a party in Lithuania. I reckon the number is well beyond it by now.
What do you believe to be a good achievement for your party in Seimas elections next year?
We eye surpassing the five percent barrier, that would allow us winning parliament seats according to party lists. I am sure we will succeed in achieving that. I have no doubt you will vote for our party as well.
Oh, I am not sure about that at all! I do not know anyone in your party. I will not bite the bait even it says it is green.
Our electorate is very wide, as we stand for ecology and a healthy lifestyle. Who would not like that? Our party is not about showmen that we see in the Seimas – we are a bunch of serious-minded people, declaring universal and eternal values.
Well, obviously, it is not enough to preach that to win any election. For the most part, as you know, other things come first, like financial support. Do you know what business entities you can count on when seeking money?
In that sense, we are in a very advantageous position, as after the closing down of the reactors of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plan, many ventures, using renewable energy sources, pop up. They are the ones to extend their hand when we will need it.
Good luck with your green endeavors.
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