I would never have believed that a single Facebook post could lead to threats and attempts at silencing me by the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit) – an organization of which I have been a member since 2002. All the more so because in my original post I did not address the Defence League as an institution at all.
Nevertheless, the first letter arrived just three hours after the Facebook post. It claimed that my post was “anti-state” and that I was pictured wearing a military uniform. The letter had no named sender; it was issued generally on behalf of the local unit. I chose not to respond, hoping this was merely a mistake made in a moment of confusion on their part. My surprise was considerable when, five days later, a second letter arrived – this time from the acting commander of the district – at a moment when the post and image had already fulfilled their societal purpose, having reached hundreds of thousands of people through Facebook, alternative media, and coverage by Viru Media.
If I believed that the threats of expulsion from the Defence League were merely the result of leadership incompetence, I could simply dismiss the matter. But since there is clearly the stench of collaborationism in the air, I decided that the public must hear about it.
To understand the present situation, one must look back to the 1939 Bases Treaty, the actions of the collaborators of that era, and President Päts’ 1940 decision to dissolve the Defence League entirely. That decision was not made overnight; it was the result of massive influence operations – exactly the kind of thing the liberal regime in today’s re-independent Estonia is once again carrying out.
What followed in 1940 were deportations, prison camps, and executions. Members of the Defence League and their families found themselves in Siberia, in prisons, or facing firing squads. This is precisely why armed resistance to the occupation did not take place: the defeat came from within, at the hands of an internal enemy.
When the Defence League was re-established on February 17, 1990, under the leadership of Kalle Eller, it was assumed that the events of 1940 would never be repeated. Yet the organization is once again stepping into the same trap – whether knowingly or out of sheer stupidity. Collaborators are hijacking the institution, and through it, serving not the people or the nation, but foreign political interests. Then it was the USSR; today it is the European Union.
The plans of neo-Marxists and Soros-fascists may be different today – they no longer have Siberia at their disposal – but their methods are familiar. The present state submits to EU diktats and keeps the Defence League on a short leash through the Ministry of Defence. Popular self-defense has been subordinated to an usurping system. Anyone within the organization who dares to oppose this system is repressed.
Membership has become an obstacle in the struggle against the internal enemy. This is the result of the complete nationalization of the Defence League. In my assessment, it is a screaming fact that in its current form the Defence League no longer serves the interests of the people for whom it was originally created.
Stupidity or a Political Commission?
Is the Defence League’s behavior sheer stupidity, or a collaborative political commission from above? In any case, it is extremely telling.
The Defence League needs a communications director – urgently.
Does the organization even strategically understand what it is doing, or are orders simply being followed blindly? Who the hell is your communications director? You attempt to silence and impose ad hoc conditions on a person who is an international alternative media figure and whose Facebook posts have reached hundreds of thousands of people. You threaten him with expulsion from the organization within 24 hours, hoping he will not respond and will simply comply with your demands.
Heaven help us.
And what would have happened if I were no longer a member of the Defence League? What would you have done then? This incident is a glaring example of incompetence, where an organization, out of sheer stupidity, shoots itself in the foot.
The Defence League is a voluntary military organization. In a state of national crisis, it may happen – and it does happen – that members make anti-government political statements while in uniform. Sometimes this is the only correct way to call the state to order when the state no longer serves its own people.
In such cases, one does not threaten or repress. One listens.
In the letters, it was claimed that my political views were of no interest to the Defence League and that the issue was merely a violation of uniform regulations (it is forbidden to appear or speak in the Defence Forces field uniform while making statements against the Government of the Republic of Estonia). Yet by attempting to silence me, the Defence League itself entered politics.
For me, the uniform is not merely a costume for playing war games. The uniform is the final garment worn by a person who assumes responsibility for their country, their people, and themselves.
As a voluntary member of the Defence League, I participated in a virtual offensive against Soros-fascists and neo-Marxists who have hijacked our country today – just as the communists did in 1940.
And the question remains: what would the state’s repression have looked like if I were not a member of the Defence League and had still appeared with that image?
The answer to that question no longer concerns only me. It concerns the entire Defence League, the Estonian state, and the people’s right to self-defense.
P.S. I changed the image in the Facebook post and now await the collaborators’ next moves.
Mario Maripuu
Founding member of Rõdali parish, a man from Läänemaa
