by Sintija Landsmane, University of Latvia
Resilience is one of those concepts that is widely used, but not everyone is immediately able to define, describe, explain, or even fully understand. Resilience can come in many forms. For examaple, a resilient state; a resilient democracy; a resilient tree in the plant world, rooted in the desert sand; or a resilient human being at the crossroads of complex circumstances.
I have long searched for ways to describe resilience myself so that my message could be fully understood. There seems to be no better explanation than a strong comparison with things that are easier to grasp. How can we talk about the resilience of democracy when the explanation of resilience is complex and democracy itself is debatable? I will therefore take my message from the fertile lands of the Baltic states to the Sahara desert and the Atlas Mountains, where the argan trees testify to resilience and are evident.
A resilient democracy is one that can adapt and respond to challenges while preserving its core principles and values.
Let’s start with the most obvious part – the top of the tree. The argan tree has a broad crown; the impressive diameter of the branches can reach up to 70 meters. The top of the tree protects the trunk from the sun and wind, providing refreshing shade for those who need it. In the same way, the visible part of resilience refers to the democratic system’s ability to withstand and recover from external or internal threats such as corruption, political polarisation, or disinformation. A resilient democracy is one that can adapt and respond to challenges while preserving its core principles and values.
The iron trunk of a resilient democracy is democratic principles such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.
The trunk – the argan tree is also known as Ironwood because of its particularly hard wood. For the crown of democracy’s resilient branches to protect society, democracy’s resilient branches must also be anchored in a strong trunk. The iron trunk of a resilient democracy is democratic principles such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.
The Roots – the root system of the argan tree has an amazing capacity to absorb the water necessary for its survival. Root depths can reach up to 35 meters, allowing the tree to survive between 150 and 400 years in harsh climates. The roots are the beginning of everything and the most important. In the early 20th century, when Latvian enthusiasts traveled abroad to prove the existence of the people that had been oppressed for 600 years, hoping for a nation-state, they carried with them folk songs, fairy tales, the Latvian language, and a sense of history. The self-preservation of the people of the Baltic states is based on language, ancient traditions, and rituals, just as the roots of the argan tree have sunk deep into the desert sand to survive the harsh climate.
The fruit of the argan tree is similar to a plum, but has a bitter taste and is not edible. To extract the most valuable product of the tree – argan oil – the fruit is dried and then the dried pulp of the fruit is separated from the argan nut with a stone. The light brown argan nut is then cracked with a stone, without damaging the kernel, which is about the size of 2-3 pumpkin seeds. These kernels, called seeds or almonds, are used to extract precious oil. In this comparison, I would like to point out that the fruit, the bitter part, is the nation-state, which we have gained, then lost, and then regained at the crossroads of the world wars. The fruit also includes human division, populist blows, corruption, disinformation, and security threats. When you take all of these difficulties away, you get the most precious thing – democracy, – for which the public is willing to fight.
During the Singing Revolution in the 1990s, when Baltic societies begain their eventually succesful attempts to gain independence from the Soviet Union, people believed in the concept: “Pastalās, bet brīvi!” (Wearing only folk-style leather shoes, but free). It is important to remember that if you take out all the inedible parts of the argan fruit, there is still a seed inside, from which the most valuable things can be extracted: a resilient democracy, freedom, peace, and unity. So let the argan tree root and let’s continue rooting together!
- This blog is a part of a blog series written by the BAMSE Riga intensive course students. The blog series analyses the concept of resilience from five different viewpoints: democracy in crises, regional responses, social consequences, relevance of history politics and cultural approaches. This blog belongs to the democracy in crises part of the blog series. Read more about the blog series on Bamse News & Events website.