Silence in the face of hatred is complicity.
That is why this open letter was written and addressed to Arcade Fire and the producers of “Heated Rivalry.”
It is a response to a vile and hateful post published on X by Canadian musician Dan Boeckner, an online far-left influencer and musician who in the past, has also shared statements and content that many Estonians, Ukrainians, Balts, and other Central and Eastern European communities would recognize as echoing Kremlin aligned narratives.
It must be called out.
That responsibility is even greater because Boeckner is not an obscure voice. He is a member of Arcade Fire, one of Canada’s most internationally recognized bands. Arcade Fire has sold millions of records, topped charts around the world, and earned a place on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest artists of all time. That kind of reach brings influence; and influence brings responsibility. Boeckner’s music has also been featured on the soundtrack of a Canadian produced hit television show, “Heated Rivalry”.
Which is why the silence around this matters.
Arcade Fire has otherwise expressed support for Ukraine. But support for Ukraine is meaningless when contrasted against the band’s indifference to hateful rhetoric targeting Estonians and other peoples who have lived under Soviet Russian occupation, endured deportations, violent colonization, and the systematic destruction of national culture and identity. A band of this stature cannot credibly claim solidarity with one community threatened by Russian imperialism while ignoring hatred directed at another.
For Estonians in Canada and abroad, this is not simply about a single hateful post. It is about something far larger. It is about defending our national dignity, our history, and our right to exist free from intimidation, incitement, and erasure of our experience as Estonians living in Canada, The United States, Sweden, Australia or in Tallinn. We know from bitter experience that hatred left unanswered does not dissipate. It spreads. It normalizes contempt. It invites more of the same.
That is why nearly 300 people have already signed this letter in just a few days. They understand that this is not only about Estonians. It is also about standing with our Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish brothers and sisters, communities that have likewise been maligned, threatened, and targeted by narratives rooted in ignorance, malice, and far too often, Kremlin style imperial thinking.
Our community did not preserve its language, culture, and identity through exile, occupation, and intimidation by looking away. We endured by standing together. By speaking clearly. By refusing to be silenced.
We must do the same now. Together.
I urge all Estonians around the world, and our friends to stand with us, defend our community’s dignity, and sign this letter:
https://forms.gle/UhBKKs5MzxaG5AB38
•••
Open Letter Condemning Hateful Attack on Estonians & Kaja Kallas
“Please consider signing this open letter from members of the Estonian community and our friends in Canada and the Association of Estonian Canadians about this offensive and hateful anti-Estonian tweet: https://archive.is/8OkVs
To the Producers of Heated Rivalry, Wolf Parade, Dan Boeckner, and Arcade Fire
We write as members of the Estonian community in Canada to express our outrage over a tweet attributed to Dan Boeckner that described Estonians as “beef and onion slop eating Hungarians who polished the cocks of German horses for 1000 years before being elevated to sapience by the USSR.”
This statement is vile, dehumanizing ethnic abuse. It is not satire. It is not wit. It is hate dressed up as provocation.
What makes it even more offensive is that, as posted, it was directed at Kaja Kallas, Estonia’s former prime minister and now one of Europe’s most senior foreign policy leaders, serving as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.
When a female leader is targeted through degrading ethnic and national abuse, the message extends beyond her. It communicates contempt not only for Estonia, but for Estonian women in public life.
To suggest that Estonians were somehow “elevated” by the Soviet Union is an insult to a nation that endured Soviet Russian occupation, terror, deportations, censorship, and the destruction of its independence. That is not only false. It is cruel.
The statement is also historically grotesque. To suggest that Estonians were somehow “elevated” by the Soviet Union is an insult to a nation that endured Soviet Russian occupation, terror, deportations, censorship, and the destruction of its independence. That is not only false. It is cruel.
Kaja Kallas has become one of the clearest democratic voices in Europe against imperial aggression and authoritarianism.
Because Heated Rivalry used Wolf Parade’s music, and because Dan Boeckner is publicly associated with Wolf Parade and as a touring musician with Arcade Fire, silence from those who benefit from that profile risks being read as indifference.
We therefore call on:
1. Dan Boeckner to issue a full and unequivocal public apology to Estonians and to Kaja Kallas.
2. Wolf Parade to publicly disavow this statement and make clear that ethnic degradation, misogynistic abuse, and historical falsification have no place in Canadian cultural life.
3. Arcade Fire to clarify whether it condemns these remarks and whether the band tolerates a band member engaging in this kind of ethnic degradation, misogynistic abuse, and historical falsification without consequence.
4. The producers of Heated Rivalry to state clearly whether they are comfortable continuing to elevate a public figure who has used language that dehumanizes an entire nation while targeting one of Europe’s most prominent female democratic leaders.
Canada’s cultural institutions should not normalize this kind of hatred when directed at Estonians, or at any other people. Had similar language been used against another ethnic community or against another female public leader, there would be immediate and justified condemnation. Estonians deserve no less.
We expect better from Canadian artists, Canadian productions, and those who benefit from public trust and public platforms.
Silence is not neutrality. Silence is complicity.
Signed,
Members of the Estonian Community in Canada and Around the World”
