The power of touch can be difficult to articulate. Maybe it’s the warmth of another living being, a conduit to intimacy. Perhaps touch is one of the last ways to genuinely connect in a time when sacred moments are too frequently curated for online approbation. We find ourselves reaching for another without a conscious reason, the body’s innate response to express what words can’t.

Perhaps this draw to touch was the catalyst for two million people to join hands across the Baltic States one summer day in 1989. The overarching rationale is evident—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had been occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union for decades, their local cultures brutally suppressed. But the clasp of each individual hand also manifested a hunger, a desperation to connect amidst the USSR’s efforts to erase Baltic kinship. Now known as the “Baltic Way,” the 430-mile chain required a faithful relinquishment to the power of human touch.

Soon after, the three states would declare independence, and the Soviet Union would lower its flag one last time on Christmas Day in 1991. August 23rd has since become a day of remembrance among the Baltic States and the European Union to honor victims of Stalinism and Nazism. In the 36 years since the Baltic Way, the demonstration has transcended to inspire democratic movements across the world, from Catalonia to Hong Kong.

Pictured are the brave men, women, and children who chose to join hands in 1989. The grain may depict a movement isolated to decades past, yet questions concerning democracy and the blurry lines of authoritarian rule continue to permeate mainstream discourse. 2024 witnessed an unprecedented number of political elections globally, but scholars have warned of democracy’s erosion for almost a decade. The 21st century has birthed its own “imitation democracy”—institutions mirror democratic systems, but certain people and communities are ultimately designed to lose.

At risk of a blatant cliché, what is real is now more valuable than ever. Authenticity has been commodified, but the tangible spark of connection remains paramount. In a period that feels like an unremitting backslide, the Baltic Way reminds us that there is worth in holding on—to our values, to our morality, and yes, to each other.

However we got here, we can’t let go.

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Written by Julia King