All About Latvia

RIGA – It is perhaps one of the very few remaining Soviet holidays in Latvia. September 1 marks the Knowledge Day, the beginning of the Europe’s shortest academic year for more than 200,000 students in Latvia. Instituted in 1984 by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the Knowledge Day withstood the wind of change, Latvia’s drive for independence and its desire to shed Soviet heritage.

Students do little studying on September 1. Celebrations of the start of the academic year – official and otherwise – fill the cold Monday in the Latvian capital. Spiffed up students carry flowers to their teachers. Police and ambulances are out in full force. As a Diena commentator Laila Pakalniņa put it this morning, drunken students compete with the British boozers in the Old Town.

Statistically, 20 per cent of 13- and 14-year-olds use alcohol at least once a week. By the time they reach 17-18, almost half of students use alcohol, according to Pakalniņa comments. Alcohol industry seems to be the least impacted by the economic downturn.

But back to the drunk orgy, or Knowledge Day. In the Soviet days when I went to school, teachers were obligated to present the so-called the lesson of peace. A propaganda material that tells children that the Soviet Union was the bulwark of peace, in spite of the fact that its troops occupied Afghanistan at the time.

Nowadays, September 1 appears to be free of the Soviet propaganda. The concerns for peaceful coexistence gave way to concerns for Baltic brain drain. And worry about low salaries for teachers replaced fight for victory of the communist theory in the world.

And yet, times may change, but some things remain the same. Principals and teachers still get to know their students. Moms and dads still stand proud as their 6- or 7-year-old starts the first grade for the first time. And that is no doubt worth to celebrate. Even with a tad bit of alcohol for grownups.

Photo above taken from diena.lv

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RIGA – I went to listen to the president speak yesterday at the Saeima and I almost fell asleep. If leaders are supposed to be inspirational, Latvia’s President Valdis Zatlers was not. It is best to listen to his speech before you go to bed.

But the speech was good. Zatlers called on members of parliament to heed to call of the electorate (yeah, right!), following the Saturday’s political circus, or to put it the boringly, the Referendum on the Constitutional Amendments. More than 600,000 allegedly apathetic Latvians for a moment set a keg of beer aside and went to the polls to tell the government what they thought of it.

The government told them they were wrong and it knew better.

The zoo-elected president, Zatlers now has another chance to earn some political capital that may even carry him into the second term. The silver-haired doctor has a chance to heal the nation. To fix political crisis in our little kingdom, Zatlers can dissolve the parliament and, I believe, he would keep his job in a national referendum. The question is how long it will take him to make that decision.

The president appeared to give the parliament until Christmas to decide on constitutional amendments drafted by a group of legal experts that do indeed give voters a right to call snap elections but with harsher restrictions so not to destabilize the country.

Stability has been a token of dictatorship though and I find it very interesting that we find ourselves in a similar situation as back in May 1934, on the eve of the Murder of Democracy when Latvia’s Prime Minister Karlis Ulmanis dissolved the parliament and became a de facto dictator. A day before his coup d’etat, the parliament voted in second reading on amendments to allow voters a right to dissolve the assembly. The bill never went to the third reading as the parliament was dissolved under the pretext of re-writing the constitution.

Chances of a benevelent dictator stepping out of the shadows in the modern-day Latvia is unlikely. What is likely, however, is the continual denial of those in power that people just don’t know any better until it is too late. Add a good dose of the economic crisis and you’ve got a good political and economic climate for a revolution.

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RIGA – I’d lost all motivation to write about Latvia. This site – launched a way to stay in touch with my homeland when I was in the US – turned into a testament of Latvian pessimism.

Recent political events make it really difficult – down right impossible – to predict this country’s future. Cynicism of politicians toward those whom they are supposed to serve, lack of strong political leadership on all levels, jeopardize Latvia’s future as a European nation where democratic principles are upheld. I want to believe that this country will eventually manage to pull itself out of the Soviet swamp where it still seemed to have stuck, even after 18 years of independence. But I don’t hold much hope.

Watching history being made in the parliament on Sunday left a bad aftertaste for me. Not for me as a journalist, but as a citizen. The Saeima made three wrong decisions in one day. The competence was punished and the incompetence was rewarded. It was painful to watch how politicians justified why the Latvian Horse Minister Vinets Veldre should keep his job even though he has been obviously incompetent. Or how the ruling coalition tried to make the case to fire the head of the anti-corruption agency Aleksejs Loskutovs, failing to communicate a clear reason for the rush of his firing. It was even more painful to eavesdrop on MPs conversations during lunch talking about Loskutovs and several hundred people, who gathered outside to support him, with such a disdain.

Undoubtedly, the June 29 parliamentary session will enter history books as another sign that this country is at the crossroads. The question stands whether it will mark a day when politicians continue to be unaccountable for their actions, or a day when people start pay close attention and demand their public servants walk the line.

The next test will be the August 2 referendum, when Latvians decide for what they care more – their country or their summer holidays. For holiday-loving Latvians, it’ll be a tough choice to make. The referendum itself to allow people to dissolve the parliament is a scary one. A positive outcome could thwart the country into an era of constant signature-gathering referenda, stalling its progress. However given political elite’s cynicism, one has little choice but to support the measure.

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RIGA – One cannot blame people for being cynical. But one can certainly blame the political elite for its cynicism toward electorate.

During the wild and crazy decade of the 1990s, people turned politicians to make a decent living. Public servants cared little about people, but more about the size of their own wallets, their dachas, and SUVs. The gap between the average man’s income and a man inside the gorgeous parliament building was the size of the Grand Canyon.

That was then. Four years after Latvia joined the European Union – which was barely noticed by the media this year – government officials and members of the parliament are feeling the push to act the way the public wants them to act, in spite of all its cynicism.

First, there’s a move to allow voters to dissolve the parliament. Opponents cry it would create the anarchy in Latvia. Some MPs say that it would mean that 15 per cent of the voters could call in early elections.

In today’s Diena, a law student Ēriks Eglītis writes about his class’ meeting with one of such opponent. A Fatherlander, Mr. Dzintars Rasnačs displayed the top level cynicism in the ability of the Latvian public to think and act independently, especially when it comes to electing their leaders.

If these changes are implemented, Latvia would turn into a banana republic, the MP told the law school class.

“Because we have evil forces that can easily manipulate our country. At any moment, if they don’t like the parliament, they can dissolve it by bribing 15 per cent of voters. Not a single protest happens just because, they’re all purchased,” writes Eglītis about his impressions of the MP’s rhetoric.

It just shows you how far we’ve come in the last 18 years of independence. Everything and everyone can bought is generally the Russian, or even the Soviet way of thinking.

A former International Monetary Fund consultant put it this way:

“The government has to be strong. It has to be a leader and it shouldn’t be afraid to lead a discussion. But I have a suspicion that words “a strong state” in Latvia is still with the Soviet-era note.”

During a recent pro-Tibet demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Rīga, a lone Russian passed by.

“How much did you get paid?” he asked as he quickly drove away.

No one would have thought much about what a single MP thinks, if it weren’t for others.

A former Fatherlander Juris Boldāns returned to parliament last month after spending six months in jail for election fraud during the last parliamentary elections two years ago.

Better yet, he had been receiving his pay while he was in jail. And furthermore, he was allowed to move into his own office in the parliament building.

A mayor of the seaport of Ventspils, Aivars Lembergs, accused in fraudulent activities remained the mayor while spending his time in jail and then under the house arrest in his mansion. He denies all the charges. And yes, he still remains the mayor of the city of Ventspils.

Cynicism of the public can be understood. Most people don’t want to bother with politics, yet it appears to be the job of the public servants to bother with people. No?

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