Archive for the ‘Society’ Category

Monumental Battle


2010
02.08

RIGA – In the aftermath of the heavy snowfall that blanketed Latvia last week, the city’s Ušakovs-Šlesers tandem had struggled to cope with tons of white fluffy stuff that fell out of the sky. Cleaning streets whose total length could bridge Riga with Prague is no easy task. But Mr. Bulldozer that task tried to complete the best he could. In the sleeping areas of the city with the population of 900,000, the snow remains not cleared and people had a reason to complain. In the town center, however, complaining about the snow took on a political and inter-ethnic conflict – much like a lot of things do in Latvia ahead of the October elections.

The former flagship newspaper Diena reacted to a complaint from a resident that a monument to the Russian general Barclay de Tolly stood snow-free, while a nearby monument to Oskars Kalpaks was covered in snow – in the words of the woman who complained – “up to his mustache.” While for some, it may that the evil city council, chaired by an ethnic Russian, purposefully ignored the Commander of the 1st Latvian battalion. While no one would deny that it’s a responsibility of the city to clean up monuments, first and foremost should probably come people who are still alive than those who left monuments behind.

Never mind a few non-historic factors about the two monuments. One stands closer to a pedestrian pathway. Another one is a somewhat poorly designed because it stands on a kind of square whose small portion near the main road serves as a sidewalk. One is a vertical statue. Another one is a form of a ship, collecting much snow.

We’re too eager to resort to our old self-preservation habits. We’re too quick to think that Russians are evil that they purposefully neglect Latvians’ monuments. We’re too comfortable thinking that someone somewhere is trying to get us. We rely on history for that irrational fear. We’re so comfortable, in fact, that when someone is not trying to get us, we feel at odds with ourselves, we feel out of our national comfort zone unable to move.

The Empire that Never Was


2009
05.13

globusRIGA – In the heat of the 2007 municipal reform aimed at redrawing lines of local governments, Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis (left) received a gift – the globe of Latvia. Across the two continents, the word “Latvia” spreads from China to Great Britain.

In a way, it represents the Latvian worldview. One could not find a better illustration of a mentality of the imperial wannabes. For centuries, Latvians have been ruled over – by Germans, Russians, Swedes (and not necessarily in that order). Twenty years after it regained independence, the young nation is still struggling to create citizen-friendly elite that is capable of governing wisely. But often it is based on weak national self-esteem which paradoxically transforms into the visions of grandeur.

The pride stands in the way of, for example, considering an option of devaluation as a way to recover from the crisis. The pride stands in the way, as anecdotal evidence suggests, to ask for help in handling matters of importance, like construction of the national library, or preparing the economic recovery. Someone had suggested that Latvia could hire a consultant from outside to teach Latvians to govern themselves. Egos and pride stand in the way of prosperity in this country.

It is surprising that folks in a mostly-unknown country of 2.3 million people – let’s face it, a speck on the world arena – has large egos that could fill the whole of Canada.

Latvians like to tell a story about the New World conquest, the Courland Colonization. Only if Brits would talk about their world domination with an apology, Latvians would talk about it with pride. Perhaps, it’s an attempt to compensate for national complexes and the seeming lack of lengthy history of self-rule. Our neighbors to the south are celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of the crime record that mentions them by name. Latvian history – as in the history of Latvia – starts much later.

Teachers’ Dilemma


2009
04.29

RIGA – This morning I got a call from a friend who works as a teacher. She sounded upset over the news reports that the government plans to slash up to 8,000 teacher jobs in the fall. That’s one-sixth of all the teachers in the country. I tried to calm her down, but at the same time pointed out that it appears the government has no other choice.

“They want riots?” my friend asked. A legitimate question following the teacher protest.

The friend works several jobs, trying to support herself, her daughter and the unemployed son-in-law. The son-in-law used to work in construction. The little jobs he gets now don’t pay well or on time. She tries to make ends meet by offering private lessons, but that means working six days a week with little relief or rest.

Now the government has announced it will cut jobs, following an audit. Diena this morning said that there’s one teacher for every seven students in Latvia. It’s definitely too many in a country where the population has been shrinking. At the same time, little is known about what criteria the government will be using to slash teacher’s jobs. What’s a good teacher – is the question of the day.

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The Muttsiness Award Nominee


2009
03.10

The TV 3 channel on Sunday reported that Bertold Flick, the head of the Latvia’s own airline airBaltic made more than 300,000 lats last year. That’s about $600,000. The two people on the board made more than Ls 10,000 lats a month. It made people upset largely because, well, people get upset over large salaries here in general. But in this case, the company has finished a year with losses and this is an unheard of salary for the head of an airline on the Baltic market. The journalists made a point that since airBaltic is now a state-owned company, its books are supposed to be open to the public. Better yet, Flick is supposed to file a declaration of income with the tax service.

And the kicker came today. The state revenue service has launched an investigation into who leaked the information. I suppose for the state agency the most troublesome part is not that a head of a state company doesn’t want to disclose how much money he made, but that someone made that information public.

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Russia’s Preemptive Strike


2009
03.09

The city fathers decided today to ban any gathering at the Freedom Monument next Monday, citing fears of further conflicts and riots. At the same time, Russia reacted to the March 16 march more than a week before it was slated to take place.

On March 7, Russian media quoted an anonymous Russian foreign ministry source describing the Legionnaire’s Day commemoration as a “Nazi supporters march” and drew parallels between it and Holocaust denial.

He just never learns


2009
03.05

RIGA – You remember this guy? He is back. According to an article in Ventas Balss Dmitrijs Smirnovs said,

The unemployment level will reach 50 percent in the fall. Many people will leave the country to work as servants. They can shoot me for my forecast. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be talking about this. For Latvia to survive at the current management levels, it will need $7 billion to $10 billion every year [...] It all will end in default. Bankruptcy. It will be worse than it was in the 1990s.

Special Penguins


2009
03.04

RIGA – Being unable to impact their government, Latvians turn to humor to relieve their economic tensions.

The cult classic became the interview of the finance minister Atis Slakteris to Bloomberg TV as the small Baltic nation’s economy turned from Europe’s economic hero to below zero.

Asked about what happened to the Latvian economy, Slakteris answered in a heavily-accented English, “Nasing spešal.”

The phrase entered folklore after the most popular political TV program “Nothing Personal” broadcast unedited bits of the interview, showing the 1980 graduate of the Latvian agriculture university making long pauses and searching for right English words.

The interview became a symbol of the political ineptitude that drove more than 10,000 people to the Dome Square in the Latvian capital on January 13. The rally then turned into a cobble-throwing riot around
the finance ministry. A protester held a sign that read, “Nasing Spesal – Penguin Revolution,” a reference to another political faux pas.

In his traditional New Year’s Eve address, Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis likened Latvians to penguins who huddle together to protect their own in the time of severe winter storm.

“In the next two years, Latvian economy will weather such a winter storm and those humane qualities like trust, compassion, empathy and goodness will be as important as ever,” Godmanis said, urging Latvians to “be with the government.”

As a poor choice of words, penguins peacefully proceeded into Latvia’s political vernacular, becoming an unofficial name of a group that seeks responsible governance from public officials.

They use their blog “Nasing Spešal,”named after the finance minister’s phrase to propagate their views.

When the domestic demand dwindles and the economy plummets the sharpest here than in any other EU nation, businesses turn to “nothing special” as a way to lure in customers. Two companies sell T-shirts with an image of Latvia’s finance minister and his quotes.

A restaurant on Dzirnavu iela offers a nothing-special menu in a form of an image of a crumbled paper with blue-inked revisions and amendments to simple entrees.

While Americans watch comedy shows that make fun of politicians, Latvians, having no such outlet, express themselves on a T-shirt.

In an apparent jab at Slakteris, Latvia’s President Valdis Zatlers on January 14 used the ability to speak foreign languages as one criteria for Godmanis to introduce “new faces” in order to restore the public trust.

While the Japanese finance minister was forced to resign over slurred speech during the G8 press conference, Latvians are still waiting for changes in the government that never seem to come soon enough. They resort to humor to help their own helplessness.

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Crisis in the Head


2009
03.04

Me: So how is the business going?
The furniture store salesman: You know. They say, the crisis is in our heads.
Me: You think?
silence
Noticing credit stickers around the cash register Me:You sell a lot of stuff on credit?
The furniture store salesman: No, not any more.

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The mentality problem


2009
03.02

Juris Kaža feels the same as he did back in 2000.

The ignorance, drunken helplessness, sullen passivity and psychological squalor of a substantial part of the population do not exactly brighten the “civil society” side of things, either. Many of those who have made money use TV reruns of “Dallas” as a literal guide for spending it and as a handbook in business ethics. Underneath the facade, Latvia is too often a pretty sordid and sorry sight.

What the governing institutions lack in corruption they often make up for in ineptitude.

Kaža coined a term for such a behavior – “muttsiness” from the American slang, mutt.