All About Latvia

Tomorrow, Latvia’s 100-member parliament will debate whether to put a temporary nail into the coffin of the border dispute between Russia and Latvia. The MPs will debate whether they should authorize the Aigars Kalvitis government to sign the border treaty with Russia.

It’s an important discussion not only for Latvia, but also for the Eastern border of the European Union. In fact, Latvian State Television decided to preempt its regularly scheduled programming to broadcast the debate live. Latvian National Radio will broadcast the Saeima session as it normally does.

We plan to liveblog the debate in the Saeima, which will begin at 0930 EET (0730 GMT, 2:30 a.m. EST) Thursday and we’d like you to join in the discussion be it through Skype or by filling out the contact form.

If you happen to be in Tallinn, Estonia this weekend, Scott over at Baltic Blog invites you to a Super Bowl party Sunday, er, I mean, Monday morning at 1:30 a.m. EET.

Oh, and GO BEARS!

Perhaps the most recognizable band outside of Latvia, Prata Vetra* (Brainstorm) came into existence in 1989. The history could use some editing though.

*– (for some reason, Textpattern turns some Latvian letters, such as ?, for example, into questions marks. If anyone knows how to fix it, please contact me.)

From Longmont Daily Times-Call:

bq. “if everything goes OK over the next 12 days, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Karlis Skrastins will enter the NHL record books.
Skrastins played in his 482nd consecutive game in Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Detroit. He is four games shy of tying Tim Horton for most consecutive games played by a defenseman, a mark he will reach Feb. 6 against Florida.
Two days later, at home against Atlanta, he can sit atop the list.
“It’s going to be a special game,” Skrastins said. “It’s going to stay with me all my life. In the future, it’s going to be a big deal for me.”

As a form of -propaganda- public education…

And yet, another reason to say that Latvia is located in Eastern Europe, and not really Central, as one reader suggested. Although the Berlin Wall may have entered the annals of history, people remained. The EU Business reported last week on results of a survey relating to privacy and discrimination issues.

A European Commission report suggests that most EU citizens are prepared to share sensitive personal information on their religion or ethnic origin in order to battle discrimination.

The interesting part is this:

A total of 85 percent of Swedish respondents, 83 percent of Dutch and 80 percent of French considered race discrimination to be rampant whereas only 33 percent of Poles, 29 percent of Latvians and 23 percent of Lithuanians agreed.

You can’t tell me that former Eastern Europeans and present Western Europeans have the same priorities and similar line of thought.

It comes as no surprise that Russian media didn’t report anything on the anniversary of the 1991 barricades.

Instead, it was the Victory Monument controversy, and news about non-citizens being allowed to travel within most of the European Union.

The Baltic Times reports:

“The controversy surrounding Estonia’s Bronze Soldier monument has spilled over to Latvia, where hardline nationalists and World War II veterans have called for the removal of Soviet monuments in Riga.

Citing Estonia’s recent law change that paves the way for the removal of the Bronze Soldier, Latvia’s National Front and an alliance of Latvian WWII veterans have called on Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis to consider a similar move.

The leaders of the two nationalist organizations, Ojars Stefans and Aivars Garda, have sent the prime minister an open letter urging him to prevent “any provocations that might discredit the Latvian state” and to solve the issues concerning the removal of the Victory Monument in Riga, including working out a bill providing for dismantling and removing monuments glorifying the Soviet occupation forces.”

The demand to demolish the monument is not news. A few years back, the same uber-nationalists unsuccessfully demanded the government demolish the monument for “Soviet troops, who liberated Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascists,” which is its official name. Now though they have a reason: Estonia’s doing it.

Constructed in 1985, the 79-meter monument itself every May 9 serves as a place for World War II veterans who fought along side Soviet troops and their supporters to come together for a small meeting drenched in nostalgic red banners. As a sign of times, the monument, its plaza and neighboring park are rarely taken care of well.

“The obelisk is five-pronged, each one of which surmounted by a pentagonal star,” writes Max Matthews, “symbolizing five years of Soviet fighting in World War II. The rays of the star form a spiral, symbolizing the inevitability of victory. On either side of the gray and pink granite obelisk are two groups of sculptures, symbolizing ‘Motherland’ and ‘War-liberators’.”

Uzvaras Bulvaris (Victory Boulevard), on one side of the monument and Uzvaras Parks (Victory Park) compliment the whole Victory complex. You’d think by now the government would have renamed the park and the street to something historic as it did with Lenin Street and Karl Marx Street in the City Center. Alas, the government has no choice really because the name of the street and the park are indeed historic and they do indeed have to do with Russia.

In 1909, to commemorate 200th anniversary of the Riga’s inclusion into the Czarist Russia, the city fathers ordered the construction of the park, which wasn’t completed until 1915. As a part of the complex, the city built a stadium (still existing), walkways and lime-tree alley along the boulevard. Following the World War I, the park was named “Victory Park.” In 1930s,the Great Leader Karlis Ulmanis planned for a complex that was supposed to supersede the Berlin Olympic Complex.

It’s understandable why nationalists want to remove the monument. What followed WWII were 45 years of Soviet occupation, deportations, and deaths. But the wind of change that took down the Soviet Empire and all its memorabilia has died down. It’s time to move on.

A reader writes:

Regarding your tag line “Not Your Usual Eastern European Country”.

Why refer to Latvia as an Eastern European country? It is not. It is more likely Northern or Central European. Eastern was arbitrarily assigned to countries subjugated by the Soviet Union, and nothing to do with actual geographical, cultural or even linguistic parameters. Take a ruler and draw a straight line from east to west, and again from north to south, just including Europe, and see where Latvia is situated. I’m tired of being lumped in with, and referred to, as Eastern European.

I suppose one can make a case that Latvia is a northern European country, but because of the recent history, countries that were once subjugated by the Soviet Union are often refer ed to as Eastern European countries. Poland, for example, may be considered a Central European country, especially considering that the European continent ends some place near the Ural mountains in Russia, yet I’ve seen it refer ed to as Eastern European, especially now that it, much like Latvia, is located on the eastern side of the European Union.

Also, I think because of the shared history with other countries that suffered under the Soviets, it is fair to compare them to each other. So, if I were to say “Not your usual northern European country,” I’d be comparing Latvia to Scandinavian countries, which is not a fair comparison. In my tag line, I’m comparing Latvia to other former Soviet sat elites by saying it’s different than the rest. So you will be lump with those countries not because of the geographic location per se, but because of the shared history.

So this is why I used the phrase Eastern European, rather than Northern European.