I came across this today and am posting it because of the relevance to many of the recent threads regarding Russification v.2.0, the seemingly fragile democracy of LV, and sports!
His perspective resonates with me and my limited knowledge of all things LV. Seems to me that with Zatlers and the Kalvitis valdiba there was a change in momentum away from the EU and integration with the West which has exposed LV to more influence from the East. The near future appears to be more critical to the well-being of LV than the past ten years, as Lucre in the hand trumps the idea of an independent, democratic Latvija.

Krievija atgriežas pie mums ātrāk, nekā mēs paspējuši atgriezties Eiropā
http://www.diena.lv/lat/politics/blog/artis_pabriks/krievija_atgriezhas_pie_mums_aatraak_nekaa_mees_paspeejushi_atgriezties_eiropaa
Artis Pabriks
Pirmdiena, 14. aprīlis (2008) 12:07

Varbūt šis blogs ir balstīts vairāk uz intuīciju nekā uz analīzi un sausiem faktiem, bet blogu uzdevums jau nav piedāvāt ne akadēmisku, ne arī politiskiem risinājumiem bagātu rakstu krājumu. Manā izpratnē bloga uzdevums ir rosināt domāšanu un diskusiju. Modināt pilsoņus asākai domai un aktīvākai darbībai.

Es domāju, ka pēdējā laikā Latvijā atgriežas Krievijas un līdz ar to bijušās Padomju Savienības informācijas telpa un politiskā ietekme. Tas notiek uz Krievijas gāzes un naftas miljardu mugurām un ar mūsu pašu izpalīgu rokām. Man nekad nav bijušas šaubas, ka, mazai valstij esot blakus lielai, neizbēgama ir lielās ietekme uz mazo. Bet!
Šodienas problēma ir tā, ka Krievija atgriežas pie mums ātrāk nekā mēs esam paspējuši atgriezties Eiropā!  17 neatkarības gadi ir bijušu pietiekami pārejas periodam uz tirgus ekonomiku un demokrātiju, bet tie nav bijuši pietiekami, lai mūsu demokrātiju konsolidētu, izveidojot eiropeisku izglītības sistēmu un eiropeisku labklājības sistēmu. Mēs vēl neesam paspējuši izaudzināt eiropeisku jauno paaudzi, kas spētu aizstāvēt mūsu trauslās demokrātiskās un liberālās vērtības pret Krievijas melnā zeltā iesmērēto tirēnu kārdinājumu. Mūsu sabiedrība un valsts nav šim izaicinājumam vēl gatava.

Kāds Latvijas hokeja vadības līderis kādā nesenā intervijā ļoti skaidri raksturoja daļas mūsu sabiedrības attieksmi apmēram šādi: mani interesē labs hokejs, mani neinteresē, vai aiz tā stāv Putins, Kremlis vai Gazprom. Diemžēl, tas nekad nav tikai hokejs, tikai kultūra vai tikai bizness. Tas, kas notiek, vienmēr ir politika, neatkarīgi no tā vai mēs to gribam vai negribam. Kas attiecās uz hokeju, es kaut kā tīri intuitīvi būtu labāk dzirdējis hokeja funkcionāru atskaiti par to, kā viņi ar sviedriem uz pieres nopūlas ar to, lai gūtu mūsu hokeja komandai iespēju spēlēt kvalitatīvu hokeju Somijā vai Zviedrijā, nevis Krievijā. Un ne jau tāpēc, ka man nepatiktu krievi, bet gan tāpēc, ka tā ir politika. Tie būs krievu valodas formastērpi, Krievijas himna pirms katras spēles harlamova divīzijā un Krievijas politiskā kultūra un valoda mūsu hokeja kultūrā.

Frensis Fukujama pēz PSRS sabrukuma rakstīja, ka mūsdienās militārās kaujas tiek izkarotas sportā. Tā izpaužas mūsdienu patriotisms un nacionālisms. Mēs nosodām to, ka latviešiem vēstures lielākajās kaujās ir bijis jācīnās zem citu valstu karogiem un citu valstu formastērpos. Šodien, 18 gadus pēc barikādēm, mēs atkal esam gatavi uzvilkt citu valstu formastērpu.

Bet manas bloga pārdomas nav tikai par hokeju. Ja mēs tuvāk paanalizējam mūsu mediju vidi vai mūsu pašu izturēšanos, mēs redzam, ka krievu filmas TV ekrānos, krieviski citāti un joki mūsu TV zvaigžnu un politiķu leksikā atgriežas. Atgriežas Krievijas nauda un agri vai vēlu tā prasīs savu daļu Latvijas politikā.

Krievijas politiskā telpa spēj atgriezties tur, kur eiropeiskā telpa ir trausla. Tiešām, uz savu „mazo kultūru” ne vienmēr varam paļauties, bet Eiropas lielo kultūru ”vēl neesam apguvuši. Vilšanās savas valsts pārvaldē un politikā vienlaikus ar vēl nepārņemtajām Eiropas vērtībām rada situāciju, kur PSRS dzīve jau kļuvusi par sentimentu, bet PSRS-2 pievelk ar un nopērk ar naudu.

Es šeit negribu aicināt vairāk nerunāt ar masu saziņas līdzekļiem krievu valodā, kā to dara dažs labs mūsu politiķis, jo domāju, ka tas ir ne tikai muļķīgs populisms, bet pretrunā ar Latvijas likumdošanas garu, kas ir devusi tiesības mūsu mazākumtautībām lietot savu valodu. Tomēr es uzskatu, ka mēs ejam nepareizajā virzienā daudzos integrācijas aspektos. Ja mēs gribam saglabāt savu neatkarību un demokrātiju, mums ir jāpieliek visas pūles, lai kļūtu par eiropeisku valsti ne tikai pēc formas, bet arī pēc satura, un tas attiecas ne tikai uz valsti kopumā, bet uz katru no mums kā indivīdu. Virkne Eiropas politisko analītiķu ir sākuši celt trauksmi par Latviju kā trauslāko posmu šajā reģionā. Es domāju, ka ir pienācis tas laiks, kad mums visiem, bet sevišķi jau mūsu jaunatnei, ir jāizšķiras, vai tā grib Latviju Eiropā vai Krieviju Latvijā. Mums katram ir jāizšķiras, vai mēs esam eiropieši vai atkal svešu formu nēsātāji kārtējā vēstures traģēdijā.

Right on the money! Thank you, Into.

Mr. Pabriks’ reflections clearly show the inability of current Latvian population to preserve a national State.  Without picking the details, may I just look at two points:

1.  “Virkne Eiropas politisko analītiķu ir sākuši celt trauksmi par Latviju kā trauslāko posmu šajā reģionā.”. As soon as we realize what EU really tries to accomplish, we will shed the beggars’ stance and say: “Latvians are Europeans therefore EU has to accept and incorporate Latvian ethnic way of life and interests in EU’s concepts.” Europe is not a trading post of cosmopolitan interests as Bruxelles tries to make us, but union of proud, independent, ethnic directed states with common bonds of history and religions. 

2.  “. . .sevišķi jau mūsu jaunatnei, ir jāizšķiras, vai tā grib Latviju Eiropā vai Krieviju Latvijā.” From my perspective there is only one way to go: Latvija must be first and foremost ethnic Republic of Latvia. An ex-bolshevik Russian and his brood is not a Latvian just because he has citizenship in this Country. His “nationality” still is Russian. This applies also to all other squatters of various ethnicities.

Well?

Mr. L. L.

An ex-bolshevik Russian and his brood is not a Latvian just because he has citizenship in this Country. His “nationality” still is Russian. This applies also to all other squatters of various ethnicities.

Nothing against the ex-bolshevik Latvians though? I disagree with your opinion that LV needs to follow a “third way” of Latvian Nationalism at this point in time. It’s obvious that the country is not strong enough to go it’s own way right now. The value of Latvija to it’s citizens and the value of the citizens to LV must be supported and encouraged to develop a stronger identity between the populace and the individuals and institutions that represent them.
In neither direction lies paradise, but freedom of speech, democratic electoral processes, respect and support of ALL citizens are fundamental values found in the West but not in the East.

It’s a good piece, yes—thanks, Into. But towards the end, to take that last paragraph—what does he offer for substance? The “spirit” of the law? Calling Kalniete’s (et al.) initiative re not talking to the the mass media in Russian “foolish populism”? Excuse me, but he is in his own tupik here—the point was not talking to media based in Latvia in Russian—i.e., the point is speaking Latvian to the ethnic Russian (and/or Russophone) journalists in Latvia. A demonstrative move, sure. But what, then, is Pabriks’ saturs? What in the hell does “European” mean, really? What did it ever mean?

European morning—calling an ambulance for my wife. The dispatcher barely spoke Latvian and hung up on me. The paramedics finally arrived—do you think they spoke Latvian? And what did they do—refuse even painkillers and ask for Ls 5, and then offer to act as a taxi for even more money. And what was the clinic like? You think the doctors here know Latvian? And again—we can talk about the entire system and how f’d up it is. Exceedingly so—we earn decent money, and in the end it is not so terrible… not nearly as terrible as it is for Lettophones with little money in the countryside. But the language issue is part and parcel of this degenerate idiocy.

So the TV very proudly shows the first Latvian vessel to stay in Latvian waters of late. Everyone who is anyone is there to christen it. Ra, ra! And then the interview with the captain of the ship—in? So why is the captain of this great new Lettish ship apparently incapable of speaking in the national language? What is the saturs here? Couldn’t find a captain who can hack it?

The real saturs, then, is that the language does not matter.  Oh I love my doctor ‘cause he is so very good, and X is a great captain and so why should he learn Latvian? These wailings all around—but perhaps it should finally become unacceptable for paramedics, captains, and journalists not to speak the language of most of the people around them?

Vysu lobu,
/P

“Nothing against the ex-bolshevik Latvians though?”

Good question, Into. However it needs some clarifications – definitions, with your leave - before an observation can be made about your one-liner.
a.  What is meant by “Latvians” in context of this question?
b.  In case of these “Latvians”, what is “ex-bolshevik”?
c.  What about bolshevik party members and members of Komsomol that manned barricades and became ruling caste in restructured Latvia?

“democratic electoral processes, respect and support of ALL citizens are fundamental values found in the West”

Thank you for the well-worn slogan.  Without real life examples here is nothing to comment. One question though – what is “West” in this slogan? West of Urals?

Mr. L. L.

P/
Hope all is well with your wife. But the incident illustrates how much this place is āzija, not Europe, and I mean āzija as it was used by some folks during the Atmoda (not Singapore), but a place of darkness, sloth, deception, primitive corruption, tumsonība, white-trashedness. Why stay?

Just a quick note here to you, Peteris, hoping that all is well there with your wife, with you.

Irena

Thanks for your concern, Irēna, Juri,

It’s okay, I hope—an infection from a scratch, antibiotics will deal with it, just the pain is obviously excruciating and the Latvian health care system lowly disgusting.

Juri—Why stay? Well, why do you stay? You’ve been telling us why one must leave for some time now. So leave, and may your gods go with you.

Ubi bene, ibi patria?

Vysu lobu,
/P

Glad to hear the better half is getting better.

/P,
There is a difference between committed “staying” and “continuing to be here” because work and living arrangements must be found elsewhere, and also the right “elsewhere” (Sweden? the US?) has to be determined. So my position is—if and when those elements fall into place, I would probably be out of here (with some regrets—workmates, etc.). But otherwise, the handwriting is on the wall for this place. If you haven’t gotten it together (yeah, yeah, there is much changed from 1991 or even 1998) in 17 or 18 years, you probably won’t in this globalized and fast moving world. And that means spiraling into 20% or more inflation, labor shortages, lousy service, intractable corruption, impossible real estate prices, unchangingly dumb politicians.
Your quote “ubi bene ibi patria” belongs in textbooks on the economics of a globalized world, especially since we are not talking about a positive price for being in one’s “homeland"(i.e. the Swedish American willing to pay the higher tax rate and costlier booze, but being in a generally well run place) but a negative subtraction (you lose on, as in your case, medical care, general societal ambiance—staggering drunks and muttsies in increasing numbers—value for money—“krējuma izstrādājumi” from veggie oil that rise 5 % in price per month...the list could go on).
Sorry, don’t want to revive the Re-emigracija thread.

I certainly agree that a lot of things in Latvia are seriously f’d up, Juri (for those who haven’t read about it in Latvian—see my blog for the latest on strawberry cake). I don’t blame people for leaving—especially not those who see no way to survive, those raising young children, etc. You don’t fall into that category, though—almost no Western Latvian does. Staying or leaving is up to you, obviously, and the reasons behind your decision are doubtless mostly subjective and partly personal, like anybody else’s.

I meant ubi bene, ibi patria as a sort of double-edged sword—of course we can live where we want to. Nowadays that’s true for most Latvians—not a few have voted with their feet, and I ain’t dissing them. The minimum wage in Ireland is perhaps ten times higher. Most people stay here, though—people even immigrate, y’know. You and I are not in the minimum wage bracket, Juri. I have a good life, and I doubt you’re hurting.

And the bene part? Judging from what you write, you’ve lost sight of it entirely. I get gloomy also, but there are a lot of things I love about life in Latvia. You seem to see only mutts—I’m well aware of the mutt factor (and I probably see more of the urla factor than you do, unless you hang in Maskachka), but I also see a lot of exceptionally dignified, truly amazing people—people who kept their dignity through far worse circumstances than these.

I didn’t come here for patriotic purposes—I came here ‘cause I wanted to hear a woman sell a fish in Latvian, essentially (not a vanadze serving lašmaizītes at the folk festival but an honest-to-goodness fishmonger)… having grown up with this country of the mind, able to find my way around Vecrīga from the picture books I sniffed as a child (and the maps Latvians here weren’t allowed to have), I was curious about real people (not that vanadzes weren’t real) using Latvian day to day. It was a different world, and for more than a month I walked around with my mouth open. You repatriated later than I did, but I think you’d visited before—I hadn’t, so the abacuses at the Universālveikals and the cries of “ceļu, doroga, ceļu!” amongst those piled, skinned, unrefrigerated heads of cattle with staring eyes at market were… yes, exotic, even when sordid. We all know poverty can be picturesque, and there’s a certain je ne sais quoi to slumming—this is precisely what Latvians resented about returning trimdinieki; some still resent those attitudes, as can be seen from the recent lengthy letter anent the wildly popular VVF-bashing book.

The sense of the exotic wore off when hard reality set in, to be sure—but I never had to be here. On the other hand, I knew from the start that the sūdi of the West, washing in—and it was mostly the sūdi from the very beginning, from Snickers bars to PET to political correctness—would wreak havoc here. What you had was a nation that had resisted the Soviets because the Soviet was, in essence, repulsive (to most—maybe a third gone that way)—confronted by a consumerism that was and is like the Turkish Delight in Narnia. It’s not sustainable even in the West—you are making comments about “getting it together” “in this globalized and fast moving world” when even the City on the Hill is finally kaput, sorry. Many of my American friends whine about life at least as much as Letts do lately, which is quite an accomplishment.

Bene? Latvians have a cynical attitude towards globalization, because many knew it was a crock to begin with. “Krējuma izstrādājumi,” to be sure—but why and how does real food disappear? You didn’t figure this out back in “the greatest country in the world,” Juri?

Bene? Well—what matters to you? Naturally, health care and transparency and good governance are extremely important—no one here is arguing against that (OK, probably somebody is… we get all kinds). But even on that score—there are a lot of people who haven’t given up, as evidenced by the signatures for changing the Satversme.

If you don’t feel at home—leave, by all means. I am not advocating some hyper-patriotism; quite the opposite. My m-in-l returned here from Germany and never regretted it, despite hard labor in the Far North of Russia. She just wanted to be home.

For me, it’s almost entirely subjective—I did go back to the States in 1998, and it didn’t feel like going home at all. After some months I walked towards the Biedrības nams and for the first time in my life felt that I understood what my parents felt in exile, when I saw the flag and realized that I was walking towards people who could speak this language—who understood this experience (in that case, I felt closer to the recent “migrants” than I did to the trimdinieki, actually). I feel at home here, despite the downside. And I find it beautiful—belle hideusement d’un ulcère à l’anus, probably.

Vysu lobu,
/P

Peteri -

No more Rimbaud for you, Mister!

/P
Interesting, but I had a talk (actually continuing a discussion at a party at a friend’s place around Easter) with a lady who was one of the young writers of the Atmoda time. Now she has a child almost three years old and she works at my workplace (not a direct colleague, but on one of LETA’s numerous projects). She said that the only thing keeping her in Latvia was her elderly mother, who has health problems but not so serious that she cannot help with looking after the child, etc.
At this Easter “tusiņš” of both ex-trimdies and locals, I spoke of and got much agreement that there is a sense of “general pointlessness” about the political and economic processes here.
You are correct that neither you no I are on the edge of beggary. Quite the contrary, though far from state salaries for any number of WTF do they really do for the money jobs, we probably qualify as solidly middle class. But there is no middle class society at large here, one that shares the (generally) liberal, open values of the educated middle class in much of Europe and the US. Those people are gone, nor were there many to begin with.
I was just in the States (Boston and work-related/IT conference in Las Vegas). I could feel comfortable in Boston. even though an old trimdie childhood friend complained. I think the departure of Bush in 2009 will psychologically lift much of the gloom, along with a gradual end to the recession triggered by the subprime thing.
I have a 12 year old son (my two other sons from my first marriage are 21 and almost 23, they have lives of their own in Sweden) and my wife ("Latvian" Latvian) and I are not at all sure we want him to reach adulthood in this country or rather, this society. We want him to be able to attend an American university (he has US citizenship) and then figure out for himself what to do and where to live. Sweden looks like the place to go involving the least practical problems (though even there, there are plenty, like finding work) while keeping some ties to Latvia.
I am trying to track down something I wrote back around 2000 on the idea of “Being Post-Latvian” but can’t find it. Strange. It was a further evolution of a piece I did describing the sharp differences between trimda Latvia and the reality of this place. The idea was that maybe a neo-trimda (cultivating Latvian language and togetherness) as an alternative to remaining here. Maybe it is/was a wacko idea?

Juri,

It strikes me that you are looking for agreement to your general perception of what life in LV is like for some combination of ex-trimdie (weird construct) and the general populace. I am absolutely sure that you will find it and it sounds like you have found it in some. When I consider my little social network I do notice that many people who came here when I did (and some who came later) have left. I also know some people who stay despite it all and love it. Okay, and? 

One of my closest friends was here for a year. He was/is married to a LV woman, speaks nearly perfect Latvian (non-trimdie) and has children now. He left. I could certainly frame it as the general muttsie-ness of the place made it difficult for him to use his very real talents. But, I end up with his belief that, in the end, he made his own mistakes and lost opportunities for a number of reasons, but it is certainly not Latvia’s fault. So, do I generalize that everybody who leaves does so because of their own mistakes? Seems no. My only generalization is that people live curiously networked, similar, dissimilar lives and have the nerves to be individuals.

I have an 11 year old son who I have mentioned. He has problems (dyslexia specifically). It is lots of work, but he does okay. We know that we can do what is needed for him here. It is lots of work, but we also know that our efforts pay off for a society that we both need and needs us. Our choice. We want him to make his own choices too. If he wants American university (right now his choice is RTU) we will find a way.

Sometimes I have really bad Latvia days. But then again I also had lots of really bad Buffalo days.

You will always find people who agree with you. Please don’t cast about trying to get everybody in or outside of Latvia to agree with you. Not everybody does. I certainly don’t. It took a while but I finally came to realize that Latvia would do okay without me. Sorry, but it doesn’t need you either. It certainly would be happy if we stayed and, more importantly, contributed in a constructive way but we could leave and no one would notice. Stay if you want but if you want to leave do not carry away an illusion that your perception (and that of those that agree with you) in any way reflects the feelings of all.

Tom

Tom,
I actually wrote a response Saturday that was zapped by a glitch in my WiFi connection. Certainly everyone’ s reasons for staying or leaving are personal and do not affect the greater scheme of things in Latvia. What I was looking for was to find others who may feel as I do and are looking for/putting together some kind of solution. The idea was to share possible ways of/arguments for/ sequencing of re-emigracija.
I guess there is some impact from working with the dyslexia issue. I don’t know how far it would have gone in Sweden had the King himself not been (mildly?) affected.
On the whole, though, it is a small dent in the otherwise primitive attitudes that Latvians have toward any kind of divergence from “normality” - whether it is dyslexia, physical disability, sexual orientation or different race or ethnicity. Good for you, but I just don’t see enough progress in breaking down provincial, ignorant, hostile thinking—check out the Delfi comments, these are people who can deal with computers and the internet.
If you have read Ed Lucas’ book on The New Cold War, there is a side theme there that perhaps the Baltics and other East European countries (like the gangland bardak Bulgaria) were admitted too soon to the EU and aren’t keeping up the pace of change and development now that the whip of accession processes has been taken away. I am afraid that Latvia wasn’t really mentally (or national mentality-wise) prepared to be part of an open, democratic, rapidly-evolving Europe. Homo postsovieticus can’t deal with much of that.

Juris Kazha et al.,

Journalism is consiered very much a free lance profession.  Your problems are likely self generated, and not the fault of the “muttsies”, nor the condition in which you think Latvia is today.

Visu labu,