ALA stipendijas latviešu studentiem

Andra Zommers | 

Amerikas latviešu apvienība (ALA) 2012./2013. studiju gadā piešķīra $16,500 studentiem dažādās ASV universitātēs.

ALAs gādībā ir vairāki stipendiju fondi, kas domāti atbalstam latviešu studentiem dažādos studiju laukos. Aicinām studentus, kas aktīvi piedalās latviešu sabiedrībā, pieteikties stipendijām nākošajam gadam.

Stipendiju fondi radušies iz latviešu labestības un gribas atbalstīt jaunus cilvēkus. Gadu gājumā Izglītības nozares gādībā nonākuši 14 fondi. Daži no tiem ir testamentāri novēlējumi, citi radušies par godu kādam tuviniekam vai, atceroties draugus un radus. Visi fondi ir dāvināti, lai tos izmantotu, atrodot atbilstošus kandidātus stipendijām.

ALAs Stipendiju fonds gaida pieteikumus no latviešu studentiem ASV. Vairāki stipendiju fondi atbalsta jebkkuŗu studiju lauku. Citi domāti specifiskām nozarēm. Studentiem, kas mācās paidagoģijas, teoloģijas, bioloģijas vai lingvistikas fakultātēs, ir nozīmētas naudas summas. Ir stipendiju fonds, paredzēts veterinārās medicīnas studijām. Un vēl – stipendiju fonds, paredzēts studentiem, kas mācās jūras zveju, latviešu vēsturi vai latviešu kultūru. Ir viens stipendiju fonds, nozīmēts kādam studentam/ei Latvijā, kas mācās lauksaimniecību, medicīnu, technoloģiju vai teoloģiju. 

Jāpiemin arī, ka pagājušajā gadā ALA atbalstīja Gaŗezera vasaras vidusskolas skolēnus ar stipendijam $10,000 vērtībā. Šovasar ALA paredz piešķirt stipendijas GVV un Kursas skolēniem un vēl atbalstīt bērnu nometnes un 3×3. Katru gadu ALA atbalsta arī skolēnus, kas piesakās „Sveika, Latvija!” ceļojumiem jūnijā un augustā.

Studentu stipendijām ir savi noteikumi. Studenti ir kvalificēti saņemt ALAs stipendiju, ja tie beiguši viena pilna akadēmiskā gada studijas universitātes vai koledžas līmenī un turpinās savas mācības kādā ASV universitātē vai koledžā bakalaura vai maģistra grāda iegūšanai. Studenti drīkst saņemt stipendiju ne vairāk kā trīs gadus. Studentiem no Latvijas jāparaksta solījums atgriezties Latvijā pēc studiju pabeigšanas, citādi piešķirtā stipendija jāatmaksā ALAi sešu mēnešu laikā.

Stipendiju pieprasījuma veidlapas atrodamas ALAs mājas lapā: www.alausa.org, Izglītības nozares daļā.  Kandidātiem līdz 1. jūnijam pilnībā jaiesūta ALAs birojam: stipendijas pieteikuma lapa, divas atsauksmes vēstules no skolotāja vai darba devēja, kas liecina par studenta centību, un atzīmes (“transcript”) no augstskolas. Atgādinām, ka katra kandidāta atbildība ir gādāt, lai atsauksmju vēstuļu rakstītāji nogādā vajadzīgo ziņu līdz termiņa datumam. Pieņemsim tikai pilnībā iesniegtos pieteikumus!

Amerikas latviešu apvienības (ALAs) Stipendiju fonda noteikumi paredz stipendiju lūgumus izskatīt un uz tiem atbildēt reizi gadā, jūnijā.  Piešķirtās stipendijas izmaksā rudenī, kad saņemta stipendiāta skolas adrese un apliecinājums par studiju uzsākšanu.

Papildus stipendijām ALA piedāvā atbalstu prakses darbam Latvijas Okupācijas mūzejā (LOM). LOM meklē divus praktikantus, kas pavadītu 8 nedēļas jūlija un augusta mēnešos Rīgā. LOM piedāvā iespēju praktikantiem pavadīt astoņas nedēļas, mācoties par LOM un palīdzot mūzeja darbā. ALA no saviem līdzekļiem izmaksā praktikantam $2500 pabalstu tam laika periodam, kamēr students uzturas Latvijā. Ieinteresētiem studentiem jāizpilda pieteikšanās lapas, kas atrodamas: http://www.alausa.org, Izglītības nozares lapā līdz 15. martam. Pieteikšanās lapas un informācija atrodami arī ALJAs mājas lapā:
http://www.alja.org. Termiņš ir jāievēro, lai praktikants būtu gatavs stāties darbā jau jūlija mēnesī.

Ja ir kādi jautājumi, lūdzu sūtiet tos e-pastā Andrai Zommerei, ALAs Stipendiju komisijas vadītājai: azommers@sbcglobal.net

The ‘scandal’ of a Latvian minister in Australia

Uldis Ozoliņš | 

It is rare for Australia to be mentioned in Latvian political despatches: as in most of the world, news from Australia usually only covers bushfires, floods, sharks or crocodiles.

Yet over this Christmas-New Year period, considerable political passion was spent on Latvia’s Minister for Culture, Žanete Jaunzeme-Grende’s visit to Australia. She was in Adelaide to attend the biennial Latvian Cultural Festival and other cultural events and was accompanied by her husband, spending 10 days in the country. Yet the political storm this created reveals a still nasty underside to Latvian politics and more generally social attitudes there.

Why was she there? Why had she chosen to go to Australia in their summer? With her husband – who paid for his ticket? How much was her airfare? Who knew or did not know about her trip? She changed from one hotel to another, closer to the beach! How much did the overtaxed Latvian taxpayer have to fork out for her junket?

Jaunzeme-Grende is from the National Alliance political grouping, and was made Minister for Culture when in coalition negotiations the Alliance was given this portfolio. She is not a professional politician, and has in fact an unusual background for this Ministry – such a position is very prominent and important in Latvia, and has usually been held by people closely associated with the cultural field. Jaunzeme-Grende has a business background, run her own successful risk management firm, and has headed several business organisations.

People in the culture industry in Latvia thus generally do not see her as one of “us”, but she has her own articulate view of cultural priorities: she sees that Latvia produces excellent cultural products, but these need to be publicised, sold and marketed to the world; yet given the long-standing fiscal crisis in Latvia and its slow recovery, resources for culture and the arts had diminished. Latvia has significant cultural events coming up – the notable Song and Dance Festival in July this year, and Riga will be one of Europe’s cultural capitals next year; the much fought-over National Library will also be completed then. And as the economy recovers, these cultural items are important for the Latvian economy and for its profile and brand.

As can be imagined, Jaunzeme-Grende may have people who do not wish her well from within the cultural community, and indeed they were notable in their lack of support for her when trouble brewed. Her visit, which had not received any attention before it happened, was picked up by journalists and the active political scandal sheet http://www.pietiek.com

For some reason President Andris Bērziņš, who has little connection with the Minister’s day-to-day affairs, stepped into this, stating he could not understand the reason for the Minister’s trip to Australia, it did not appear useful and did not see it as an effective way of keeping in contact with Latvians overseas. Indeed, he pointed to his own more effective way: in the previous year he had met, in Latvia, with a number of the Honorary Consuls of Latvia in Australia (several states in Australia have such positions) and felt from that meeting he had all the understanding he needed of Latvians in Australia and their situation. Now, Bērziņš has a terrible record in relation to the Latvian diaspora: he is best known there for his comment that the next Director of Latvia’s security service, currently the ex-British Latvian Jānis Kažociņš who is not seeking renomination, should be a “Latvian from Latvia”. His comments were widely criticised and interpreted as wanting a more political ‘insider’ and less independent candidate for the job. His address to the diaspora on Latvian National Day on November 18 was almost incoherent, stodgy, totally uninspiring; it is not clear whether this was poor rehearsal, or indicates growing personal feebleness.

Yet the President’s effort did not end there. The Mebourne-based Latvian online newspaper http://www.laikraksts.com contacted the President’s office to ask if his comments meant that he would never himself envisage travelling to Australia as President to meet Latvians there? They received a classic back-flip – No, of course the President would be pleased to visit if circumstances permitted, it was important to keep up relations with the diaspora etc. We have problems with our President.

An equally poorly-briefed Prime Minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, looked serious in his doorstop interview, commenting darkly that this was the first time any ministerial visit during his government had raised concern, and said he would investigate the matter. Now, either of these two leaders could have easily stopped the supposed scandal as soon as it had begun, all they needed to say was that the Minister was doing her job. Dombrovskis, an economic technocrat who has done well in the eyes of this commentator to guide Latvia through its financial crisis, unfortunately seems to be completely inarticulate in fields outside economics; yet culture, education (where Dombrovskis also has not supported the Minister with this portfolio), welfare, social integration and having a vision for Latvia’s future are now urgent matters, and demand leadership. Are we beginning to have a problem with our Prime Minister too?

Unfortunately, Jaunzeme-Grende did not endear herself on her return to Latvia – shocked by the allegations, she responded emotionally, and in relation to a very vitriolic campaign against her in the social media and some newspapers who had themselves generated the ‘scandal’, in one interview she quoted Coco Chanel’s aphorism “I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t think about you at all” – and later needed to retreat and apologise for this.

As it came out in the wash, all the allegations of ministerial wrongdoing were without foundation. Her husband paid for his trip himself, she participated exhaustively in the cultural activities in Adelaide, the visit was perfectly in line with government policy – visiting the diaspora is often done by leaders including the President and Prime Minister, and the government is also finally showing increasing concern about the number of people who have left Latvia to find work in other countries, often carrying with them very negative attitudes towards the Latvian state. And yet, Jaunzeme-Grende is still being pursued: she has been reported to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), but one of the grounds for this appears extraordinary: that she did not ask for compensation from her husband for his share of accommodation in Adelaide, even though the hotels charge exactly the same price whether one person or two persons occupy the room!

We still face a political culture where scandal can be raised at any time, where because of the suspicion of corruption exaggerated details are seen as major wrongdoing, where Ministers are often left to hang, and where Latvia’s leaders show poor judgement on who to support and for what reason.

Latvia’s concentric circles of foreign policy interests

Ojārs Kalniņš | 

A cursory look at Latvia’s National Development Plan 2014-2020 would suggest that foreign policy seems to play a very small role in Latvia’s future. The Foreign Ministry is solely responsible for only one section and that primarily deals with strengthening Latvia’s political and economic interests abroad.

However, each ministry is assigned a “Territory of Responsibility”. Here the Foreign Ministry takes on enormous importance, because its sphere of operation is designated as “The Whole World”.

Clearly, Latvia’s foreign service cannot embrace the entire world, so it is natural to divide that world into regions of priority. For the purposes of the Latvian Parliament’s annual Foreign Policy Debates, I’ve chosen to isolate those priorities by segmenting Latvia’s foreign policy world into concentric circles of interest. I have identified six such circles.

The first and closest circle includes our immediate neighbours: Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus and Russia. While relations with all these countries are important economically, they are much more complex and diverse politically. They will remain a top priority in 2013. 

The second circle is slightly larger, and includes the Baltic Sea region and the Nordic countries. Here we continue to develop good ties in such multi-lateral formats as NB8, the Nordic-Baltic Council and the Council of Baltic Sea States. This year Latvia hosts the Baltic Development Forum and in 2015 during our Presidency of the European Union, we plan to organize a special forum on the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy.

But in 2013 most of our attention will be focused on the third circle, where I have placed the European Union and NATO.  Both organizations expand our areas of direct foreign engagement, although at the moment the greatest challenges lie in the EU itself, and our place in it. As always, our strategic partnership with the United States anchors our commitment to the transatlantic relationship.

This third circle also reveals the geographic direction of our interest in the fourth circle:  the EU’s Eastern Partnership. Cooperating with and supporting such eastern neighbours as Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova has always been a priority for Latvia. Direct person-to-person ties in these countries dating back to pre-independence periods has enabled Latvia to make robust use of Cooperative Development programs, which need to be expanded. Latvia also plans to host an Eastern Partnership Summit during our EU Presidency in 2015.

History, economic interests, and Latvia’s foreign policy priorities also determine the geographic direction of our sphere of interest in the next, fifth circle – Central Asia and Afghanistan. Latvia’s embassies in Uzbekistan and Kazahkstan have been extremely successful as contact embassies for NATO, and have developed a special expertise and respect in the entire region. This needs to be expanded.

Latvia’s role in the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan has produced a unique opportunity for long-term economic development as well. Working together with the US, Russia, NATO and regional countries, Latvia plays a key role in the Northern Distribution Network – the transport corridor for shipping NATO ISAF supplies from Latvia to Afghanistan. This has enormous future potential, for the moment that this network becomes a commercial transhipment corridor and connects to the planned New Silk Road, the door will open for Latvia’s road to the sixth and last circle, the Far East.

If until now such countries as China, Japan, Korea and India didn’t seem within reach of Latvia’s foreign policy grasp, then today they are very palpable. China and Japan have very active embassies in Riga and soon will be joined by South Korea. These countries are part of one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing regions in the world, and are looking with growing interest at Latvia’s strategic location in Northern Europe. The time has come to focus much more attention to this region, and determine how economic and political developments there can be aligned with Latvia’s long-term national interests. While some commentators have made much of the United States’ ‘pivot’ to Asia, it’s only natural that Europe does the same. Thanks to Latvia’s eastward tangent through the six circles of foreign engagement, this once distant region of the world is the logical next step in the long-term expansion of our international diplomacy.

Last year, the Latvian Foreign Ministry took a bold (and necessary) step in providing the framework for Latvia’s ‘pivot to the Far East’.  It established an ‘External economic policy coordinating council’, which brings together the Foreign, Economic, Transportation and Agricultural ministries, as well as other state institutions.  This institutional model of cooperation is ideally suited to review and analyse just how Latvia’s economic interests, geostrategic location and existing logistical and transportation links to the east can be further developed to promote our national interests. Suddenly, the Far East no longer seems so far.

Latvia cannot embrace the world, but thinking strategically about our potential long-term interests in specific geographic directions and regions, Latvia’s foreign policy can play an essential role in promoting our national interests. We are moving in the right direction. But we must move faster, further and with a greater understanding of Latvia’s unique place in a globalized world. 

(This article is based on remarks made on January 24, 2013 during the Latvian Parliament’s annual debates on foreign policy.)