Signature collection underway to require Latvian as language of schools

Andris Straumanis | 

An official signature drive that could lead to a constitutional amendment making the state language the only one to be used in government-sponsored schools is under way in Latvia and in Latvian communities abroad.

The petition campaign began May 11 and will continue until June 9.  The collection of signatures is organized by the Central Election Commission in Rīga.

The commission on April 11 ordered the campaign after confirming that the National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) had obtained at least 10,000 signatures supporting the constitutonal amendment. The conservative political association started collecting signatures last year in an effort to convince lawmakers that Latvian should be the only language of instruction in public schools.

If by June 9 at least 153,232 eligible voters—a tenth of all those who cast ballots in the last Saeima election—sign the petition, then the Saeima would be asked to consider a bill that would amend the Latvian constitution. Specifically, the bill would change Section 112, which gives all people in Latvia the right to an education. According to current wording of the section, the state guarantees education at the primary and secondary levels. The amendent would add that the guarantee extends to education in the state language, which is Latvian.

Additional language in the bill would require the change to take effect by Sept. 1, 2012.

However, if the Saeima rejects the amendment or alters the bill, then a national referendum on the issue would be called.

In Latvia, a total of 622 stations will operate where eligible voters may sign the petition.

Abroad, 45 stations have been established, according to the Central Election Commission. They include the Latvian embassies in Beijing, Berlin, London, Paris, Moscow, Ottawa and Washington, D.C., as well as in Vienna, Austria; Baku, Azerbaijan; Minsk, Belarus; Brussels, Belgium; Prague,  Czech Republic; Copenhagen, Denmark; Cairo, Egypt; Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland; Tbilisi, Georgia; Athens, Greece; Budapest, Hungary; Dublin, Ireland; Tel Aviv, Israel; Rome, Italy; Astana, Kazakhstan; Vilnius, Lithuania; The Hague, Netherlands; Oslo, Norway; Warsaw, Poland; Lisbon, Portugal; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Madrid, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; Ankara, Turkey; Kiev, Ukraine; and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Also on the list are the Latvian consulates, consulates general and honorary consulates in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, Australia, as well as the Latvian House in Brisbane; Vitebsk, Belarus; Santiago, Chile; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Kaliningrad, Pskov and St. Petersburg, Russia.

The complete list, including addresses and hours, is available as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file from the election commission’s website, www.cvk.lv.

More things to sign

Voters who wait for a week will have the opportunity to sign another petition.

From May 18 to June 16, a signature campaign will take place about three recently approved laws that would have continued caps on various welfare payments to Latvia’s residents, according to the Central Election Commission. President Valdis Zatlers was forced to suspend the laws on April 19 after 37 opposition members of parliament asked him to do so.

Under Latvia’s constitution, if more than a third of Saeima deputies asked for a law to be suspended, the president must oblige them. An official petition drive follows and if the signatures of at least 10 percent of eligible voters are gathered, the suspended law is put to a national referendum.

However, if not enough signatures are recorded, then the president must publish the law.

The three laws are part of the government’s budget cutting effort and would extend restrictions on a variety of welfare payments, including the maternity allowance and jobless benefits.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

Pre-war Latvian settlers in Australia revealed in imperfect collection

Robert Crawford | 

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It would be fair to say that few libraries in Latvia or Australia have had their shelves overburdened by the weight of publications detailing the history of Latvians in Australia. However, this is not to say that such shelves would be bereft of books.

Significantly, the history of Latvians in Australia is much more comprehensive than Estonian or Lithuanian accounts, not to mention those of various other countries bordering the Baltic Sea. This impressive achievement can be primarily attributed to Aldis Putniņš, whose pioneering work on Latvians in Australia has appeared in a variety of books, chapters and articles over the last 30 years.

Early Latvian Settlers in Australia builds on this important body of work, revisiting many of the issues and themes raised in these earlier works and adding to them additional materials and insights that have emerged as a result of enhanced access to archival materials in both Australia and Latvia.

Examining the stories of Latvians who arrived in Australia prior to the Second World War poses a number of significant challenges. Who is Latvian? The issue is reflected in the title’s reference to Latvian settlers rather than Latvians. As John Bunke (listed as “Dutch American” and “Russian Finn”), Francis Dyson (“British”), and Fritz Zeeman (“Latvian / Russian / German?”) in Chapter 3’s list of Latvia-born Anzacs (soldiers in the Australian armed forces in the First World War) demonstrate, a Latvian birthplace does not necessarily mean that one is an ethnic Latvian.

Of course, this issue of identification is further complicated by the fact that some of these settlers did not want to be identified and consistently altered their names to avoid detection from the authorities—and subsequently historians. Putniņš additionally notes the impact of Russification, Anglicisation and Latvianisation upon the spelling of their names.

The size and nature of this migration flow from Latvia to Australia poses a second challenge. Putniņš suggests that there were 800 Latvian settlers in Australia prior to the Second World War (an estimate that is curiously unsubstantiated). Even if we take this inflated figure, it is clear that this is a very, very small group of migrants. The contributors should therefore be commended for finding these proverbial needles in the haystack. As a tiny group dispersed across Australia, these Latvian settlers were a motley collection of individuals whose personal stories and experiences did not always intersect with other Latvians. To this end, Elena Govor’s contributions stand out for identifying the unique ways in which these individual stories both intersected and diverged.

Unfortunately, the collection as a whole does not really meet the challenge of striking a balance between the individual and the larger story. This shortcoming is already evident in the introduction, where we are given a sketchy and rather descriptive background setting that makes greater reference to fleeting relations between Latvia and Australia rather than an account of the cultural, social, political and economic conditions that underpinned the accounts featured in the collection.

While Līga Lapa details the background situation in 1905 Latvia, readers unfamiliar with Australian (or British) history have little to guide them. An outline of Australia’s changing political and economic landscape (particularly in relation to migration issues) during the period under investigation would have provided some context for the reader encountering Australia for the first time. Moreover, it would have enriched some of the issues raised in Ineta Didrihsone-Tomaševksa’s look at Latvian consuls and Viesturs Karnups’s study of economic and trade relations between Latvia and Australia.

Such issues are exacerbated by the collection’s peculiar structure. While chapters appear to have been ordered to move from the individual to the “community,” the lack of chronology is jarring.  The 1905 Revolution, for example, is correctly identified as a “backdrop to a number of chapters in this volume,” yet strangely the chapters devoted to this issue only appear towards the end of the collection.

A conclusion bringing together the different issues and themes raised in the different pieces and highlighting their significance would have also ironed out some of these problems. Having published so much on the area, it is disappointing that Putniņš has not attempted to make a more substantial statement on the topic and its relevance to Latvian and Australian historians working in this area, not to mention the lessons that contemporary Latvian communities (in Australia and elsewhere) can take from these stories.

Nevertheless, each of the authors in this collection has made an important and enlightening contribution to the history of migration in Latvia and Australia. By bringing these fascinating pieces together, Putniņš has not only provided a timely update to his previous studies, he also ensured that the stories of these pioneering settlers in a distant land are more accessible than ever before.

Details

Early Latvian Settlers in Australia

Aldis Putniņš, ed.

South Yarra, Victoria:  Sterling Star,  2010

ISBN 9780646546803

Timely victories for Latvian hockey avoid championship relegation

Viesturs Zariņš | 

With timely 6-3 and 4-1 victories in the relegation round against Belarus on May 7 and Austria on May 8, Latvia has salvaged a 13th place finish at this year’s IIHF World Hockey Championships held in Slovakia.

The victories allowed the team to avoid relegation, which would have been disastrous for Latvian hockey.

The year before in Germany, Latvia finished 11th and since being promoted to the elite level in 1997, Latvia has placed seventh three times, the last time in 2009.

This year’s tournament started well for Latvia, a respectable 2-4 loss to the Czech Republic followed by a 2-3 overtime shoot-out loss to Finland.

However, an unexpected 2-3 shoot-out loss to Denmark sent Latvia to the relegation rather than qualification round.

The team was deflated and lost the next game against Slovenia 2-5. Latvia had never lost to Slovenia and this set up Latvia in a must-win situation for the final two games. The team came through.
Veteran Captain Herberts Vasiljevs said on iihf.com that the difference was attitude: “When you go into a game thinking ‘don’t lose,’ then you’re going to lose. We came in with the thought we have to win it. That was the difference.”

This year’s ups and downs illustrate the challenge facing Latvia’s hockey: lack of depth. The team had to do without a number of experienced players and all of a sudden became very vulnerable. Veteran NHLer Kārlis Skrastiņš was unable to play. Oskārs Bārtulis, who saw limited action in the NHL this year, was injured. Kaspars Daugaviņš, an Ottawa Senators prospect, was not available due to play-off action with the farm team in North America. Rugged defenceman and Atlanta Thrashers prospect Arturs Kulda played but was suspended for three games after a hit against a Czech player. He returned in time for the game against Belarus and was pivotal logging lots of ice time in the last two games. Dinamo Rīga centre Jānis Sprukts, who has 13 NHL games to his credit, passed on the opportunity to play at this year’s championship airing a number of grievances against the Latvian Hockey Federation in a controversial and well publicized interview. Dinamo top-scorer Lauris Dārziņš and defenceman Krišjānis Redlihs were injured during the tournament.

This year a number of younger players were brought up to plug the gap and some fared quite well. Andris Džeriņš moved into a regular starting role and picked up five points. Kristaps Sotnieks had four while Gints Meija and Roberts Bukarts each had three. Other newcomers were Oskars Cibulskis, Sergejs Pečura and third goaltender Māris Jucers. Youthful exuberance aside, most however are not ready for prime time and still need time to mature before they can pose a serious threat when playing the big powers.

There has also been a debate in the Latvian media about the impact of the KHL’s Dinamo Rīga on the national squad. In past years, the World Hockey Championship was an opportunity for Latvian players to showcase their skills and snag a better team and contract the following year. But some have argued that those with Dinamo contracts have now peaked and as a result the motivation to perform at the World Championships has taken a hit. After all, most will not make the NHL and the KHL is arguably the second best hockey league in the world.

Nevertheless, a youth revolution is underway on the national team and, given that this year’s mix of players managed to keep Latvia in the running, bodes well for the future.  Latvia has somewhat of an enviable record: now 16 consecutive years at the elite level, while other so-called middle powers of hockey—Belarus, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Austria and Slovenia—have not been able to match Latvia’s run. Nevertheless, the playing field is becoming even. There are no easy games, even against countries that Latvia has owned in the past. Latvia will need to remember that at the 2012 championships being co-hosted in Sweden and Finland.

Meanwhile, Latvia’s U-20 and U-18 junior squads won their groups in IIHF Division I (second tier) tournaments and are returning to the elite level next year. Their stay will likely be short because unlike the senior men’s tournament where 16 countries compete and the bottom two get relegated, the junior tournaments only have 10 countries and the bottom two drop down. That doesn’t leave much room for countries like Latvia when the top positions are locked up by Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic with Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia close behind.