Jul 31
AleksPolitics, Revolutions, Society
Published in the Global Voices Online:
With the ownership of the largest daily newspaper, Diena [LV], in question, many journalists in Latvia fear business interests and political influence would rule the news coverage ahead of the October parliamentary elections.
“Who is behind Diena,” read last week’s front page headline of the newsweekly Ir. “One year after a change in ownership there appeared a shadow of the oligarchs and a question: Does Latvia still have a free press?”
“The situation is very, very sad, because elections are coming,” a former Diena journalist Gunta Sloga told Swedish radio (SWE). “Many people will not be able to get objective information before the vote, and especially problematic it becomes for those who live in the countryside and do not have an access to the Internet.”
Sloga and a few others had quit the newspaper in 2009 over lack of transparency in the sale from the Swedish company Bonnier. The new owners installed a new manager, who lasted there almost a year. Meanwhile, the owners said the newspaper would maintain its professional integrity. Tralmaks unexpectedly quit in July, bringing the issue of integrity back into the light. The owners appointed Sergejs Ancupovs, the former press secretary for the former prime minister, Valdis Birkavs, as well as a leader of a think-tank connected to certain political parties, to run the newspaper.
On July 20, journalist Kārlis Streips wrote [LV] on his Politika.lv blog:
I’m in deep mourning for Diena. When the first professional journalists departed, I wrote that Diena would still be my newspaper. Now, I don’t have a newspaper in Latvia any more. For professional reasons, I’ll continue to subscribe, but it’ll be all.
In a video [LV] posted on the Diena newspaper’s web site, Ancupovs declined to answer questions about who approached him for this job.
“You know, we won’t be doing that kind of investigation,” he said, after explaining that the Diena newspaper will continue to maintain its objectivity and will not be a subject to political influence.
“Let’s assume that I have fallen from Mars,” he said, calling two journalists who interviewed him, “girls.”
Ancupovs said in a radio interview that the newspaper has always had a political influence. And it will continue to do so.
Jānis Buholcs writes [LV] that the recent change in Diena leadership means it is no longer necessary to hide under the pretense of being above the political influence. Buholcs responds to Ancupovs:
Media controlled by politicians is not the same as media that have their own political sympathies, which those openly espouse. The system of Putin and Berlusconi is not the same as an op-ed in a newspaper.
Pods.lv wonders [LV] if the newspaper’s purchase was “the most expensive election campaign”:
If we are to believe information that Diena and Dienas Bizness were paid for 7 million lats (US$13 million), then that’s a very expensive toy.
Let’s assume that the goal is to influence the election results with the help from these two media outlets and after that liquidate them both. I think it would be too expensive for an election campaign.
On the other hand, considering the amounts of money the plotters could get in many different public bids and purchase requests, then 7 million is nothing but small change.
Mar 04
AleksRevolutions, Society, The Godmanis government
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.
Jan 29
AleksBeyond Latvia, Economy, Revolutions, The Godmanis government
RIGA – You can’t help but compare Iceland with Latvia. There are shades of similarities between the two countries – social unrest, a government lacking in credibility. To quote an excellent Edward Hugh article: “The problem is that Latvia, apart from the internal credit boom, and the consequent housing bust and real economy contraction which follows (and which all three Baltic states “enjoyed” actually stands out from its Baltic peers in that it also became something of an offshore financial centre during the boom years. That is to say, there are shades of the Iceland or UK problem in the Latvian situation.”
The International Monetary Fund in its report issued four days before the unrest – their mission was leaving Latvia on the day of the riots – stated that a key to its program success is the wide political support. (PDF file)
Clear medium-term objectives, strong political leadership and mobilization of public support will be key. Consolidations tend to be more successful when perceived by markets and the population at large as durable and sustainable. In many European countries in the 1990s, consolidations were justified by the objective of the Euro adoption, which is also the case for Latvia. On the other hand, most consolidations tend to be led by new governments and under a broad consensus. Latvia’s Parliamentary elections in 2010 represent a risk.
Clearly, the Penguin Revolution and the subsequent ultimatum by the President to the parliament adds risks to the program. Success of this program depends on wide public support which this government doesn’t have.
The IMF required a wide parliamentary support before it agreed to the loan. This is why the Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis urged the parliament to adopt wide-range of painful cuts and raise taxes at the end of last year, asking opposition parties to come on board for the country’s sake. The January 13 protests and following riots turned it all around. And, I think Godmanis realizes that. He blames the opposition parties for staging a rally. And, I suspect, it is why he didn’t want to be seen along with an opposition leader Aigars Štokenbergs in televised public debates three weeks ago.
In traditional European parliamentary democracies by and large a wide parliamentary support equal a wide support of the population. However, in Latvia, it just means an approval of a certain elite clique that stands behind political forces represented in the 100-member incredible Saeima. The parliament isn’t popular, but according to Godmanis it’s the strongest in Europe. His center-right government, however, is the least popular government in Europe, with popularity of 10 percent. It raises risks to the IMF program.
When you have an unpopular government cutting wages, raising taxes, its rating will plummet down. And I suspect we haven’t seen the end of the popular unrest. The rock concert was just a prelude to a wider protest. Already, the farmers threaten to block highways and streets in Riga in protest against government policies next Tuesday, if their demands are not met. Providing information to a lot of villages, the national radio broadcaster doesn’t have enough funding to operate, adding to the frustration. People will be laid off with unemployment reaching up to 12 percent, basically double in the matter of months, according to official estimates. Unofficially, of course, it will be much higher.
While the IMF sees an election as a liability because it ushers in an uncertain future, for the people of Latvia an election under new updated election laws appears to be a way out of this crisis of political credibility amidst economic uncertainty.
The parliament speaker Gundars Daudze this morning offered more evidence that we’re heading for snap elections. He said in a TV interview that he sees no possibility to adopt constitutional changes before March 31, the presidential deadline.
The photo above was taken by me during the summer farmer protests against the EU milk quotas
Jan 13
AleksParliament, Revolutions, The Godmanis government
RĪGA – Shattered glass. Blue paint on the building. Broken plastic bottles. Cobblestones. Ninety-eight detained.
These are the preliminary results of the aftermath of the penguin revolution (when Godmanis told the people in his New Year’s Eve address how penguins deal with severe winter – they huddle together to stay warm – the same way as Latvians ought to do when going through the economic turmoil).
But it started all so peaceful. Around 5 p.m. several hundred people had already flooded the Dom Square in the heart of the capital of Latvia. People of different ages, ethnicity, backgrounds appeared united in their disdain for the ruling coalition, and – more importantly – the culture of political cynicism.
Following the 90-minute event mostly young people moved toward the Saeima building. They tried to get in. Prevented from doing so by the riot police, they began throwing anything that they could lay their hands on – from snowballs to street cobblestones. The first flood windows were shattered.
Commentators undoubtedly will analyze what had taken place – whether the riot was a fruit of public discontent and anger at the ruling clique, or a product of alcohol and intoxication, or, perhaps, a combination of both. One thing for sure, regardless of the protest, the political cynicism lives on. The Interior Minister Mareks Segliņš, who was nowhere to be seen near the riots, sent an SMS to Aigars Štokenbergs, a party leader, who organized the protest, saying “Now you can be proud.”
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