Comments for All About Latvia

Comment on About by artis inka

artis inka — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:29:37 +0000

Sveiks Aleksejs! Sorry to bother you during the holidays. I have a vague memory, that may very well not be accurate. Did you post a photo or link of a rally poster (from the 1920s or 30s) for a leftist event that featured a Chicago Lettish choir, as the entertainment? Any thoughts? I would be grateful for your assistance.

Sincerely, Artis
cikaga.com editor

Comment on On the eve of Latvia’s birthday by Kate Frenson

Kate Frenson — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:04:45 +0000

Hello
My name is Kate Frenson and I recently found your website about Latvia. Your website looks really impressive and interesting. You give a lot of possibilities learn more about your country. Independence of Latvia and other Baltic countries is more important than people think. 1920′s were so difficult time for the whole Easter Europe, and specially for your country. Soviet Russia was growing as a real threat to all the freedom in Europe. Who knows how could all of this end?
I thought that you could be interested in adding more basic info about culture of Latvia. This could be beneficial and make your website more visible among internet, even more popular. You could add more data or just link to other website (like this: http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Latvia.html ). Please let me know what do you think about that.
Thank you,
Kate Frenson

Comment on Blow by Martin

Martin — Mon, 30 May 2011 10:50:16 +0000

I was recently in the shopping centre in Jugla and noticed a store (i think it was clothing) called ‘Bimbo’…but Blow is pretty good too

Comment on Language Wars by Asehpe

Asehpe — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:40:17 +0000

I agree with your main point, Aleks, that it would be wonderful if people paid more attention to how well (or badly) the education system is working, to how many children are now totally outside of it, rather than to the language of instruction. Insisting on it against the context of a system with important structural (and funding!) problems is childish, and suggests that things will only get worse.

Having said this… Latvians did suffer seeing their country become another colony of the Homo sovieticus, seeing themselves almost become a minority in their own homeland (as are now other groups in their republics in the Russian Federation — the Mari in Mari El, the Komi in Komi Mu…). It’s understandable that they want to revert this; it’s understandable that they feel threatened (given their history); it’s understandable that they react angrily to their ‘russkie’ neighbors (because people love to overgeneralize and project, etc. etc. etc.).

‘Understandable’, of course, doesn’t mean ‘right’. I wished they would worry more about how actually to get more Russians interested in the language and culture of the Latvia where they live, so that their attitudes become more positive. (It seems the Estonians are doing a better job — maybe the Latvians should talk to them?)

I can understand how hearing Russian all the time on the streets may get on the nerves of many Latvians. (A cyber-friend of mine was complaining the other day about how difficult it was to try to live as a Latvian speaker in Daugavpils. Russian is everywhere there, it seems.) But you are right in that the current measures seem to do little more than intensify the angry feelings of both communities. Which is not going to be good for the future of Latvia.