• Saeima’s sub-committee of patriotic education elaborates the state program on patriotic education in schools

The Saeima’s sub-committee of patriotic education forms a working group which will elaborate the state program on patriotic education in schools. According to the head of the sub-committee, MP Raivis Dzintars it is important to set the minimum of requirements for schools promoting patriotic education which would include obligatory celebration of certain days, topics for educative lessons, usage of state anthem and symbols. Mr Dzintras also considers that the program should determine what kind of information is allowed to be disseminated in schools and what guests are recommended to be invited to schools. Latvijas Avize, Diena, Vesti Segodnya

• Latvijas Avize: Russian youngsters give the official answer that Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union, but think differently
• NGO "Latgalian Parliament" suggests administrative changes and calls for support to Latgalian language
• Riga Council deputy Janis Martins Skuja (Democratic Patriots) referred to the Security Police the instance of reading a schoolbook issued in Russia
• Vesti Segodnya writes about a case of elderly non-citizen, who lost the plot of land she owned since 1986, ostensibly because of her status as a non-citizen

 

Latvijas Avize journalist attended the celebration of the end of the WWII or “Victory Day” on 9 May at the Monument to Liberators from Nazi Invaders, and interviewed local Russian youngsters, who attended the celebrations. According to the interviewees, the main reason why they participate in the event is that they would like to show their gratitude to the efforts made by the people during the war. The youngsters learned at school the official view that Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union, but disagree with it. When asked officially about occupation (such as during exams), they provide "correct" answer, because "we live in Latvia, therefore at school you should not speak what you think". It was also recommended to keep one's mouth shut, because for expressing the views, the youngsters could be put to jail. One of the youngsters stated that he does not oppose the occupation hypothesis, yet he is interested to learn various views. The interviewed also believe that those who celebrate 16 of March (unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires), should not be disturbed.

 

NGO "Latgales Saeima" (Latgalian Parliament) supports the regional unity of Latvia, and suggests the formation of "second-tier" municipalities, which would have more competences in economic, social, cultural and other issues, as well calls to reconsider recent territorial reform, whereby some Latgalian districts were included into Vidzeme and Zemgale regions. The "Latgales Saeima" calls to ensure that public funding on the permanent basis is also provided to Latgalian, including provision of education from kindergartens to universities and at least 2% of air time in the public media. Latvijas Avize

 

Riga city Council deputy Janis Martins Skuja (Democratic Patriots) referred to the Security Police the instance of using in school a book "Introduction to Political Science" issued in Russia. The director of the school pointed out that normally, the book is not used in the school, but an exception was made for two students, who have very weak Latvian language proficiency and were given to read one chapter of the book. Allegedly, the chapter explains the notion of ideologies and is similar in content with Latvian books. Latvijas Avize

 

Vesti Segodnya writes about a case of an elderly non-citizen, who lost the plot of land she owned since 1986, ostensibly because of her status as a non-citizen. 

• Neatkariga prints an interview with the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs about the results of the recent local elections

Neatkariga prints an interview with the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs. Commenting the success of the union of Concord Centre and the party Honour to Serve Riga (CC/HSR) at the local elections in Riga, Mr Usakovs says it shows that the ethnical voting has been overcome because many ethnic Latvians gave their votes to this union. Mr Usakovs notes that there is no ethnic division in the union of the CC/HSR as it has ethnic Latvian and ethnic Russian deputies. The Mayor agrees that the overwhelming majority of Russian speaking electorate gave their votes to the CC/HSR and explains it by the fact that other parties did not even try to address the Russian speakers.

• Initiator of the Congress of Non-Citizens Elizabete Krivcova: the Parliament of Non-Citizens should be established because the state does not want to solve problems of non-citizens

 According to one of the initiators of the Congress of Non-Citizens Elizabete Krivcova, Latvian state does not want to solve problem of non-citizenship. Therefore, activists of the civil society took this duty and decided to establish the Parliament of Unrepresented. Elizabete Krivcova believes that the Congress of Non-Citizens is a new stage of human rights advocacy – when the activists stopped to complain and took active position.  Vesti Segodnya

• The Ombudsman recognised discrimination in an insulting phrase addressed to a black-skinned participant of a local TV talent show
• Society Integration Foundation informed the MPs about its work
• Public Relations Advisor to the Minister of Education Reinis Tukiss resigned from the post because Minister Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis speaks Russian with Russian colleagues
• Latvian Muslims deny risks of Islamic radicalisation in Latvia

The Ombudsman recognised discrimination in an insulting phrase addressed to a black-skinned participant of a local TV talent show Lingita Bopulu. During the live broadcast on a TV channel “Kanals 2” the following comment was published: “It is time for Lingita to go to Africa to pick bananas.” According to the Ombudsman, such statement says that Lingita is not welcomed in Latvia due to her origin which violates the legal norms on prohibition of discrimination included also the in the Law on Electronic Mass Media. The Ombudsman stated that the prohibition of discrimination concerns also hateful discriminating statements.

In their turn, representatives of the TV channel responding to the Ombudsman stated the comment is not hateful and its interpretation could be very broad. At the same time, the TV channel promised to evaluate the comments more carefully before publishing and to avoid publishing of discriminative statements. Vesti Segodnya

The Society Integration Foundation informed the MPs about its work and children exchange program between Latvian and Russian speaking families aimed at integration. 50 Latvian speaking and 50 Russian speaking families took part in the exchange, thus about 600 people including family members got to know each other. The families hosted children for 6-12 days and during this period children took part in school activities with special tasks, participated in sports, attended cultural events, played with fellows. Commenting such practice, the MPs from the nationalists union All for Latvia!-FF/LNIM criticised the fact that ethnic Latvian children are hosted by the Russian families. Vesti Segodnya

Latvijas Avize reports that Public Relations Advisor to the Minister of Education and Science Reinis Tukiss resigned from the post because the Minister Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis spoke Russian to the head of the Minister’s Office Anna Kononova. Commenting the situation, the Minister did not deny that his native language is Russian and acknowledged that he speaks Russian to other native speakers of Russian, including his colleagues. The Minister stressed that the official communication language in the Ministry is Latvian. Also the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry Inga Vanaga stated that communication with the Minister Dombrovskis and Mrs Kononova is in Latvian only and the Ministry’s sessions are always in Latvian language. Latvijas Avize also notes, that according to unofficial information Reinis Tukiss resigned due to inability to collaborate with the Minister due to different working style.

The Riga Mosque’s Imam Zahers in an interview with Latvijas Avize denies that there are radical Muslims in Latvia. Commenting the visit of Islamic organisation “Tablight Jamaat” to Latvia, the Imam says that members of this organisation are normal people who live in Europe and are its citizens and they believe that it is their mission to visit Muslims in different countries. The Imam also denies the assertion of the Security Police that this organisation might create risk of radicalisation of Latvian society as in some countries “Tablight Jamaat” is considered as radical and terrorist organisation. According to the Imam, there are about 10,000 Muslims in Latvia and they live in accordance with Latvian legal acts and at the same time preserve their Islamic identity.