• Aizkraukle Regional Council transferred 10th grade of Aizkraukle Russian language school to the premises of town’s Latvian language gymnasium
• Latvijas Avize reports about collection of humanitarian aid in Riga for civilians in conflict zones in Eastern Ukraine
• Protest action and concert “For Russian School” planned to be held in Riga on 4 September

Vesti Segodnya reports about a decision of the Aizkraukle (town in the central part of Latvia) Regional Council to transfer 10th grade of Aizkraukle Russian language school to the premises of town’s Latvian language gymnasium. The decision was taken three days before the beginning of the school year and it is ostensibly justified by insufficient number of students for opening of 10th grade. Only 15 students signed for 10th grade of the Russian language school instead of 20 required by the legal provisions of the regional council. Parents of students do not agree to such decision and are planning to take measures against it. Earlier, the newspaper also reported about the plans of the regional council to merge Russian language school with Latvian but later cancelled these plans.

Latvijas Avize reports about collection of humanitarian aid in Riga for civilians in conflict zones in Eastern Ukraine. The humanitarian aid tent was decorated with flags of so-called “Novorossiya” and “Donetsk people’s republic” and its organiser was an organisation “Baltija.” The organiser plans to move the tent to different Riga’s districts and the city centre. Placement of the tent was approved by the Riga City Council as an event aimed at communication with people about Latvia’s development and economics. According to a representative of the City Council there were no reasons to ban such event as there were no any recommendations from the Security Police.

The political party “Russian Union in Latvia” and the Congress of Non-citizens are planning to conduct a protest action and concert “For Russian School” on 4 September in the centre of Riga. Vesti Segodnya

 

• Latvijas Avize interviews head of the language control department of the State Language Centre Antons Kursitis
• Security Police will check statements made by a Latvia writer Antons Rancans on incitement to ethnic hated
• Diena reports about the government’s plans to transfer 80% of education content education in ethnic minority schools into Latvian language

Latvijas Avize interviews head of the language control department of the State Language Centre Antons Kursitis who also stands for the Parliamentary elections from the list of the nationalists’ union All for Latvia!/FF-LNIM. If Mr Kursitis is elected to the Saeima he would persuade other MPs that Latvian government should be decentralised relocating ministries from Riga to other Latvian regions. Otherwise, Latvia can return to those days when the majority of employees in state institutions are Russian speakers as there are 60% of Russian speaking residents in Riga – says Kursitis. He also says that it is very important to stop emigration of ethnic Latvian young people who are not proficient in Russian. As one of the measures for it, Kursitis mentions imposition of administrative punishment for those employers who require Russian language proficiency disproportionately and unreasonably.  Antons Kursitis also considers that program on issuing residence permits to foreign investors should be halted as those people (foreign investors who receive residence permits) give nothing to Latvia just helping the banks and real estate traders to earn and worsening state language situation in Riga and Jurmala as majority of them are Russian speakers.

Following a complaint of a member of the Congress of Non-citizens Jelena Bacinska, the Security Police will check statements made by a Latvia writer Antons Rancans on incitement to ethnic hated. In his recent interview with newspaper Neatkariga, Antons Rancans said that there is a robbers’ gene in mentality of Russians and that they were created not for work but for robbery. Vesti Segodnya

Diena reports about the government’s plans to transfer 80% of education content in ethnic minority schools into Latvian language. According to the newspaper, such announcement made defenders of ethnic minority schools to speak about closure Russian schools. However, the Ministry of Education and Science asserts that ethnic minority schools will remain but the proportion of Latvian language will grow up to 80% starting with 2018. The Ministry also says that already now schools can use model of bilingual education 80/20%, however only 5% of schools use it. The Ministry plans to understand during this school year how to increase the language proportion in all ethnic minority schools. One of the activists for defence of Russian language schools Jakovs Pliners believes that planned changes would negatively impact education quality and students’ achievements.

• State Language Centre initiated an administrative violation procedure about a poster in Ukrainian language
• Latvian writer Marina Kostenecka: ethnic Latvians should stop treating national minorities as Guinea pigs making experiments on them
• Latvijas Avize reports about a project on integration of third country nationals

The State Language Centre (SLC) initiated an administrative violation procedure about a poster with a text in Ukrainian language hanged on a building of the Salaspils library. The library hosted a delegation from Ukraine and hanged out a poster with a text in Ukrainian “Sincerely welcome to our Ukrainian friends on the Latvian land.” An unknown person submitted a complaint to the SLC about possible violation of the State Language Law in official communication by state institutions. Head of the Salaspils Region Council does not agree that hanging of such poster is violation and is ready to hang it out again if another Ukrainian delegation comes. Latvijas Avize, Vesti Segodnya

Vesti Segodnya quotes a well known Latvian writer Marina Kostenecka who says that ethnic Latvians should stop treating national minorities as Guinea pigs, on whom one could experiment by poisoning them with ethnic hatred and then testing their loyalty. Mrs Kostenecka also says “when I saw that 65% of ethnic minorities still consider themselves as patriots of Latvia (data from a survey of Latvia’s ethnic minorities “Sense of Belonging to Latvia”) I was not just surprised. I understood that even if a person does not sing Latvian folk songs, it does not mean he or she is an enemy of Latvia.”

Latvijas Avize reports about a project on integration of third country nationals in Latvia conducted by a youth creative union “Trepes.” In the framework of the project 68 foreign citizens took part in an informal training about life in Latvia – Latvian values, history, symbols, traditions, etc. According to one of the project organisers, for other country nationals it is important that they are not perceived as immigrants but they also want to feel important and as personalities. 

• There are 1,295,345 ethnic Latvians and 582,998 ethnic Russians living in Latvia
• Vesti Segodnya interviews director of the only Russian language secondary school in Valmiera

According to the Register of Residents, there are 1,295,345 ethnic Latvians and 582,998 ethnic Russians living in Latvia. 181,785 ethnic Russian residents have the status of non-citizen. There are also 713 ethnic Latvians non-citizens. Among representatives of other ethnicities there are 73,442 Belorussians, 52,274 Ukrainians, 47,947 Polish, 27,778 Lithuanians, 8,972 Jews, 8,069 Roma, 864 Chinese and others. In Riga, there are 300,753 ethnic Latvians, 276,623 ethnic Russians, 26,079 Ukrainians, and 27,583 Belorussians. Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize

Vesti Segodnya interviews director of the only Russian language secondary school in Valmiera (city in the Northern part of Latvia). Valmiera is one of the most ethnic Latvian cities in Latvia. There are 270 students in the school. Russian language kindergarten is also located in the same building. According to the director, Russian speaking kids from all Vidzeme region study in the school as it is the only Russian secondary school in the region. However, travelling to Valmiera requires financial expenses and not all parents can afford it. The director says that local Russians living in the mostly ethnic Latvian environment are perfectly proficient in Latvian language but they also want to keep their ethnic identity, therefore, choose the Russian language school for their children.

• “SKDS” published a government commissioned survey of Latvia’s ethnic minorities “Sense of Belonging to Latvia”
• Cabinet of Ministers tasks the ministries with the preparation of proposals for measures aimed at the consolidation of the society

The market and public opinion research centre “SKDS” launched a government commissioned survey of Latvia’s ethnic minorities “Sense of Belonging to Latvia.” According to the survey, the number of respondents who agree with the statement “I am proud of being a Latvian citizen/resident” has grown compared with the results of surveys conducted in previous years. In 2014 58% agree with the statement compared with 35% in 2009. As to the most topical problems 38% of respondents mention issues of social security and social policy, 34,4% - unemployment, 26,5 % - raising of living standards, 19% - health care, 17,5%  – economic development, 13,8% - financial policy, 13,3% - citizenship and ethnic issues, etc. 20,7%  respondents claim their knowledge of Latvian is excellent, 27,6% - as good, 27,5% - as satisfactory, 18,8% - as poor, and 4,2% do not know any Latvian. Only 11,3% of those ethnic minorities who are not Latvian citizens plan to naturalise within the next 12 months, while 80% have no such plans. Respondents mention lack of motivation, age, poor Latvian language proficiency as the main reasons for not obtaining Latvian citizenship. In evaluating the events aimed at the promotion of consolidation of the society, 79% of respondents (who were aware about the following events) positively evaluated Latvian language courses, 77% - events for children (camps, competitions etc), 65% broadcasting of important events on LTV7 and Latvian Radio Channel 4 in Russian, 55% support to ethnic minority NGOs aimed at the preservation of cultural and ethnic identity, 50% day or festival of ethnic minorities, 49% bilingual education in schools, and 46% - the solemn ceremony on granting Latvian citizenship. The majority of respondents or 41% in evaluating the conflict between the Ukraine and Russia stated that they do not support any of the sides, while 36% support Russia, and 15% Ukraine. In responding to the question as to what ethnic Latvians should do to promote the consolidation of the society, the most frequent answers were: the government should stop provoking and splitting people (13%); to be friendly, responsive, kind, appreciative (11%); both sides should make concessions, unite, and not split the society (8%.) The survey was conducted in May and June 2014. 800 ethnic minority respondents took part in the survey – 68,9% of them were Russians, 11,4% Belorussians, 7,2% Ukrainians, 5,8% Polish, and 6,6% representatives of other ethnic group.

Full text of the survey is available in Latvian at: http://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/atskaite_piederiba_08_2014.pdf

In response to the survey, the Cabinet of Ministers has tasked the ministries with the preparation of proposals how to ensure free Latvian language courses, increase motivation for obtaining Latvian citizenship, improve availability of information in Latgale (Eastern Latvia), government communication that encourages the sense of belonging to Latvia, and other measures for the consolidation of the society. The Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma highlighted the fact that 64% of ethnic minorities are Latvian patriots as a good indicator also acknowledging the need for considerable work in furthering integration.

Official press release by the Cabinet of Ministers available in English at: http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/aktualitates/government-urges-strengthen-national-minorities-sense-belonging-latvia