Dear Friends,Tuesday, I accepted an invitation to attend U.S. Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey's speech in the University of Latvia's large hall just down the street from my school on Raina Boulevard in Riga. Her speech was entitled "Preserving Our Common Values," and she spoke before a packed and receptive audience.
Ambassador Bailey's speech had already generated a good degree of controversy even before it was delivered.
Latvia has existed in some form for centuries -- to give you an idea, the city of Riga celebrated its 800th birthday in 2001 -- but the ideological concepts and realities of freedom and democracy are still new to the country that only regained its independence from Soviet occupation as recently as the early nineties. In that regard, Latvia is a young nation, still struggling to gain a foothold not only in the European Union, of which it has been a member since 2004, but also in the global arena. Corruption, largely in the form of nepotism, as I understand it, still exists in "blatant ways," as one acquaintance put it. The matrix of corruption is so deep-ceded and complex that apparently some of the newly-elected governmental officials don't understand it -- and don't know what to make of it.
One only needs to scratch the shadowy surface of Soviet credo to obtain a glint of understanding of the nature and magnitude of the problems Latvia faces today -- not to mention a reason for the ongoing scepticism and distrust of government.
It seems, though, the tenuous relationship between Latvian government and Latvian people is not unfounded. A lot of the derision boils down to money and living: individuals in the government have; others, have not. It seems the general notion among the hoi polloi is that those elected as public servants seem to be much more adept at self-serving. Furthermore, as I can attest, the living in Latvia is not inexpensive. (Remember, for every Lat I spend, two dollars vanish from my bank account.) National inflation is at an all-time high. One colleague and friend made it clear for me when he put it this way: Latvia's membership in the EU brought about European prices but not European wages.
Like Americans, Latvians are seeking more and more education and advanced degrees but even with diplomas in hand, many professionals here continue to be egregiously underpaid. Something's gotta give. If nothing else, Ambassador Bailey's speech brought to light, if in broad terms, a growing problem I've heard Latvians talking about since I arrived.
Bailey commenced her speech by drawing upon the commonalities and close friendship between the United States and Latvia. She cited the recent visits of both President Bush and Samuel Alito as indications of continued American interest in Latvia. She recalled the United States' "non-recognition" of Soviet domination in Latvia and highlighted both the US and Latvia's current membership in the United Nations. On a grander scale, she raised both countries as champions of freedom, all the while setting the stage for the crux of her message -- a question: in light of a recent pattern of events "inconsistent with the values" of freedom, will Latvia continue the hard work of preserving its freedom or will it "slide back" to resembling countries that have not reformed? While America has been and shall remain a close "friend," the choice to maintain freedom, she concluded, can only be made by Latvians.
Just as I turned my head to gage the reactions of the audience at what seemed to be a rather vituperative, "us versus them" comparison, I was pleased when Bailey brought her speech back to center by saying, "Americans are not perfect in this area" -- substitute governmental corruption, scandal, defending democracy and personal freedoms and the like -- "and we know it." Citing President Bush's second inaugural address, Bailey intoned the "two-way street" of democracy must be "chosen and defended by citizens."
In her closing remarks, I appreciated the comparison Bailey drew between the constitutions of both Latvia and the United Sates. Although separated in time of origin by over 130 years, each contains simple but clear references to "the people" in the first line. Will Latvians support a government rooted in corruption or will the people demand a government that "serves all the people -- not just some of them"? Bailey's speech offered no answers; it posed only questions -- which was precisely the point.
And the ripples are being felt. Today people gathered in Old Riga to show concern for the condition of the current government (or certain facets of the government). One colleague told me the crowd was 2,000 persons strong. Another Latvian friend told me that the fallout of Bailey's speech has been all over the papers the last two days. As the Latvian Prime Minister prepares for a visit to the US, I will be curious to see how he is greeted (and by whom) upon his arrival. It seems the reaction of the Latvian governmental heads to Bailey's speech here in Riga will significantly play a part in Prime Minister Kalvitis' upcoming reception in Washington.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson
Yours,
Tim
After the speech, with fellow American Fulbrighters.
No comments:
Post a Comment