Riga: A lesson in Freedom

My new cyber-friend in Latvia has taught me a lot. I now regret - and apologize for - writing at this blog:

”Riga Latvia is a more popular world city than New York or Paris? I don’t think so.”

Just because I didn't know about Riga, I thought it wasn't important. I was wrong, in more ways than one.

Consider this blog post: Latvia and the legacy of Communism

... I have been working for the last six months with the Latvian Institute and a coalition of ministers, private sector and civil society leaders on an identity strategy for Latvia. Latvia faces a problem which is common throughout its neighbourhood: the urgent need to try and rebuild a national identity and reputation which the Soviet Union almost entirely deleted. Without a positive profile, everything that countries like Latvia want to do on the international stage is doubly difficult, whether it's trade, international relations, tourism, investment promotion or simply participating freely and productively in the global world.

This is one of the less recognised impacts of Communism: by cutting off all movement of trade, culture, people and communications between its satellite states and the rest of the world, the Soviet system effectively destroyed the public identities of these countries. Now, they have to painstakingly rebuild those identities, brick by brick.

The lucky countries are the ones which were left with beautiful cities - like Riga, Prague, Ljubljana and Budapest - as they have been able to attract plenty of tourists to their capitals and thus re-open a dialogue with the West, and beyond....

... few people outside Eastern and Central Europe have any conception of countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary or the Baltic States as free countries with their own proud histories, cultures, personalities, products, landscapes, traditions, languages and people.

There are few bigger crimes than what was done in the name of Communism during the last century: entirely obliterating a country's good name and its history and identity, along with the centuries of its progress and cultural growth, and like some global game of snakes and ladders, sending it back to square one to fight for recognition in a busy, highly competitive, and largely indifferent world.

I'm thinking maybe we should hire this Simon Anholt to help us with Israel's PR. Or, we could just wait for the Israeli government to do something :)

In the meantime, there is no excuse for ignorance. Since we have to start somewhere, there's always wikipedia:

Riga, the capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states... particularly notable for its extensive Art Nouveau architecture...

The 20th century brought World War I and the impact of the Russian Revolution to Riga. The German army marched into Riga in 1917. In 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed giving the Baltic countries to Germany.

Because of the Armistice with Germany (Compiègne) of November 11, 1918, Germany had to renounce that treaty, as did Russia, leaving Latvia and the other Baltic States in a position to claim independence. After more than 700 years of German, Swedish, Russian rule, Latvia, with Riga as its capital city, thus declared its independence on November 18, 1918.

Between World War I and World War II (1918–1940), Riga and Latvia shifted their focus from Russia to the countries of Western Europe. A democratic, parliamentary system of government with a President was instituted. Latvian was recognized as the official language of Latvia. Latvia was admitted to the League of Nations. The United Kingdom and Germany replaced Russia as Latvia's major trade partners. As a sign of the times, Latvia's first Prime Minister, Kārlis Ulmanis, had studied agriculture and worked as a lecturer at the University of Nebraska in the United States of America.

There then followed World War II, with the Soviet occupation and annexation of Latvia in 1940; thousands of Latvians were arrested, tortured, executed and deported to labor camps in Siberia, where the survival rate equaled that of Nazi concentration camps, following German occupation in 1941-1944. The Baltic Germans were forcibly repatriated to Germany at Hitler's behest, after 700 years in Riga. The city's Jewish community was forced into a ghetto in the Maskavas neighbourhood, and concentration camps were constructed in Kaiserwald and at nearby Salaspils.

In 1945 Latvia was once again subjected to Soviet domination. Many Latvians were deported to Siberia and other regions of the Soviet Union, usually being accused of having collaborated with the Nazis or of supporting the post-war anti-Soviet Resistance. Hundreds of thousands of citizens had perished and tens of thousands fled into exile in countries all over the world. ... Latvia lost approximately one-third of its population.

....The policy of economic reform introduced as Perestroika by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev led to a situation in the late 1980s in which many Soviet republics, including Latvia, were able to regain their liberty and freedom. Latvia declared its full de facto independence on August 21, 1991 and that independence was recognized by Russia on September 6, 1991.

Latvia formally joined the United Nations as an independent country on September 17, 1991. All Russian military forces were removed from 1992 to 1994. In 2001, Riga celebrated its 800th anniversary as a city. In 2004, Latvia joined NATO and the European Union.