MINELRES: Latvia: Minority Versus Minority

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Original sender: Andrew Cave <andrewcave@hotmail.com>


MINORITY VERSUS MINORITY


As Latvia's Russian speakers become increasingly restive, they are
finding ways to bring their concerns into the political spotlight.

by Andrew Cave

Posted on 26 March 2003


As Latvia's Russian speakers become increasingly restive, they are
finding ways to bring their concerns into the political spotlight. 

When communism was overthrown in Central and Eastern Europe, the
Russians packed their bags and went home. In Latvia they stayed on. 

Russians stayed in Estonia too, but when Latvia finally obtained
independence in 1991, ethnic Latvians made up just over half of the
population. The rest were predominantly Russians, Belarusians, and
Ukrainians who found themselves stranded as the high tide of empire and
the Soviet Union receded. Today, Russians represent 29 percent of
Latvia�s population, and other Russian-speaking minorities account for
more than 12 percent. 

In the last decade, Latvia has had to reconstruct its sense of cultural
and national identity while at the same time respecting the rights of
these bewildered minority groups. No easy task, but last year�s
invitations to join NATO and the European Union--organizations that have
both demanded high standards in the field of minority rights--were
affirmation that these standards are being reached. 

Nobody could be more pleased about this than Boris Koltchanov. But
Boris, a third generation Russian, is less sure that his country has
done enough to guarantee minority rights and head off future ethnic
tensions.

GROWING UP IN LATVIA, THEN AND NOW

Boris Koltchanov  
In Riga, it is the Latvians who are in the minority, but that is nothing
new. In its heyday, the Baltic port attracted a variety of nationalities
to the city. Then as now, ethnic Latvians made up approximately 40
percent of Riga�s population.

At the Pelmeni restaurant in Riga�s old town, young people get their fix
of greasy Russian fast food to stave off the Baltic winter. And of
course Russian is the lingua franca here. Boris speaks fluent Latvian
and is a naturalized Latvian citizen, but until 1991 he could barely
speak a word.

�I could just about ask somebody the time in Latvian, but I wouldn�t
understand the reply,� he says.

Born in 1974, Boris was never seriously schooled in the Latvian
language. �Some years we had no training at all. One year we had a
Latvian teacher who told us that if we were quiet in class and did
homework for other subjects, we would pass. Obviously I got the highest
grade.�

But times have changed. Today, Boris is the director of Baltic Insight,
a directory of resources on minority human rights in the region. He is
monitoring, with some alarm, the Latvian government�s move to make
Latvian the only language of instruction in state high schools.

EDUCATION LAW: RESTRICTIVE OR JUSTIFIED?

By 2004, secondary and vocational education from 10th grade on will take
place solely in Latvian. 

In lower grades, schools presently offer teaching in both languages,
with the national language, Latvian, forming a core subject in Russian
schools. Universities have taught solely in Latvian for a number of
years.

The Russian-speaking minority has opposed and persistently lobbied
against this latest law. They fear that teaching standards will fall in
the process of transition and see it as an attack on their identity. But
are their objections justified? 

It is not unreasonable that the official state language should also be
the language in which students in that state are taught, seems to be the
view taken by international institutions including the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). After all, according to the
OSCE, �Strengthening the role of the Latvian language is essential for
the internal stability and social integration of the state.� 

Not everyone agrees.

�In my opinion this law will only lead to greater social and economic
disparities in the population,� Boris says.

�A recent survey revealed that only 18 percent of schools are prepared
to transfer their studies into Latvian. This means that the quality of
education will suffer,� he adds.

The survey, which was conducted with the support of the OSCE and the
Soros Foundation, recommended that the 2004 deadline be abandoned and
also noted that 50 percent of school directors believe that such reform
"negatively affects the way schoolchildren feel [about] themselves
psychologically."

The Latvian authorities have projected that all secondary schools will
be prepared for the transition to Latvian-only tuition by 2008--four
years after the law is set to come into force. Latvian Deputy Prime
Minister Ainars Slesers admitted as much earlier this year, when he
accepted that schools would not be ready for the 2004 switch to Latvian.
The deadline, however, remains in place.

�This law is designed to increase the use of Latvian," Boris says, "but
if the current uptake [of the Latvian language] is so poor, how are you
able to ensure a successful all-round education in that language?

�I would not argue against the knowledge of Latvian; it is necessary.
But this law sees Latvian as the only goal.�

It is not just a matter of maintaining quality education. The Latvian
authorities could also find themselves in conflict with the Council of
Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities,
which they have yet to ratify. 

Article 12 of the Convention states, �Parties undertake to promote equal
opportunities for access to education at all levels for persons
belonging to national minorities.� 

Boris is not alone in seeing a contradiction here. Following a visit to
Latvia last October, the financier and philanthropist George Soros
pointed out that the Latvian language was no longer under threat and
recommended that bilingual education should remain an option for
students.

This option would not be without precedent in Latvia. During the 1920�s,
Latvia welcomed Russians and Jews fleeing from Bolshevism. The number of
Russians in the country doubled in the decade after 1920 to 238,000. In
its 20 years of independence beginning in 1920, Latvia championed the
rights of minority groups, granting them, among other things, complete
control over their education programs. 

Estonia, with the second-largest Russian minority in the Baltics,
officially mandates teaching in Estonian, but its secondary schools
remain flexible enough to offer 40 percent of their teaching time in
Russian where Russian speakers are in the majority. Many people in
Latvia would be happy with a similar compromise, but apparently the
Latvian government would not. 

VOTING ETHNIC

The new education law is one of several issues that are galvanizing the
Russian-speaking minority in opposition to the state. It is this that
concerns Boris most of all. 

�Russian speakers feel themselves to be increasingly threatened and they
will put demands for the protection of their rights. This is what we saw
in the last elections � and it is not a healthy sign.� 

The general election in 2002 saw an overwhelming majority of Russians
vote for the left-wing bloc, Human Rights in a United Latvia. It gained
a fifth of the vote and is now the third-largest political grouping in
parliament. One of the bloc�s central policies, and its rallying call to
Russian speakers, was a demand for the withdrawal of the 2004 education
law.

The parties forming the Human Rights bloc are associated with
pro-Russian policies. Prominent members of the coalition hark back to
the communist era and maintain close links with the leadership in
Russia. One of its leaders, Alfreds Rubiks, is still remembered for
opposing Latvian independence from the Soviet Union. But this is not the
biggest problem. 

Russian speakers outnumber Latvians in the country's two largest cities.
In Riga, Russians account for 44 percent and Latvians only 41 percent of
the population. In Daugavpils, Latvians represent a mere 16 percent of
the population to the Russians' 55 percent. In other urban areas nearly
half the population are Russian-speakers. Up to this point, ethnic
Latvians have not been politically marginalized in Russian-dominated
parts of the country. 

This could soon change if the increasing number of Russian-speakers
gaining citizenship and voting rights--in the first three months of
2002, applications for naturalization increased by 30 percent--is
channelled into ethnic political groupings by issues such as the
contentious education law. 

THE EMERGENCE OF A MINORITY IDENTITY

Something unusual is happening in Latvia, Boris says.

�Many Latvians still see themselves as the minority. But at the same
time the Russian speakers who are living here are gradually developing
their own minority identity.�

Few Russian speakers can have failed to notice their change in
circumstances over the past 10 years, but as Boris points out, family
ties do not end when borders change their status.

�We had family in Odessa and visited them often. It was a different
place with a huge space in between, but it felt like the same country.
This was the impression I had when I was growing up. We lived in a
different state, but it was the same country. 

�My grandfather was born near the Ural Mountains, but during the civil
war he fled to Siberia. In the Second World War he was a military
engineer, building airfields in the Far East before being posted to East
Germany and finally Latvia. My mother�s father was born in South
Siberia. He was drafted into the war as cannon fodder and was
demobilized in Latvia, where he stayed.� 

It takes time to adjust to being a minority in a small country from
being part of a majority in a huge country. But, as Boris suggests, it
is even more of a challenge when your ethnic Latvian neighbor has to
come to terms with the same process but in reverse.

�Latvians were the minority in this huge country, which we considered to
be our home. Over 50 years Latvians developed a very strong sense of
minority identity. They felt themselves to be endangered.

�In my view, Latvians still retain this sense of minority identity,� he
says. "They still do not see themselves as the majority.� 

ETHNIC TENSIONS: MORE TO COME?

Still, both communities have been successful in avoiding ethnic
conflict. As Russian speakers begin to explore their new minority
status, though, they are sure to put increasing pressure on the state
authorities. And Boris will be among them.

�For the last 10 years the most common argument of the government has
been that Russians do not speak Latvian, [that we] are just lazy. But
Russians do learn Latvian, and it is now difficult for the government to
argue why it does not take Russian speakers into governmental
positions."

In 2001, the staffing of Latvia�s government ministries was 92 percent
ethnic Latvian with a mere 5 percent of positions filled by ethnic
Russians, even though 18 percent of Russians are citizens and could
quality for such positions.

Latvia has largely taken the measures necessary to ensure that it meets
international standards of minority protection. And no doubt many ethnic
Latvians would like to believe that the rest is up to Russian speakers.
But, as Boris says, evidence from other countries would suggest that the
need for flexibility and understanding is only just beginning.

�In many countries where minorities speak the official language and have
citizenship of that state, minority problems are actually worse. Such
things as language laws and acquiring citizenship, by themselves, do not
address minority rights issues.�

For Boris, the answer to this problem is simple. �This is my home and I
want to feel comfortable here. 

�I have to take into consideration what other people living here want.
But equally they should not put a lock on the door without giving me a
key.�

Latvia�s leaders have, up to now, been successful in managing this
difficult transition, but they will need to do more. As George Soros
told the Baltic News Service last October, the Russian-speaking
population should be allowed to �retain its national identity and become
loyal citizens.� That, after all, is what the protection of national
minorities is all about.


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Andrew Cave is based in Warsaw as an adviser to Polish and EU
politicians and businesses.
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http://culture.tol.cz/look/CER/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=14&NrIssue=46&NrSection=5&NrArticle=9140


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