3.novembris doma laukum Riga

There is an all-too-familiar ring to the t.v., newspaper and in-person stories of government and political-party scandal and corruption here in Latvia. Two cabinet ministers were recently relieved of their duties because of alleged malfeasance, the head of the security and corruption division of the government has been suspended—apparently because he was too conscientiously attending to his duties, several of the largest political parties overspent during recent elections and are being held accountable (“fined”) for those misdeeds, the ambassador to Estonia was arrested last week for drunk driving in the Estonian capitol, and the recently elected president lacks much of the charisma, leadership or savoir faire of his predecessor. Even the U.S. ambassador spoke out against government corruption and in support of democratic principles in a major policy speak three weeks ago that many Latvians said was “meddling” and others indicated was atypical for U.S. ambassadors.
Several opposition parties and their followers called for and staged a demonstration yesterday in the Dom Laukum (central cathedral square) of Riga. It was a cold (low 30s), snowy morning but by 11:00 a.m. the streets heading into the square were filled. The news coverage last evening indicated a crowd of more than 7,000 in spite of the weather. In the pictures you can just make out the large stage and enclosed bleachers that held a 200-300 person choral group. The large video screens on either side of the stage made it possible for many to see what was happening. There were lots of relatively brief speeches given by women and men—even the President attended and spoke, presumably in support of the current government. Since it was all in Latvian we caught an occasional word or two but not much of the detail. Some of the speeches evoked a chuckle or cheer that started near the front of the crowd and occasionally spread to our location on the edge.
There was a significant and visible police and emergency-personnel presence and all of the streets leading into the square were closed to traffic, but there wasn’t any atmosphere of rowdiness, or threat of violence that would require police intervention. All-in-all it was very orderly. The speeches were interspersed with choral numbers—2 or 3 at a time of the more than one million recorded “dainas” (folk songs) in the Latvian song books. Often some in the crowd joined in. I guess we expected a lot of students and young people, but if anything the crowd consisted of middle-age and older adults along with students and even many families with young children.
It’s been a long time since Cheryl & I went to a demonstration—some time in the early 70s on the Boston Common or at Arlington Street Church in Boston, I think. It’s but one example of democracy in action. rej