Latvia gets another badge for banana republic repression

Well, Latvia got what it was “working” for – a drop of 20 places to 50^th place in the world in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. It was in “good” company, just three places behind the 47^th place United States, which has disgraced its own benchmark First Amendment press freedom protections by arresting journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in several cities.

Latvia earned its sharp drop, according to Reporters Without Borders, for two incidents this year – a raid by anti-corruption police on the newspaper Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze (NRA) and the detention, for 48 hours, of the editor of a website in Latvian which exposed what it claimed was suspcious e-mail correspondence between Riga mayor Nils Ušakovs and the Russian Embassy.

Unfortunately, I missed the NRA incident in this blog, or perhaps I thought that an investigation by the anti-corruption police (KNAB) was justified, since the newspaper is effectively controlled by Ventspils mayor, oligarch and accused money-laundered and economic criminal Aivars Lembergs. I may have been wrong.

In any event, if you scroll back through what I have posted during 2011, there is plenty of reason to consider the freedom of expression (not just the rights of journalists) to have been dragged down to the level of a black humor banana republic by several actions of the authorities. So this ranking is well deserved, though I am more worried about the decline of press freedom in the country where I grew up – the United States. I frequently refer to the clear language of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law...”. That, for me, sets the standard for freedom of the press and speech, and it is very disturbing that the US cannot live up to its own standards. What can one expect of Latvia.

Nonetheless, respecting the rights of journalists and the freedom of expression is a low cost enterprise. Just let them be. And it has been proven possible in a country with much the same historical experience and “post-Soviet” political culture as Latvia – it's neighbor to the north, Estonia, ranked number three in the press freedom index after Finland and Norway. Another lesson not learned by a country that seems to want a downward spiral into cheap-ass (no concentration camps, just petty and stupid repression) banana republic status. 

"Another Latvia" bans picketing in Riga's Old Town

The Riga City Council has denied permits for two politically-oriented gatherings in Riga's Old Town, the site of recent street riots against the government and parliament (Saeima) that saw windows smashed, police vehicles overturned and stones thrown at the police.
A group calling itself the "Action Party"(Rīcības Partija) and headed by formed Euroskeptic Normunds Grostiņš, called for a gathering on Saturday, January 17 at the Riga Castle (the "official"but ramshackle residence of the Latvian president) followed by a march to the Saeima. The Action Party wants the present government replaced by a cabinet of non-political professionals. Their permit was denied but the group has appealed to the courts.
Another rally was planned by a student group, also near the Riga Castle, on Sunday, January 18. It has apparently cancelled its plans.
There are comments and appeals circulating on the internet asking people to defy the ban on gatherings in the Old Town and hinting at a repeat of the January 13 disorders if the police attempt to disperse or interfere with any unsanctioned public meetings.
These bans on free expression (even as precautions against more violence) are in the spirit of the repressive (and scared, from the government's viewpoint) "another Latvia" to which Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis said the country had awakened following a night of rioting.
Unfortunately, it appears that more confrontations are inevitable -- certain parts of society have had a taste of actively fighing authority and there is some justification for at least civil disobedience and resistance to bans on free expression. It is not a good path of development, but unavoidable and largely to be blamed on the pig-headed, deaf and corrupt political elite of this country.