Saturday, November 28, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
59 The People of Johns (III)

According to “Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae”, Riga’s main function in the 13th century was to “vine Domini palmites extendere in gentibus”, that is, “to extend the vines of the Lord’s vineyard among the pagans”. This information and translation from Linda Kaljundi’s paper, re “Young Church in God’s New Vineyard ….(2004)” I am pleased that Heinrici uses the word “gentibus” instead of “pagan”. Heinrici’s “gentibus” in his context may be best translated as “tribesmen” from “gentes”, tribes, but the word “people” may be equally apt. Be that as it may, it is my sense that when the Balts refer to themselves as “pagans”, they do themselves an injustice, because they should be using the word “heretics” instead. Indeed, Latin “heretici” rather than “pagan” is the way most neo-Christian inquisitors referred to the arch-Christian church. It is my belief that the people and ruler Visvaldis of Jersika (see blog 58) were arch-Christians, i.e., heretics to the violence prone neo-Christians.

I stated in my previous blog that “Jersika’s defeat is taken political advantage of by various interests to this day, which is why information of the culture that likely prevailed in Jersika is repressed to this day”. What was Jersika’s culture about?


There remains in our time almost no physical evidence that Jersika ever existed. However, in a post dated July 18, 2008, at LOL’s “Latvians on Faith” [re: The Janis Festival and All About Janis, p. 6], I wrote a blog titled “Of Polyphonic Songs & Witches”. The post was on a review by Ilva Skulte which appeared in “Kulturas Forums”, and concerned Professor Martin Boiko’s monograph on the Lithuanian sutartines, spiritual songs from northeastern Lithuania. This region approximates the region of Jersika and most likely extends it. I found the review interesting and speculated that the word “sutartine” may have some relationship to Montsegur, the Cathar stronghold in the Sabarthes Mountains in Languedoc. (I suggest the reader turn to the site for greater detail.) Suffice to say, I speculated that there may be a linguistic relationship between the word “sutartines” to the Lithuanian word “sutarti”, which means to get along, to be in accord, to sing together, and that it may shed some light on the designs woven into belt from Lielvarde. After all, a belt binds. Moreover, the belt may have bound more regions than Jersika alone. The word “saturs” in Latvian means content, while “saturēt” means to hold, to hold together, to keep from disintegrating.


To return to Caterina Bruschi’s work (see previous blog) concerning the wandering heretics of Languedoc. According to Bruschi, Humbert of Romans, the Master General of the Dominicans (1254-1264) at the high point of the neo-Christian inquisition, not only referred to Prussia, but complained bitterly that the Dominican monks “…do not want to leave their land or kinfolk, or forget their own people….”, whereas the opposite is true (by implication) of the heretics, the itinerant preachers, who had no such inhibitions, but went from house to house and from region to region, and were in constant motion throughout most of their lives. It does not take much for one familiar with the traditions of the Latvian “Children of Johns” to see the relationship between these itinerant preachers and wandering Johns.

The neo-Christians of our day are not interested in undoing the work of bishop Albert. Their clergy are direct beneficiaries of arch-Christian repression. The archbishop of Riga, Jānis Vanags, for example says that “For a long time now, Johns Day is no longer a religious celebration, but a folk celebration.” It is nice to hear the archbishop admit that Johns was ever a religious celebration in Latvia. It is also good to hear that he is making a response to the neo-Christian fundamentalist Janis Sadovskis who proposed “prayer evenings” to counter Johns Eve celebrations and, came Johns Eve 2009 had his congregation burn Latvian books, especially those which emphasized Latvian cultural traditions.


What the Lutheran archbishop forgot is that the folk tradition (“tautiski svētki” in his words) is no longer a signifier for the people. Vanags himself states that “the absolute majority [of the people], among them [neo-]Christians, simply come together before an outdoor fire to meet, sing, eat, and celbrate.” The repression of arch-Christianity in which the archbishop is participating by spreading disinformation and denying any religious significance to Johns today is no longer effected by sleight of tongue substituting religious tradition with a “folk tradition”. The folk tradition, Vanags is referring to is now following the lead of Pop culture, which turns Johns into a day off from work and/or binging on alcohol.


Neo-Christians would like everyone to forget that the itinerant Johns (the holy men of proto-Latvians) loved their homeland just as much as the Dominican monks did (see above), however, their homeland was not limited to king Visvaldis kingdom. Rather, the kingdom of Jersika, was very likely still part of a borderless empire of which kingdoms were auto cephalic precincts, so determined by language, tribal myth, historical happenstance, and ever changing borders due to everyone becoming a migrant when survival was at stake. The Johns or itinerant preachers of Jersika and other kingdoms were not the only ones who moved, but the entire kingdom moved. This is the one thing that scholars, even Bruschi forget. It was not the “heretics” who moved in on (neo-)Christian spiritual territory, but neo-Christians protected by and hired by secular princes who moved to suppress itinerancy in the interest of princes desiring to establish secular territorial kingdoms. So called “patriotism” of today has become identified with a given territory in an extreme fashion, which is why it may also be called fascism. However, in king Visvaldis days, patriotism meant loyalty to the tribe. The tribe chose the king as its living totem, and generally it was the king who died for the tribe, rather than the tribe for the king or state as is the case in our days.

Some scholars argue [as Kaspars Klavins does (see blog 58)] that the violent past of the Latvian people ought to be viewed from “a constructive standpoint”, i.e., without a papal Livonia there would be no modern Latvia. He is of course right with but one caveat: the proto-Latvian people of the Jersika kingdom ceased to exist as a recognizable sovereignty people after their king’s humiliation. It is true that the king justified his submission to humiliation when in 1214, he lead an  uprising. When it failed, the proto-Latvian people of Jersika gradually blended into the forests. They stayed there for seven hundred years. When the “Latvians” reemerged, they were a different “people” from the ones whose living totem had been John. As I have pointed out, the new totem became Bear-jaw-breaker. Whether the Latvian people or neo-Christianized elite chose him is argument for another day.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

An interesting poll. Information on emigration figures figures.

On the theme of “more-equal-than-others: AnimalFarm. An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) companymap companymap ; satellite satellitemap.  While some sources claim that Latvia is 47% covered by forests, none of it is old growth forest. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor: “There were fewer mushrooms this fall than last year. Forests we used to visit are gone.”

Of great interest to me: cocalear. The article at link pretty well presents my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass to facilitate the tourist industry in the Latvian countryside.

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.

Partial entries of my blogs may be found at LatviansOnline LatviansOnline  + Open Forum – ONLATVIANPOPULISM vs LATVIJASLABEJIE. If you copy this blog for your files, or copy to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschroniclnes.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
58 The People of Johns (II)

Due to its geography, the territory that is now Latvia has always been in a state of greater or lesser demographic crisis. No doubt, various conflicts and wars have played their horrific role. However, an undeniable role in the shaping of the culture of the Baltics has been played by the land itself. As I remember from a news report a while ago, the current Premier of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is said to have referred to Latvia as a country where one can find only sand and mushrooms. Of course, in a derogatory sense, Putin is absolutely correct, because the third resource, forests, are now fast disappearing. According to some of my neighbors, the mushrooms, too, may be going due to the fast pace of deforestation.

There is some richly fertile land in Latvia, of course. However, most of it lies in the south of the country, and, from what I read, it has been bought up by foreign companies. Where I live, the northern part of Limbazhu region (not far from the Estonian border), the land has only about a foot of rock-thrown topsoil with clay appearing immediately underneath. This condition is due to the scraping and leaching of the land by the retreating ice age and its plentiful water runoffs not all that many thousand years ago. While farmers are exploiting this topsoil to the maximum and claim that the soil has plenty to give yet (“as long as you keep tilling and fertilizing it”), my own sense is that the land is better served if it were left to the forests and humans adapt to a forest environment.

The geography of Latvia pleads that the land be reforested, that the people learn how to build their homes in forests again as of yore, and that the population continue to be sparse—as it always has been.

Such an readaptation to geography, unfortunately, runs against the grain of the privatist mentality that prevails in the wake of 19th and 20th century philosophies that hold that those in power are “more-equal-than-others” and to simplistic Darwinisms such as “survival of the fittest”. Such theology-philosophy was well represented by the current President of Latvia, Zatlers, when on Latvia’s Independence day, he emphasized three things as being of primary importance: “land, people, freedom”. Why the president omitted sacrifice makes sense in the context of the neo-religion that prevails in Latvia today and is enabled by Latvia’s Constitution, the same that was unable to prevent two savagings of Latvian culture and the country’s economy. The first savaging occurred through the offices of the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers of the original Republic, the second is officiating today. Within both time periods the prevailing philosophy of government and, if you will, the theology of those in government, did not encourage “freedom” with responsibility, which of course cannot occur without sacrifice.


The final death knell of Latvian culture of old was sounded by the Latvian poet Pumpurs, who in 1888 published a pseudo epic called “Lāčplēsis” or Bear-jaw-breaker. While it has become a convention to call the poem’s pseudo-hero “Bear-slayer”, he is often portrayed as tearing apart the jaws of a bear. Such an image occurs in Luther’s Illustrated Bible (1543), though the figure is ripping the jaws of a lion and his name is Samson. http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/1049463

I do not believe that most Latvians know that the death of their forebears occurred (I am still hoping that it did not occur) in 1209. The year should be famous among Latvians for two reasons.

One. In 1209 (the date may be of questionable accuracy for those who are critical of Scaligeri’s chronology) Pope Innocent III began a Crusade against the Albigensian Cathars in what is now the south of France. It is my opinion that the Cathars were equivalencies or co-existing arch-Christians cells. The auto cephalic ecclesia of Eastern orthodox neo-Christian churches follows this organizational pattern to this day. The Crusade ended in a victory for the Pope. Many of the Cathar perfecti (teachers and leaders) were burned. The significance of burning, incidentally, is that it was believed to wipe from memory the times and ways defended by those burnt.


Two. In 1209 the neo-Christian bishop of Riga, Albert, sent forces at his command against the kingdom of Jersika, which was located in what is now the southeastern region (most of today’s Latgale). Jersika (pronounce Yersika; sometimes written Gercik, Gereike) was a kingdom ruled by a king named Visvaldis. In literal translation, the king’s name means Ruler of All. The king was not prepared for the surprise attack and Jersika was burned to the ground. In 1842, the thirty-six year old Polish poet Michal Borch, possibly of Latgalian extraction, wrote a poem, in which he imagines the defeated king witness Jersika burning. The poetic image is based on Heinrici Chronican Livoniae (“Indrikha hronika”) written in the 13th century.

After Visvaldis is taken across Daugava and sees his burning city on the other side of the river, the king “…took a deep breath and began to weep. He screamed, and he said: Ai, Jersika, my dear city! Ai, the inheritance of my fathers! Ai, the unexpected destruction of my people!...” (My translation.) Visvaldis is taken prisoner, brought to Riga, and publicly humiliated there.*


For an encore, let me offer a variation on the text. “John screamed, and he said: ‘O, Jerusalem, my dear city! Ai, the inheritance of my fathers! Ai, the unexpected destruction of my people!’” Perhaps it is time to think that Jersika may be a colloquialism for Jerusalem. Bishop Albert tried to capture the name and bring it to Riga. It was not uncommon to compare Riga to Jerusalem in the bishop’s days. However, as we know, in our times Riga remains the seat of secular power. If in Albert’s days Riga’s mission was conversion of arch-Christian proto-Latvians to neo-Christianity, today the government is doing all it can to turn neo-Christianity to Pop culture, which is successfully leading Latvians to a post-Latvian future.

I owe the quote and help in making the above One./Two./1209 c.e. association to Kaspars Klavins and his book “apStāvēšana”, Mansards, 2009, p. 80. I find the title of Klavins book almost untranslatable, but perhaps “Defense Of…” will approximate. Klavins speaks, among other things, of the defense of Latvian culture even as it may be disappearing from the stage of history. The book’s author criticizes the cultural ethos prevailing in Latvia today and rings praise in defense of the values proto-Latvian culture in Jersika. Klavins is Assistant Professor at the Daugavpils University and Adjunct Research Associate at Monash University in Australia. I would add that Jersika’s defeat is taken political advantage of by various interests to this day, which is why information of the culture that most likely prevailed in Jersika is repressed to this day. (More to follow in my next blog.)



Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

*“Tāpēc, nododami pēcnieku zināšanai to, kas noticis mūsu laikos, darām zināmu visiem nākamiem un tagadējiem Kristus ticīgiem, ka Dieva lielā žēlastība, joprojām jauno Livonijas baznīcas dēstījumu atbalstīdama un atbalstot uz priekšu virzīdama, pakļāva mums Visvaldi, Jersikas karali. Proti, ieradies Rīgā, klāt esot jo daudziem dižciltīgiem garīdzniekiem, bruņiniekiem, tirgotājiem, vāciešiem, krieviem un lībiešiem Jersikas pilsētu, kas viņam pieder par dzimtu līdz ar novadu un visiem pie šīs pilsētas piederīgiem labumiem viņš nodeva kā likumīgu dāvinājumu svētās Dievmātes un jaunavas Marijas baznīcai, bet tos savus meslu devējus, kas saņēmuši ticību no mums, viņš atbrīvoja un nodeva mums līdz ar viņu mesliem un novadu, proti Autīnas pilsētu, Cesvaini un citas ticībai piegrieztās. Pēc tam, zvērējis mums vasala uzticību, viņš svinīgi saņēma no mūsu rokas minēto Jersikas pilsētu ar piederīgo novadu un labumiem kā lēnu ar trim karogiem.” http://tiny.cc/pYqiX  


On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviK  ; http://tiny.cc/1NFQJ


An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/TSghu  While some sources claim that Latvia is 47% covered by forests, none of it is old growth forest. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor of mine: “This fall there were far less mushrooms than last year. The forests we used to go to are gone.”


Of great interest to me: http://tiny.cc/HorIT  The article pretty well presents my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass to facilitate the tourist industry in the Latvian countryside.


These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.


If you copy this blog for your files, or copy to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschroniclnes.blogspot.com/  

Saturday, November 21, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins

I call the picture on the right "The Last of Johns". It is taken from the photo album "Jāņu Foto Albums", Norden AB,  2007, p 37. The photo is from the LNVM collection. Taken on "Johns Day" in 1927 at Daugavpils, Rudzetu estate. The LNVM Collection captions the photo "A Poor Man on Johns Day". Other photos are snapshots of work in progress at "Black John, a Temple for the Missing Forests" near the writer's home.



NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
57 The People of Johns (I)

Circumstances have kept the people of Latvia almost invisible. This is not only the case during the founding of Latvia as a nation and the writing of the Latvian Constitution, when self-awareness ought to be at its hight. The reason for the “invisibility” of the Latvian people is rooted in the distant past. However, if the roots before the 12th century are hid for lack of records, from about the 12th and 13th centuries on the roots may be inferred from peoples sharing similar circumstances.

Caterina Bruschi, a lecturer at Birmingham University, has just published an innovative account of the Catholic Inquisition in Languedoc, now part of France. Her account takes into consideration the point of view of not only the inquisitors, but also the “heretics”. “The Wandering Heretics of Languaedoc”, published by the Cambridge University Press this year, is a study of the testimony of what Bruschi calls “non-conformist itinerants”, and how their depositions were effected not only by fear, but their dissent from the Catholic orthodoxy as well. http://tiny.cc/hv43e  As the readers of my blogs know, I never call the name of so-called “Christianity” other than “neo-Christianity”. That is to say, what neo-Christians generally refer to as orthodox Christianity, I call it neo-Christianity. Therefore, in my parlance, the Christians of old who dissented from orthodoxy are what I call “arch-Christians”.

My interest in the Cathars of Languaedoc was first aroused, when it became increasingly likely to me that the fate of the Latvian “Children of Johns” (Jāņu bērni) was in some way related to the fate of the Cathars, the Waldesians, the Bogomils, in fact to all the confessions, which in one way or another could be imagined to have a connection with the name “John”—of which the Latvian “Jahnis” is a cognate.


As the reader probably knows, the Latvian “Children of John” (their festival is celebrated on Midsummer’s Eve) are a complete mystery today—especially to the Latvians themselves. This is in spite of the fact that almost all Latvians celebrate “Johns Eve” on an annual basis and have done so since time immemorial. The closest explanation for “Johns” that one comes across in public is that Johns Day is either “St. John the Baptist’s Day” or a common name’s day for John, the latter because it is the Latvian tradition to celebrate one’s name almost as if it were one’s birthday. In any event, if the mystery of whence “John’s Eve” was as much of a mystery in the 1930s as it is today, at least in the 1930s many country people still knew how to sing “the Songs of John”. Today after the holocaust of the Soviet occupation only the refrain “lihgo” (līgo) and perhaps a few phrases of once hundreds of songs remain part of popular memory. One noteworthy phrase exclaims “Ai, Johnny, son of God”; another tells us that “Johnny comes (?returns) every year”. The first phrase connects John to neo-Christianity, the other to antiquity, the latter because the words “every year” suggest that the origin of the festival is to be sought in antiquity. These remembrances are in our day continued only by community choirs (such as may remain) however, and it is only through such reminders that the community remains cognizant of Johns.


Bruschi does not mention in her book the “Children of Johns”. Nevertheless, she quotes an inquisitor who refers to the efforts of the Inquisition in Prussia, a region that in his days belonged to a tribe of Baltic people. Humbert of Romans, Dominical Master General from 1254-1264, writes from Paris:


“O, how much your charity would rejoice with me over the holy fervours of our brothers, if you knew how many of them, from assorted provinces [!], offered themselves with most fervent desire to the hardships of this task [of conversion]….” Though Bruschi does not quote Humbert in full, she ads the name of Prussia in her analysis of the phrase: “…the foreign missions here referred to [are]… the Cumans, Maronites, Tartars, Georgians, Saracens and Prussians.” For my part, I imagine many other tribes of the Balts were exposed to similar “fervours”, and know that all such “charity” exacted blood drawn by the sword.

Wherefrom the neo-Christian violence?


We should recall that when Humbert wrote his letter, it from the time that was before the Avignon papacy (1309-1378) http://tiny.cc/EIVej . We should also recall that the pope moved to Rome only in 1378. There was no pope in Rome before that time whatever the neo-Christian themselves may claim. Moreover, the Crusade against the Cathars of Lanquedoc ended with a Cathar holocaust in 1230, long before Rome existed as the seat of either neo-Christianity or the Pope. At thaT time, neo-Christianity was but an organization advancing the secular interests of certain kings and princes. Indeed, if one takes seriously the need for a revision of historical chronology, place names and locations (as per Anatoly Fomenko with whose views I generally agree), we cannot exclude the possibility that Humbert of Romans is a “Roman” from Byzantium, the capital of which, Constantinople, was sacked by proto-neo-Christians during the 4th Crusade in 1204.

The Balts—the Prussians, Courlanders, Semigalians, Latgalians, various tribes of the Lithuanians, etc.—were all subdued by the Germans (the French and the Brits joining in the early years of the Inquisition). As a consequence, some Balts assimilated themselves to the ways of the Germans or, if you will, of the West, the invaders, sooner than later. A major tool that forced the assimilation was neo-Christianity’s ability to bringing “the good news” through the above mentioned fervourous mouths of Dominican brothers and their ability to advertise their views through writing, which enabled them not only tokeep records, but to write and rewrite laws as they found it necessary.


The arch-Christian nature of the “Children of Johns” of Latvians has survived only to the extent that what was once the most holy day among the Balts, Midsummer’s Eve, has survived as a celebration, a festival. Way back then, I expect that the teachers of the Balts, “the wandering heretics”, were were killed or otherwise silenced. The martyrdom of the Johns broke the links between the various Baltic communities, leaving them isolated.


In their early days, the communities of the Balts lived mostly along the shores of rivers, lakes, the seashore, and whatever natural clearings there were to be found. Centuries later, after the various Indo-European tribes that settled Europe  began to form what we now know as “the nations of Europe”, nation-forming engulfed the Balts in the wars of many princes. The Balts often took refuge by fleeing deeper into the surrounding forests and swamps, and became  “the People of the Forest” (mežvides ļaudis). Of course, these seekers of safer harbors took the songs and their memories of the Johns Eve festival with them.

Eventually, the Balts of Livonia (one of the regions that was believed to have been native to the Balts) rediscovered their existence—that is to say, they become conscious of themselves as a larger-than-life community again. This was about the 16th century. Not surprisingly, such self-consciousness reawakened only when it was safe again to gather at markets and hold song festivals. This is when the Johns’ or “lihgo” songs reemerged and came to play an important role in the discovery of the Latvians as a people again. Somehow, the songs of Johns Eve had survived. http://tiny.cc/Axv1U

…………………………

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviKhttp://tiny.cc/1NFQJ


An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/TSghu  While some sources claim that Latvia is covered by a 47% forest cover, none of it is old growth forests. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor of mine: “This fall there were far less mushrooms than last year, because the forests we used to go to are gone.”


These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.


If you copy this blog for your files, or to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschroniclnes.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
56 The Ides of Marx (IV)

(Continued from blog 55…)

No matter how one describes the events that led to Latvia’s founding on the 18th of November, 1918, it is clear it was done with a haste that is not as innocent as it is now said to be. The public at large received no period of grace for either approval or disapproval. Unfortunately, it was the “breadth” of the representative body of the Sovereign Council of the People, not the Latvian people themselves who spoke.

Does the behavior of the “liberal citizens” invalidate the Latvian Constitution? One hopes not. There were good geopolitical reasons for not wasting time in debates that would necessarily have taken some time. Moreover, though World War 1 was technically over, the aftermath was still one of violence, especially with a Revolution raging in Russia.

However, the haste of liberal circles to force themselves on Latvia as its sole founders, leads to the conjecture that these circles were motivated by a desire to establish a society and culture with a bias for the urban middle class and liberal economics. Today one would expect a referendum, a vote, a coming together of a majority of the people in order to establish their communal bonds beyond any doubt. Such a moment of coming together most likely occurred in “the days of the barricades” in early 1991, with the Peoples’ Front representing the populist front. Alas, the government that came to power on May 4th of that year, took the Constitution of 1922 for its own. If most Latvians today sing the Latvian national anthem giving their voices an inflection of pathos, the roots of this inflection must be sought in the circumstances that surround Latvia’s declaration of independence and the tilt of its Constitution.


Interestingly, the pathos of Latvia is expressed rather well by the former foreign minister of Latvia, Janis Jurkans, who (referring to the immediate post 1991 years in Latvia) says: “Political power in those days came into the hands of three, four people. I now live in a nation that has been stolen.” (My translation.) The former foreign minister ads that several retired politicians who are now returning to politics are doing so, because “They fear for their security before the law”. http://tiny.cc/mFz6b

If the haste on the 17th of November, 1918, was motivated by the concern that unless we establish the state of Latvia NOW, Latvians may not have the opportunity to do so on another day, it still leaves a question. What is the argument for denying populists expression when the consensus is that the people’s sovereign right to their nation has been stolen?

If we infer that the argument of the liberals in 1918 would have been that they founded Latvia with good will toward all and assumed the responsibility of bringing all together in the near future, then why the drumbeat denial of populism? Indeed, the president of Latvia should apologize for his careless remarks with regard to populism, because those remarks open the door to the criticism that he is acting as a lackey of the partidocracy in Saeima, a partidocracy that rules as a sovereign instead of the people. While a sense of togetherness brought together many Latvians in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Latvians have not yet had the opportunity to come together as a solidarity when a nation. This writer believes, this is not the time when coming together is beyond achieving. However, it will be so if the thieves remain in office. Is this why the President of Latvia is asking all Latvians to sing the Latvian national hymn at the same time, though clearly the mood among the people demands that the President overcome his personal psychological struggles and give signs that he is not the talking head for partidocracies?


The Latvian Constitution (Satversme) was written under the umbrage of the Allies and Latvia’s German occupants, still on Latvian soil at the time. Indeed, the defeat that the Germans had suffered by the Allies was not so bitter for the Germans in Latvia, because they were necessary and material to the exclusion of such interests as were in conflict with Latvia’s liberals at the founding of Latvia.

The exclusion of populist interests and negation of populism is still as effective and widely spread in 2009 as it was in 1918. It is tragic that the economic and cultural collapse of Latvia in 2009 under the umbrage of the liberal parties (labējie) has been allowed to take place. For ninety-one years nothin’ special has changed, not even with the huge gap (45-46 year) in Latvia’s independence no-thanks to the occupation of the Soviet Union. The Constitution, written after 1918, which created Latvia’s partidocracies (with all so many wanting to join in the feeding frenzy), indeed had to be checked by the liberals themselves, re, Ulmanis’ dictat.


Subsequent to the renewal of Latvia, the nation is now de facto bankrupt, with one of the parties that led the country to bankruptcy ironically named “Peoples Party”, i.e., Tautas partija. Of course, the Constitution of Latvia, written under the umbrage of Latvia’s liberals, has not been substantially revised. A rewriting of the Constitution, the calling for a long-term conference that will take the interests of all inhabitants of Latvia at heart, is not under consideration even today.

The writers of the Constitution of Latvia http://tiny.cc/uDKxr  read a number of constitutions to learn from their example, but they were primarily influenced by the Constitution of the German Weimar Republic. For their part, the Social Democrats (even if one of their own rank lead the Constitutional Committee) took a stand against the Constitution, especially with regard to the section that spoke of the rights of citizens. For their part, the Social Democrats argued that though the constitutions of many nations had declarative phrases with regard to citizens rights, the governments had found ways to ignore them “for hundreds of years”. For Latvia the argument is short nine years before it becomes prophetic.

The character and spirit of the citizens of Latvia has suffered great damage. A small nation of 2.5 million people cannot afford to be dumbed down when it comes to education, but this has been accomplished, both, with the help of the once Soviet Union and the present partidocracy. The teeth of the people in Latvia, especially those living in the countryside, rot. The elderly are neglected. With unemployment high, many working age people are turning to alcohol as they did under the Soviet system, and their children suffer from malnutrition. Many leave the country with a curse leveled at the government. The curses of the people against the ruling partidocracy flow in an unrelenting stream. So? So, nothin’. The President of Latvia goes to a closed Christian prayer breakfast and comes away from it with the message that “the people should not curse the state”. http://tiny.cc/ne0hK

Saulīt, svēti Latviju! Bring us a sunny day.


Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviK  ; http://tiny.cc/1NFQJ

An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/7mSpk  http://tiny.cc/TSghu  The two maps match, but you should look at both to get a realistic sense of the meaning of the “47%” forest cover. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. At this moment, only “lousy” weather and water filled swamps keep the chainsaws at bay. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor: “This fall there were far less mushrooms than last year, because the forests we used to go to are gone.”

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.

If you copy this blog for your own files, or forward it, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/  

Monday, November 16, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
55 The Ides of Marx (III)

“November 11, 1918, Germany was compelled to sign the Compiègne armistice http://tiny.cc/7MJVo  with the allies and this gave the opportunity for declaration of an independent Republic of Latvia. Initially, LNDP [Provisional* Latvian National Board, i.e., Latviešu pagaidu nacionālā padome] and the Democratic Bloc [anti-socialist or so-called “citizens” circles] could not agree on the political system to be chosen for the new country - the Social democrats insisted on forming a socialist regime, which was not acceptable to other parties. However, after long debate, on November 17, 1918, LNDP and the Democratic Bloc agreed to jointly form a provisional parliament, the Latvian People's Council (LPC), which resolved to establish an independent and democratic republic. On the following day, on November 18, 1918, based on the previous day's resolutions, the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed.” http://tiny.cc/Qg8nD **

However, this is not the whole story. Indeed, it passes over much that is relevant. For one, it completely bypasses the populist point of view—“populism” meaning “the people”***—which is not taken into consideration (in spite of the word “people” being so prominent a part of the council’s name), and by numerous legalistic oversights is excluded from having a say in the Latvian Constitution (Satversme). Note from the quote above: “…Social democrats insisted on forming a socialist regime, which was not acceptable to other parties. However, after long debate, on November 17, 1918, LNDP and the Democratic Bloc agreed to jointly form a provisional parliament….” What happened to the Social Democrats? Did they disappear, capitulate, or accept the point of view of “other parties”?


The Social Democrats refused to join the LNDP when it was founded on 1st of October, 1917. Only ten months after the Latvian troops (strēlnieki) had lost 8000-9000 men during the “Christmas battles” of 1916, the feelings against the tsar’s regime ran high. The loss occurred because Russian troops failed to come to the aid of the Latvian troops, when on December 23rd, 1916, they created a breach in the German lines. The Russian troops (possibly due to demoralization in the ranks and fear among officers to order an attack under such circumstances) failed to take advantage and enter the breach. The Latvian troops then had to retreat and stabilize the lines to prevent the Germans from seizing Riga during a counterattack. Because of the huge losses during these battles, the mood of the troops and most Latvians in the territories unoccupied by the Germans was against the tsar, indeed, many spoke of overthrowing him.

The “Christmas battles” ended in the middle of January, 1917. The situation in tsar’s Russia continued to deteriorate. Due to the failure of the Russian government to assure adequate supplies for civilians and the military in the capital city of Petrograd (St. Petersburg), the city’s population revolted. On the 27th of February the revolt was joined by Russian soldiers. The tsar abdicated his throne on March 2nd. On the 12th of March, the Latvians of Vidzeme held a meeting in Valmiera (with the regions of Riga, Cesis, and Valka participating) and demanded the new Provisional Government of Russia to dismiss the German Landrat, which heretofore had acted as the local government for the Russians. The Social Democrats played a leading role at these meetings. By the 17th of May the party’s resolution expressing lack of confidence in the Provisional Russian government was seconded by the 2nd Strelski Congress.


By the end of March, 1917, four more Latvian political parties, defining themselves as “un-socialist” (anti-socialist) and “citizen led” (in this instance ‘citizen’ defined as a member of the bourgeois) were formed, but had difficulties defining their working principles and attracting membership. The Farmer’s party was founded in late April, and under the leadership of Kārlis Ulmanis, attracted a membership of 20,000, thus, becoming one of the largest political parties in Latvia.

It must be noted at this point that in Latvia today (2009), the word “socialist” is often perceived—as the following quote shows—as a word wholly negative. “…A person who has not lived through the socialist order and seen its consequences cannot understand it.”***.—Ilga Kreituse, Associate Professor at Riga Stradinu University. http://tiny.cc/DFIpC  (My translation). One must remember, however, that in 1916-1917 socialism was perceived by most people not only in terms of a force willing to overthrow a shopworn tsarist regime, but as hope for the future. Of the terror of violence—which was later coupled with deliberate under education (especially of the Latvian people) under Lenin and Stalin—no one had any inkling.

The answer, biased toward the interests of the bourgeois parties, may be found at this link http://tiny.cc/BCjvX . To quote: “...the efforts of the LPNP [Provisional Latvian National Board--Latviešu pagaidu nacionālā padome] to keep [the big powers] from forgetting Latvian interests had gained recognition [through England’s de facto recognition of Latvia], but at this very moment there appeared disagreements between the LPNP and the Democratic block over the principles of unity. Refusing to participate in any further discussions, the representatives of the Democratic block called a meeting for the 16th of November and on the following day proclaimed itself as the Sovereign Council of the People.... On the 18th of Novermber, 1918, the Sovereign Council of the People proclaimed itself to be a sovereign authority and founded the Latvian nation. (My translation. The test in Latvian at ****)


What the quote still does refuses to spell out (a little of the history here http://tiny.cc/IUnNk  and http://tiny.cc/e6KW9 )  is that the bourgeois parties dismissed the Social Democrats, and ignored the interests of the people in favor of the liberal circles. Under the cover of a renewed German attack and Russian retreat, “The liberal circles among Latvians hurriedly began looking for permanent solutions with regard to the political future [of Latvia], which meant that it was necessary to review all earlier political goals….” (My translation; see quote in Latvian at *****).


One should read the Latvian text (from which the above quote) of Dr. hist. Uldis Krēsliņš with care. The historian’s text is as carefully worded as it is misleading. It should be especially noted that the large vote (67%) received by the Social Democrats and their allies is counterbalanced by by the historian with the world “plašāko” (broadest). How does “largest vote” for one square with “broadest representation” for the other? Quite clearly, the history of Latvia or what passes as Latvia’s history has been smudged by the politics of a government where partidocracy has become a tradition. This is how a legalistic dance of words rather accurate presentation is able to replace a recorded majority with opinionated “breadth”. The practice of disinformation in 1918 is still a practice in 2009. (To be continued in blog 56)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

* I am translating “provisional” as “pagaidu”, literal meaning “temporary”. The word could also be translated as “ad hoc”, Latin for “for this purpose”.
** “LPNP centieni lielvaru cīņās neļaut aizmirst latviešu intereses bija guvuši atzīšanu, bet šajā brīdī Rīgā pēkšņi atklājās pretrunas starp LPNP un Demokrātiskā bloka aprindām par apvienošanās principiem. Atsakoties no tālākām sarunām, Demokrātiskajā blokā apvienojušos partiju pārstāvji 16.novembrī sanāca uz sēdi un nākamajā dienā konstituējās par Tautas padomi.” http://tiny.cc/BCjvX
***Populism and “the people”. “Populism is the discussion of the political which constructs and gives meaning to ‘the people’.” –Oscar Rayes, Skinhead Conservativism: A Failed Populist Project. http://tiny.cc/ZPbaHc  
**** Atsakoties no tālākām sarunām, Demokrātiskajā blokā apvienojušos partiju pārstāvji 16.novembrī sanāca uz sēdi un nākamajā dienā konstituējās par Tautas padomi.... 1918.gada 18.novembrī pilsētas 2. teātrī Latvijas Tautas padome, pasludinot sevi par suverenās varas nesēju, proklamēja Latvijas valsti.
***** “…liberālajām latviešu aprindām lika steigšus ķerties pie Latvijas politiskās nākotnes jautājuma patstāvīgas risināšanas, kas, savukārt, nozīmēja nepieciešamību pārskatīt līdzšinējo nacionāli politisko centienu mērķus… ” http://tiny.cc/BCjvX
................................................
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviK  ; http://tiny.cc/1NFQJ
An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/7mSpk  http://tiny.cc/TSghu  The two maps match, but you should look at both to get a realistic sense of the meaning of the “47%” forest cover. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. At this moment, only “lousy” weather and water filled swamps keep the chainsaws at bay. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor: “This fall there were far less mushrooms than last year, because the forests we used to go to are gone.”
These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.
If you copy this blog for your own files, or to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

Friday, November 13, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
54 The Ides of Marx (II)

To discover how a bean reaches the sky takes some serious attention, but most of us leave it be knowing that once the shoot breaks the ground, it needs a branch or a wire to attach itself to, and once these are provided, the rest takes place on its own. However, the bean that I am talking about is named Latvia, and its growth has been, at best, stunted.

Latvia is a small nation that originates in Indo-European tribes, specifically as a linguistic group that since the foundation of the Baltic countries have come to be known as the Balts. http://tiny.cc/  If originally the Baltic Germans (occupiers of many of the territories of the Balts) applied the name only to themselves, linguists began to apply it to the languages spoken by the Lithuanians and Latvians, which is why those who spoke these languages became known as Balts. In a geopolitical sense, however, the name “Baltic countries” includes Estonia. This is because the Soviet Union annexed all three countries at about the same time. In any event, here she is, behold Latvia, ninety-one years since its founding in 1918.

The Latvians borrowed their name from the Latgalians, a tribe of Balts that played a significant role in creating Latvia itself. The Latgalians were an aggressive tribe. Perhaps this was because they were so much so egalitarian, that upon his death a father divided his land equally among all his sons. Since such a practice soon left his sons, especially his grandsons, with little land, they were left with no alternatives other than go look for (seize) more land or chose village life. In some ways, the Latgalians never resolved their egalitarian sensibilities, which is one reason why—when easy expansion into thinly settled lands of Neolithic people was no longer easy—they became prey to their militarily more advanced neighbors. http://tiny.cc/hJ3qh  First, they were joined with the Lithuanian-Polish Empire that brought them into the ranks of neo-Christianity by way of Catholicism. In 1918, to escape the grasp of the Soviets, as well as the Poles, the Latgalians joined Latvia.


When one looks at a map of Latvia, one soon notes that Latgale, when compared to the rest of Latvia, lies inland, bordering with Russia and Belorussia. The rest of the Latvian regions are edged by or closer to the Baltic Sea. Because of this geographical difference, the rest of the Latvians were ever so much more influenced by their German occupants, not only in the sense of being more oppressed by them, but in the sense of being more readily exposed to the influences of the Age of Enlightenment and its pretensions as well. The difference in geographic location played a role in the discriminatory way Latvians living near the sea viewed their cousins living inland. The discrimination still has a role to play in our day. Most of the funds made available to Latvia by the European Union, many earmarked for Latgale, are reported not find their way to Latgale. Instead, the funds remain in Riga, the capital of Latvia, seat of the Latvian intelligentsia, elite, and source of discrimination against the people of Latvia at large, Latgale in particular. The overdevelopment of Riga at the expense of poverty-stricken Latgale is especially sad, since Riga’s geographical location condemns it to sink under the sea in less than a hundred years time.


While this is not the space to discuss the history of Latvia, it is important to note that subsequent to the religious civil war in Europe [the so-called Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)] the seacoast areas of Latvia came under Protestant control, while Latgale remained under the influence of the Catholic Church. While in this writer view the parties facing each other in this war were parties to the neo-Christian church (Catholics vs Protestants), the arch-Christian church—of which the Children of Johns (Jahnu behrni) had been a part—was already repressed to such a degree that it had become identified with the world of the “pagans”. One may say that in the sense of being present at the event, the Children of Johns had no role to play. Nevertheless, in hindsight, and in view of the Latgalian sense of egalitarianism when it came to tribal economics, it is the 17th century when the dust blew over the chasm that separates the egalitarianism of Latvians of antiquity from the Latvians of an age when being “more equal than others” is the future. [You may wish to click and read the blogsite Cits Krasts, a site that I follow. Some interesting observations there by Belorusian peasant women about Latvians.]


The covered over economic chasm has a role to play in 1917 with the creation of the executive committee of the Soviet Latvian Workers, Soldiers and Landless Peasants Council (Iskolat). http://tiny.cc/Qg8nD  While the Republic of Iskolat disappeared from the stage quickly and is a near unmentionable today, it nevertheless may give a hint of the social structure and behavior of the Latgalians in antiquity. While Valmiera is in northern Vidzeme, not far from the Estonian border, many of the inhabitants of this region come from Latgale. Until the Great Northern War (in the first decades of the 18th century), Valmiera was part of Livonia, which along its seacoast was populated by Livs, a Finno-Ugrian people. After the war this region was so depopulated that “only dogs are left howling”—according to a report by General Boris Sheremedjev to Tsar Peter the Great. Latgalians, who brought with them their sense that a just world was an egalitarian world, replaced the dead and missing Livs, who may well have believed the same.

____________________________
Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

On Old Europe, Gimbutas http://tiny.cc/Zz07V  http://tiny.cc/K6pJj


On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviK  ; http://tiny.cc/1NFQJ


An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/7mSpk  http://tiny.cc/TSghu  The two maps match, but you should look at both to get a realistic sense of the meaning of the supposed 47% forest cover. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. At this moment, only “lousy” weather and water filled swamps keep the chainsaws somewhat at bay. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor: “This fall there were far less mushrooms than last year, because the forests were we used to go are gone.”

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.


If you copy this blog for your own files, or to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/  

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
53 The Ides of Marx (I)

I had to look twice when I saw the TimesOnline headline: “Vatican thumbs up for Karl Marx ….” I was even more surprised to learn that the headline was telling the truth. The Vatican is engaged in historical reappraisal and making changes in its stance with regard to its former positions on a number of issues. According to TimesOnline:

“L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said yesterday [10/22/09] that Marx’s early critiques of capitalism had highlighted the ‘social alienation’ felt by the ‘large part of humanity’ that remained excluded, even now, from economic and political decision-making.

“Georg Sans, a German-born professor of the history of contemporary philosophy at the pontifical Gregorian University, wrote in an article that Marx’s work remained especially relevant today as mankind was seeking ‘a new harmony’ between its needs and the natural environment. He also said that Marx’s theories may help to explain the enduring issue of income inequality within capitalist societies.” http://tiny.cc/6jOOf


It is significant that the leader of a major institution with populist tendencies, the “Church”, is changing its mind and has tilted the institution it controls—the Catholic Church in this instance—closer to those who are critical of neo-liberal leadership. The latter has clearly presumed itself to be the Captain of the Universe as it leads the charge towards globalization. Going into opposition is a radical step for the Vatican, because Catholic leadership (ever since its beginnings at Avignon) is responsible for the betrayal of the arch-Christian autocephalic democracy in order to serve the interests of secular princes. It is through the help of the Catholic Church that the princes, the forerunners of the capitalist system, were able to infiltrate into the social fabric of society and weaken its resistance to outsider exploitation. Indeed, the Catholic Church’s dependency on secular leadership for support created the “more-equal-than-others” economic order that rules today.


Nevertheless, if the Catholic Church has the will to turn from rhetorical doubt to seeing in it a major spiritual revelation, it must yet take another step into the populist camp. Such a step must help return “religion” to the days when all Christian Churches were autocephalic organizations, and all Churches knew only of “Johns” of whom Jesus was but one. It was the Catholic Church, whose early popes were the brothers or brothers-in-law of secular princes, who remade the remnant of the Constantinopolitan autocephalate at Avignon into a spiritual organization serving the interests of the princes ruling in the West. [This is why the first crusade to follow the one on the Bogomils of Constantinople (sometimes known also as the Fourth Crusade) was against the Cathars, a holdout autocephalate Church in Lacquedoc, southern France.]


Whether the Catholic Church will take such a radical step, we do not know. Most likely, it will not. However, the events and trends now abroad—specifically the obvious lack of charismatic authority by governments and secular institutions—must necessarily take “religion” in an autocephalos direction with or without the old and shopworn orthodoxies of neo-Christendom joining. The Latvian “Children of Johns”—a religious society once arguably part of the proto-autocephalic churches of central Europe—will necessarily play a role in the return of self-sacrifice in politics. Given the state of ineffectiveness the predominant spiritual condition of neo-Christendom, a return to arch-Christianity cannot be stopped. Neo-Christians can no longer hide that they have been cultivating leadership by rhetoric instead of leadership by example. To put it another way, the return of Jesus as John is inevitable—and that should be the happy news that President of Latvia, Zatlers, brings to the next secretive neo-Christian prayer breakfast when it meets in Riga next year. http://tiny.cc/ZQKeq
In Latvia—the last location of the name of Johns as a populist name and celebration—the “Children of Johns” present the world with an empty signifier ready to receive not only equivalences found among neo-Christians at large, but welcomes equivalences that now operate without self-sacrifice from among all religions.

Elsewhere, I have suggested how the Johns’ Eve Festival on Midsummer Eve in Latvia could remind a community in the throes of dying to its ethnicity to transform the loss into trans-ethnicity, and through such a process become the founder of a homogenous society that is as new as it is old. Jahnis or John will then be free to travel to Germany as Johann and/or Hans, to France as Jean and Joan, to Italy as Digiovanni (Dionysius), to Russia as Ivan and Zhena, to the Spanish-speaking countries as Huan, and may end up in Peru dancing a Huanka. In other words, Johns, pronounced Yahnyi in Latvian, is amenable to imitation and has room to spare for further spiritual evolutions. If Latvians were to choose this path, it could result in the long prayed for “return of Jesus”, not as a supernatural event, but a singular happening, a return of John to the college of Johns.

As Schopenhauer said to the unbelievers: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

On Old Europe, Marija Gimbutas http://tiny.cc/Zz07V  ; http://tiny.cc/K6pJj   


On “New Chronology” [of History.] Anatoly Fomenko http://tiny.cc/JJnHw

On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” http://tiny.cc/RRviK  ; http://tiny.cc/1NFQJ

An eyeball of Latvia (and its forests) http://tiny.cc/7mSpk  ; http://tiny.cc/TSghu  The two maps match in showing the forested areas, but you should look at both to get a realistic sense of the meaning of “47% forest cover”. The Latvian news media does not provide coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation on a routine basis. At this moment, only the “lousy” weather and water filled swamps keep the chainsaws at bay—somewhat.

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter. This is the 55th blog of a continuum, more or less.

Like all authors, I would like to be paid for what I do, however, the machine that would charge you a quarter for clicking all day or a dime for a one-time click has not yet been invented. Therefore, if you copy this blog for your files, or to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/  

Friday, November 6, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
52 A Floating Dead Fish (IV)

(Continued from blog 51)

The fear of Latvia losing brainpower and labor to emigration is nothing new. http://tiny.cc/P29Sg  Social disintegration in Latvia, especially the countryside, is happening partly because of the many people looking for greener pastures abroad. The demoralization of the country speaks for itself through daily news. As for personal safety, everyone hopes for the best, some may install alarms to be heard a kilometer or more away, and some are discussing how best go to each other’s aid when such an alarm goes off or the neighbor calls for help by mobile telephone. Were such an emergency to arise, the neighbors will have agreed beforehand to come see if everything is as it should be.


Just recently, television news spoke of armed gangs of youths robbing, beating, even killing elderly farm people. Last year, not far from where I live, a man who had sold his cows (the dairy industry in Latvia is collapsing) and was suspected to have the money from the sale at home was killed. Police in the countryside is a legal matter, not a practical factor. The police highway patrols make highly visible raids especially at the end of the month to beef up the budget, but not much more. People who live in a village nearby express fear of unruly gangs of village youths congregating at night hours at a local bus stop. The youth have no nothing to do during the weekends especially. I have seen many walking around drunk. The lights on the street of the village go out at 10 p.m.


Meanwhile, everyone knows this is not the bottom of the bust. While most people realize that the economic crisis is world wide, the Latvian government receives the lion’s share of the blame. It should. Whatever the happy talk on television news that village choirs will continue to receive government support, and that the nationwide Song Festival every five years, a tradition since 1864, will go on, fact is that over the last twenty years, countryside culture of Latvia has collapsed from the “minimum” during the Soviet rule, to a “deficit” under Latvia’s own government. With the absence of communally known songs, which incidentally first made Latvians conscious of themselves, homogeneity disappears. Sure, the Latvian media has been telling its audience how the Suits (Suitu) http://tiny.cc/EOEGm  received support from the EU as a culturally unique community. Only in the event this were true for every “novads”, i.e., municipal jurisdiction would could this be considered good news. [One person to consistently note the demise of Latvia is Alvis Hermanis, the Latvian theatre director: Latvija līdz ar Latvijas laukiem šobrīt aiziet nebūtībā. KF 10/16-23/09, p. 5] Few people I suppose the following link http://tiny.cc/DgxQ9  may inspire some and they will see in it future possibilities—if only more folk songs were to be so recast, the effort consistent, and people took to it. However, from another point of view, it is a goodbye to songs with roots reaching back centuries on a most jarring note.


So, here is the question of the day: Might not a reevaluation by Latvians of themselves and their situation be worth the pain that comes from looking at one’s self and community honestly? If the “soft” death sentence of a slow but certain demographic extinction is to be accepted by the people, their populist sense demands—at the very least—that the sacrifice of the people bear fruits that are worthy of transmission. Such a people’s transmission to a Latvia without Latvians must include the Latvian imaginary abroad. Does anyone know what such a Latvian sourced abroad looks like? For me, it is the world of Johns and the “Children of Johns” who once upon a time were part of everywhere on the European landscape, and who still belong there. This is why, in spite of the discomfort that self-examination may bring, the Latvian populists may discover the ghosts of the whole world joining them, because not only Latvians, but everyone who is in his-her right mind knows how necessary it is to reevaluate the premises on which our civilization operates. Moreover, the “Children of Johns” may be the ones who put religion back in the populist movement with a paradigm that is a demand’s demand: Get neo-Christendom to release Jesus from the “heavenly” prison it has made for him, and let him come back to live among the Johns again.


The resurrection of Populism from rhetorically induced sleep—sand blown in the eye by way of advertisements announcing another ‘Sale’ in yet another Consumer Heaven—is occurring as I write. Today consumerism once projected and sold as “good news, no longer projects convincingly and the “good news” of advertising falls flat. A naked reality is seeping into the consumer voluptuary and disturbing its dreams with the homeless sleeping on sidewalks.


Latvians outside the circle of the partidocratic democracy ensconced in Saeima know with what devastating effect a morally irresponsible “leadership by example” can affect a people’s psyche. The leadership by example, no doubt, is still taking its example from the “historical victor’s” point of view, which according to Dr. Martin Grahl, minister of the German community in Latvia, has mutated and become a “voracious capitalism united by a sense that the system cannot be changed”. (My translation from another blogger’s translation into Latvian.) http://tiny.cc/t3uaN  Those who know German, may read the original here: http://tiny.cc/OEBHw

Recently some men dug a crater in Mazsalaca, LV intending it to look like the crater of a meteor. I do not know who told about it to the media, but for a day or so, everyone was wondering whether this was a hoax http://tiny.cc/A4jk7  or for real. Perhaps there was also a reason for the hesitation. If the meteor was for real, then it would be one more piece of evidence, it was a brick off the gate of Heaven. http://tiny.cc/HgEYZ  [Everyone here is waiting for the year 2012 to arrive and see if the Incas were right and a major cycle of some kind will end, the end of the world perhaps.] However, because there was no meteor, but a mobile telephone company seeking to bring attention, we may be forced to reconsider. The thought may come that the End Of The World will not come with a Zoom and a Bang, but finds us with a government of our making that is indifferent to whether we go naked as a wolf child.

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading my blogs before and blogs hereafter. The following links reflect a little to how I see matters stand. http://tiny.cc/TEqkH  ; http://tiny.cc/eanvb  ; http://tiny.cc/CJMtG

If you copy this blog for your own files, or to be forwarded, or its content is otherwise mentioned, please credit the author and http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

© Eso Antons Benjamins


NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
51 A Floating Dead Fish (III)

On the 31st of October, the newly founded "novads" of Aloja, now a constituency of several former "pagasts", came together for a "Citizens Forum" and listed what in their opinion were some of the most important issues for the new jurisdiction. The photos are of the Citizens Forums event in Vilzehni. About fourteen people were in attendance. Those attending split into small work groups. After listing the issues they believed to be important, the participants viewed what issues had been listed by other work groups.  Foto's by Agnese Sietinsone.

(Continued from blog 50)

It would be a mistake to see populism as some kind of a political party. It is not a political party, because it is much more. Unfortunately, in Europe, where parliamentary rather than direct democracy is the norm, dismissal of populism as a notion of cranks is common. However, there are times when populism becomes the enemy of all political parties, and parties become irrelevant to the steps people are struggling to make to break loose from the embrace of status quo, such as is currently holding the reigns of power in Latvia. http://tiny.cc/2zeWw 

Populism is a genetically charged creature within a social body forever struggling for economic equality. This is because populism is rooted in human nature, while society other than the family is always an artificial construct and therefore virtual. Populism is of course also struggling for other things, too, but economic equality is the one desire all humans share in from the moment they seek their mother’s breast.


This is why food riots usually are the first signs of populism stirring. Van Gogh’s painting “The Potatoe Eaters” comes to mind. The second most common populist stirrings used to come from oppressed landless peasants. If in the first instance the cause of a peasant revolt was oppression by their local barons, the second most common cause is the distant city. The city dwellers directly or through the policies of government become “more-equal-than-others” over today’s farmers. With the unemployment rate of such cities as New York reaching 10% (with unofficial guesstimates reaching as high as 17%), one can see why food prices in cities matter a great deal. On the other hand, for how long will government keep to policies that encourage people to leave the countryside for the city? In an age where home computer may establish links with just about anyplace in the world, is not the city—as manifest by New York—outdated and kept afloat by government policies robbing the world of resources, the farmers of a living, and our civilization of a future?


A legitimate government is tied to its ability to persuade the people that such economic inequalities as have been accepted to make life more comfortable for larger-than-life communities are not for anyone’s personal benefit. The people are always interested to know if potentially parasitic elements are successfully checked before they become parasitic. However, when a parasitic element takes over the government—as it has in Latvia—the people lose their trust in government and feel that their sovereign being—which they have attached to their larger-than-life-community, Latvia—is threatened. It is then that the ground beneath the soles of everyone’s shoes goes soft and becomes slippery.


Given today’s political and economic situation in Latvia, the country has an opportunity to return to the most natural constituency—the smallest social unit—that nature provides humankind with, i.e., mother and child. Or is it the abandoned child? Can there be any other cause for Latvia’s precipitous fall (anyway you turn it) than an absence of moral intelligence in government? Moreover, what is the cause of this corruption? Is it partidocratic permissiveness (visatļautība) become a tradition? Is the partidocratic democracy of Latvia, controlled by business, taking advantage of being “more equal-than-others” by means of “holes” in the laws that allow the government to dumb down the country more than it already has?


By accepting an economic imbalance among members of the community (the nation if you will), with such differences as may arise (whether the result of administration expenses, programs that educate people up rather than down, and others), the community assures itself a future worthy of study and remembrance even after millennia. It is in the interests of a community that originates in the people to encourage and provide the people with an education that teaches how to sustain the community’s gains by exercising not-violent means. Not least, only a not-violent community can justify the trust intelligence has put in human behavior.

Today, many factors that govern the life of a more-than casually created community have broken down in Latvia. It is not uncommon for mothers in Latvia to abandon their children, sometimes fortunately only temporarily, while they seek a job in some other country. This is especially happens when children are born to a single mother when she is or was in her teens. A year or two after the birth of her children, the young woman finds the horizon receding from her dreamscape (usually made-by-advertising), and she becomes aware of a larger social landscape. It is then that the young woman may realize that in an urban society fortune can still be sought by means of sexual attraction. In one such case known to this writer, a young woman with three children has married a man in England, who is there from a Muslim nation. Of the three children that she left behind in Latvia, one is with his father, another child (father said to be unknown) has been adopted, while the third (father also unknown) is growing up at a state run orphanage. If by some lucky circumstance such families sometimes reconstitute themselves, the damage done to the children is incalculable. Indeed, such children become natural enemies of the state, at best indifferent to it. Were populism to recover its voice and influence, all these children could be joining those wishing to unseat the monopoly government serving the “more-equal-than-others” partidocratic democracy in power in Latvia.

The political situation in Latvia is in the danger zone. If there is little danger of violence [one does not see a social body of sufficient mass (remember that Latvia is in a demographic death spiral)], danger comes, nevertheless, to social instability, safety, and what increasingly looks like an irreversible collapse of the credibility of the post-Soviet “reconstituted” government of Latvia. The top five levels in the illustration that I provided by the top, re ttp://tiny.cc/2zeWw   are in the process of collapsing. If the reader will take a closer look at the picture, the “we eat for you” layer (5th down) layer is the first to go, thus taking all of those above it with it. The dead fish that W.C. Fields mentioned, re blog 49, still floats down river. Where are the fish that will swim upriver?

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you have read—you are encouraged to consider reading my blogs before and blogs hereafter. The following links reflect how I see matters a little more subjectively. http://tiny.cc/TEqkH ; http://tiny.cc/eanvb ; http://tiny.cc/CJMtG

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