Eso's Chronicles

2010-05-13T09:06:00.002+03:00

I have a new BLOGSPOT. See: http://mywealthvirus.blogspot.com/

This blog is briefly in quiescence.

The following blogspots center on a variety of subjects, which I have initiated. You are invited to look and respond.

http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

Not-Violence main subject

http://melnaysjanis.blogspot.com/

Temple of Janis (John) site

http://the-not-voter.blogspot.com/

Arguments for systems change

http://the4thawakening.blogspot.com/ Sacrificial crisis in

Latvia (active!)

http://oedipusrexrewritten.blogspot.com/ Oedipus Rex Rewritten

Thank you.

The painting to the right is a bad photo of a numinous painting by artist Agnese Sietinsone. Title: "Symmetry 6". Ms Sietinsone was born in Latvia, the Valmiera region, and is currently residing, working, and attending school in Norwich, England.

2010-05-01T08:40:00.001+03:00

The series of 101 blogs which preceeds this small photo gallery has been completed and awaits a new series. The former series concerned what this blogger calls ''NOT-VIOLENT TERROR''. It discussed the proposition that government by violence was not workable over the long run. In its place needs to be placed the long forgotten and even denied act of self-sacrifice.

Currently this blogger is writing a series of blogs on the subject of ''THE-NOT-VOTER''. Search it out. When the series runs its course, this site will more than likely resume.

Meanwhile, this blogger is putting a distance between former subjects and subjects of the future by way of this photo gallery. The photos record a "Birch tap", and begin from bottom left-to-right and then upward. The can was filled with birch juice in about a day and a half.

2010-04-27T09:18:00.003+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

POSTSCRIPT 4 / Summary 2
101 The Sail

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(s) and the blog hereafter. http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

Partial entries of my blogs may be found at LatviansOnline + Forum Home + Open Forum –ONLATVIANPOPULISM vs LATVIJASLABEJIE.

The blow-up within the West is the end result of what the former President of the United States, Bush, described as the "crusade" . While for Bush the “crusade” meant war on terrorism, which he claimed was begun on-the-cusp of the 21st century by a Saudi Arabian Muslim prince named Bin Laden, curiously enough, the “crusade” actually began with the so-called Fourth Crusade (according to A. Fomenko actually the First Crusade) of 1204.

The First Crusade followed the death of Jesus, the itinerant story teller, who a decade or two earlier (? 1184) was thrown into a pit of fire (no, he was not crucified; crucifixion is a neo-Christian invention to throw the listener off the scent of what really happened) in Constantinople by Alexis I, a Byzantine king, one of the first such to overturn the sacred nature of his office in order to exploit wealth and power for the sake of—as Taussig tells it about the colonizers—“[the] gratuitous, end in itself”.

As I have often stated in earlier blogs, the chronology of history as presented by the West is unreliable for the reason that is was established as a result of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which selected one Joseph Justus Scaligeri to set straight a chronology that did not favour the Catholic Church. The Council of Trent was the main event of the Counter Reformation. While Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran Church and the Reformation movement hardly sympathized with the Catholic Counter Reformation, the Council’s historical revisionism suited well enough all neo-Christian sects. At the same time, many scholars have questioned the veracity of the chronology, among which doubters were Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and is Anatoly Fomenko (1945- ).

The “crusades” by the West that followed the First Crusade (1204) were the result of the rapid spread (by way of mimesis) of the desire by secular princes to expand their wealth and power. This rise of the importance of power became a scramble. The scramble took place not only among kings and princes, but at the same time involved attempts to discover ways to eliminate the arch-competitor—Constantinople, the seat of arch-Christianity some 900 years ago. This was accomplished by letting Constantinople fall (in 1453) to the Turks.

The First Crusade was made possible by rousing the “Children of Johns” (I prefer to put all arch-Christians under this description, because the name “John” is ubiquitous in all European and many more languages) against those said to have slain Jesus, the Children of Johns believing Jesus to have been one of their own. The outrage of the arch-Christians was then redirected by the secular princes against the Kingdom of Israel, which at that time was not located where a nation called Israel is located in our time, but the Israel of Byzantium as Byzantium was then known among the Children of Johns. Following the plunder of Constantinople (1204) by the West, the Children of Johns were turned against themselves by introducing a new sect, re: Catholics or neo-Christians, who distinguished themselves from arch-Christians (who referred to the Divine by touching the Earth) by claiming—in the beginning almost beyond anyone’s belief—that their “John” was not mortal and lived in Heaven. By 1209, the Western princes had sufficient violent force and could use the written word in a sufficiently sophisticated a manner to confuse the population of Europe (the Children of Johns were largely of an oral tradition) to such a degree that credibility accrued to those who practiced violence, that is, to neo-Christians.

It follows from the above that arch-Europeans and their religion were repressed and the European people were turned against themselves—as they had first been turned against Constantinople. The new world order of secular kings and princes rode on the backs of the European people. The only sect of arch-Christians or Children of Johns who survived was the Jews. The reason the sect was not destroyed has to do with their service to kings and princes—most likely as tax collectors. The ability of the sect to survive against the onslaught of Catholicism attracted to them many Children of Johns making an escape from the Inquisition. Most of this happened post-?1184. Unlike the flight of the Waldensians to Bohemia and the freedoms of the Hussites (15th century and earlier), the flight of the Children of Johns by ritualistic or self-confessional conversion to Judaism remains repressed information.

Let us return to Michael Taussig, our authority on memesis and alterity, and repeat the quote that I already gave in Blog 99. Taussig writes (pgs. 70,71): “As the nature that culture uses to make second nature, mimesis cannot be outside of history, just as history cannot lie outside of the mimetic faculty…. As the nature that culture uses to create second nature, mimesis chaotically jostles for elbow room in this force field of necessary contradiction and illusion, providing the glimpse of the opportunity to dismantle that second nature and reconstruct other worlds—so long as we reach a critical level of understanding of the play of primitivism within the mimetic faculty itself.”

Let us now think of the Latvian Children of Johns back in 1209, when Bishop Albert of Riga in tandem with Pope Innocent III in southern France, Languedoc, and the Albigensian Crusade there, attacked Jersika (a local name for Jerusalem), up river from Riga on the shores of Daugava (Dvina), and put an end to arch-Christianity in the territory that became known as Livonia, and later yet as Latvia.

And now let us think of the anti-Semitism, not admitted to, but lingering on among the materially and educationally repressed Latvians. [For proof of material and educational repression, all one has to do is visit the more popular internet sites for the flavor of their content and take a look at the children’s teeth in the countryside to see the material need.] Even so, I believe that more than half a century after Hitler and the Nazis, the time has come for the “opportunity to dismantle that second nature and reconstruct other worlds”, i.e., an updated mimesis of the Children of Johns of old. It could begin in Latvia.

How is this to be accomplished?

I will quote Taussig once again. In his book "Mimesis and Alterity", the anthropologist and doctor writes (2): “…[Let us] see anew the spell of the natural where the reproduction of life merges with the recapture of the soul”. Nice sentiment, right? Then Taussig tosses us a brick: “But just as we might garner courage to reinvent a new world and live new fictions… so a new devouring force comes at us from another direction, seducing us by playing on our yearning for the true real.”

And what might the “true real” be?

It is fascism, the make-believe of neo-Christianity falling apart, yet held together by the force of violence. And violence—as Latvians of any ethnic origin ought to know—causes long-time terror. The terror lasts not just for one life time, but it lasts for many lifetimes—if possible with but occasional refreshers by way reminders. This is a perfect way to intimidate people and affect their behaviour. The terror of violence seeps into the bones of the violated ones by way of a negative mimesis and represses human nature. The entire world is infected by this mimesis of terror in our day. It is rather disingenuous of academic historians to adhere to the Scaligeri chronology when the chronology of Anatoly Fomenko fits the shoe better. Moreover, government and academia disingenuosity denies the people their right to shed the terrors of violence.

And just how does one shed the terrors of violence and the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) not only of soldiers back from war today, but the population at large, the one that has violence imposed on it for a thousand years?

For the answer, I invite the reader to Blog 1 and the beginning of my long series of blogs under the title “Not-Violent Terror”. However, the little dirty secret (and you may imagine it right after you read this) is “Not-Vote”. The act is not-violent terror. Not-violent terror to whom? Hint: to the enemies of not-voters.

2010-04-24T11:50:00.008+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

The small secret
(which you may learn as soon as you read this)
at http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ is
“Not-Vote!”
It will be an act of not-violent terror. To whom?
To the enemies of the “not-voters”.

POSTSCRIPT 3 / Summary 1
100 The Enemies of the “West”

Photos: The beginnings of mimesis: Life mimics life: Frogs eggs

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(s) and the blog hereafter. http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/
To say that political thought and engineering in the West is simplistic is to understate the problem. A better word to describe it is “sick”. Like many illnesses, sick politics took time for a human agency to set up. It then incubated, to infect further, and then reached its virulent stage in the 20th century.

Many of my preceding blogs touch on the schism in Christianity, that is, between arch- and neo-Christians. Such a dual Christianity is not acknowledged by either the intelligentsia or historians of the West (or East), yet someday it will be obvious to anyone who understands that the rise of Catholicism was accompanied by short- and long-term repressive violence. As a consequence of the violence, of the arch-Christian sects (the Cathars, Bogomils, Waldensians, Johns Children, etc.) only the Jews remain, however and alas! no longer recognizable as their former selves.

Among the Latvians, it is the Children of Johns, the once arch-Christian sect, who are no longer remembered for who they were. All that remains of the Children of Johns is the Midsummer’s Solstice celebration at which time the celebrants may occasionally refer to the event as “Johns Eve” and even with lesser occasion refer to themselves as the Children of Johns. More specific interest in the Children of Johns it is apparent no longer exists.

To explain the simplistic political thinking in the West (of which Latvian politicians believe themselves to be a part), I will return once more to Michael Taussig and his anthropological studies. I believe Taussig to be right-on in his explanation concerning anti-Semitism (see quote below), nevertheless, I would like to take anti-Semitism a step further and include among its transgressions anti-self-ism or anti-European-ism. By extending the reach of the anti-Semitic meme, we arrive at the insight that anti-Europeanism among Europeans (in effect, anti-Latvianism among Latvians), too, remain as much a force of fascism as ever, especially because the Latvian people (and of course the Europeans as a whole) never really understood fascism. The repression of the European people by the European elite has lasted for so long as to cause both the people and the elite to forget their history and allow it to be replaced by an artifice or as Taussing describes it—“history… outside the mimetic faculty….”. In other words, history is no longer a written history making an effort to come alive, but an artificial history written by scholars whose experience of history is as much bookishly self-referentialist as it is experientially nonexistent.

The path from colonialism to fascism is illustrated in Taussig’s book, “Mimesis and Alterity”. Though Taussig is writing of the Indians living in the Putumayo in South America, we may learn much by substituting another group of people (through a wilful act on my part) for the Indians, re the arch-Christian/Europeans. Here iTaussig (65):

“…the imaginative range essential to the execution of colonial violence in the Putumayo at the turn of the century was an imagining drawn from that which the civilized imputed to the Indians, to their cannibalism especially, and then mimicked. It should also be pointed out that while this violence was doubtlessly motivated by economic pressures and the need to create labour discipline, it was also… very much a passionate and gratuitous end in itself.

“This mimicry by the colonizer of the savagery imputed to the savage is what I call the colonial mirror of production and it is… identical to the mimetic structure of attribution and counter-attribution that Horkheimer and Adorno single out when they discuss (in “The Dialectic of Enlightenment”) not the violence of the twentieth-century colonial frontier but the blow-up within modern European civilization itself, as orchestrated by anti-Semitism.”

Taussing then quotes Horkheimer and Adorno: “There is no anti-Semite who does not basically want to imitate his mental image of a Jew, which is composed of mimetic ciphers: the argumentative movement of a hand, the musical voice painting a vivid picture of things and feelings irrespective of real content of what is said, and the nose—the physiognomic principum individuationis, symbol of the specific character of an individual, described between the lines of his countenance.”

There are several things in the above quotes which I would like to point out further and add to my own observations.

Let us turn to what Taussig describes as “the blow-up within modern European civilization”. It is my perception that the blow-up is not over. It continues in the effort of NATO to try maintaining pre-eminence of the West through the war in Afghanistan (Latvian military forces including). It also continues by means of the economic catastrophe that now spans the globe. The catastrophe was temporarily averted as a result of a temporarily successful diversion of social tensions caused by secular princes (nee neo-Christians) to Conspicuous Consumption. The mechanism through which Conspicuous Consumption was accomplished was to loosen—following WW1—the gold standard, and then replace it by fiat money in the latter half of the 20th century. The world is familiar with the consequences of fiat money through the parliamentary democracy and inflation in the Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920s and more recently in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Though Taussig does not connect the repressions of arch-Christianity with colonialism or colonialism with fascism, he comes close enough for my purposes. Writes Taussig: “Fascism… is an accentuated form of modern civilization which is itself to be read as the history of repression of mimesis—the ban on graven images, gypsies, actors; the love-hate relationship with the body; the cessation of Carnival; and finally the kind of teaching which does not allow children to be children. But above all, fascism is more than outright repression of the mimetic; it is a return of the repressed, based on the ‘organized control of mimesis’. Thus fascism, through the mimesis of mimesis, ‘seeks to make the rebellion of the suppressed nature against dominion directly useful to dominion’”.

Even if fascism ceased being virulent as the result of physical exhaustion of societies due to WW2 and a subsequent release of tensions by taking advantage of a combination of machine production and fiat money to squelch unresolved tensions and aggressiveness, it did so also by absolving the carnal sins of sin, now identified as Conspicuous Consumption. However, fascism did not disappear (even if it sometimes so appeared), because “organized control of mimesis” (through apparent release of control over Conspicuous Consumption) cannot be sustained over the long-term.
This is why I agree with Taussig that we need to seize “…the opportunity to dismantle… second nature and reconstruct the worlds”.

This is a time when a small nation like Latvia has the opportunity to be shrewd and set its sail toward the future “within the buffeting of history” (Taussig). However, before the vessel called “Latvia” can take advantage of its small size and sail past the sinking ocean liners, it needs to deconstruct its parliamentary democracy and the Constitution which are tied by hidden ties to fascism. The most obvious way this can be accomplished is to encourage the people of Latvia to “not-vote”, dismiss the parliamentary partidocracy, and then reconfigure the future in a manner that will encourage mimesis not only among their own, but throughout the world.

The setting of the sails into the winds of history requires a radical jibe, that jibe being the “not-vote”.

2010-04-17T20:49:00.005+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

POSTSCRIPT 2 / Epilogue
99 Let Us Have Alterity or
Come The Alternative —….

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. http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

First, as to the word "alterity" in the title. According to the dictionary “alterity” means: otherness; specifically the quality or state of being radically alien to the conscious self or a particular cultural orientation

Second, I have mentioned in my blogs in the past Michael Taussig, the anthropologist. I acknowledge my debt to Taussig here by citing him and his analysis of Walter Benjamin’s thought from his own thought provoking book, “Mimesis and Alterity”, Routledge, 1993. I am referring specifically to Chapter 3, ‘Spacing Out’ (Latvians would probably use the word “iedomāties”, to think into).

Taussing quotes Walter Benjamin: “The gift of seeing resemblances is nothing other than a rudiment of the powerful compulsion in former times to become and behave like something else.” I cite this passage, because I do not believe that for Latvia today those “former times” are past, but are of profound relevance and need to be exercised today.

This is because as things are in Latvia now, it is a state with a failed government. While there are many mundane administrative functions that can be fixed without a change of government, the chief problem is that the state’s would-be orthodox reformers et al, are insufficiently alive in their imaginations and articulations to probe and try alterity. Indeed, at a time when it is clear that the “West” (capitalism) is as failed an affair as the recent “East” (communism), and yet the ossified model of the former inspires the Latvian reformers in the midst of ongoing social turmoil—even death (suicides) and pain (look at the teeth)—one has to wonder whether the inarticulateness of the ‘picture’ of the state of Latvian society (such mimesis of the community’s self as there exists) is not in fact a process realizing the intolerability of the situation by acting out a communal dying.
Of course, the “good” reformers will not admit that the old Latvia is dead or shout with me “Long live the other Latvia!” They will ask: “What other Latvia?”

This bloggers proposal of how to achieve the “other” Latvia is suggested in Blog 98. I suggest that the only hope of projecting Latvia into alterity that is other than a dying present is to wage a successful “not-vote” campaign. It is possible for 700,000 not-voters to do so. I do not mean that being “successful” must necessarily end in a victory (though it is desirable), but that a “not-vote” campaign draws sufficient attention to itself to become the kick-start (the electric shock to a stopped heart) necessary to assemble a Constitutional Revision Assembly, a Referendum Committee, empower an Interim Government to do all that is possible to do to stop Latvia from bleeding empty of its people by out-migration and demographic death-spiral put into motion by a series of failed governments, and of course many more issues.

In order to survive, Latvia needs to imagine itself a survivor. This survival must include the possibility of seizing on radical direct not-violent actions as means to survival. The Latvia of tomorrow must shed its dead orthodox skin. This skin—a distorted history of pagans, peasants, and neo-Christian preachers—has been let overwrite a people who were in their proto-Latvian stage artisans (weavers, carpenters, potters, smiths, cobblers, gardeners, etc.) and were better known as Johns Children (Jāņu bērni). These were hobbled in the recovery of their identity, when in 1888 the figure of the itinerant teacher John (still visible on the Lihgo flag of 1874) was replaced by one Bear-Slayer, a figure lifted out of Luther’s Illustrated Bible (where he appears as Samson the Lion-Slayer).

The switch away from John in favour of Bear-Slayer happened not only because in 1881 Tsar Alexander III came to power and provoked pogroms against the Jews, but because he threatened many of the people living in the tsardom by attempting to have their language replaced with Russian. Among these people were Latvian speaking people. The tensions exploded under Tsar Nicholas II with what we know as the “1905 Revolution”. While dissatisfaction with economic development was one of its motivating forces, there were other motivations not tied to economics. This is the reason why the image (and the alterity) of Bear-Slayer, a macho character, found fertile soil in what had formerly been a kingdom held together by itinerant story tellers, who served equally well as saints. By making Bear-Slayer the hero and then leaving him to replaced John was a fatal mistake.

Indeed the institutions that diminish the proto-Latvian people (the populist substrate always at odds with a government presenting itself as neo-Christian) have a long history. And this is why the life of the Latvian community’s subjective self was permanently at odds (and often not for the better, though the why-fores are understandable) with democracy under the direction of a parliamentary government. Today direct participatory democracy is still spoken of only in the context of a President directly elected by the public rather than the Parliament. The Parliament remains a club of and for “political” parties.

At the same time, the death rattle may be just what the doctor ordered if we understand the anxieties of the subjective self of Latvians as they enter the death spiral caused by out-migration, an increasingly low birth rate, and not least by a parliamentary government believing itself to know better, though responsible for the time of troubles. This may be an opportune moment for Latvians to recapture the moment of self-identification lost in the last half of the 19th century and—with the help of alterity—re-identify themselves.

To cite Walter Benjamin (by way of Taussig) again: “If the theory is correct that feeling is not located in the head, that we sentiently experience a window, a cloud, a tree not in our brains but, rather, in the place where we see it, then we are, in looking at our beloved, too, outside ourselves. But in a torment of tension and ravishment.”

If the people who once knew themselves as Johns Children still retain in themselves something of the power of “mimesis”, that curious desire to be someone, something or somewhere else, an alterity remains a possibility. Though one cannot accomplish this directly of course, one can feel one’s self into it, and there are many ways of doing it. The copy machine is as much a mimesis machine as a wreath of grasses and flowers on one’s head. The latter was how the Latvian Children of Johns felt themselves into the role of being the children of John, their hero, the maternal male storyteller come on Johns Eve to keep them awake and make sure the Sun rises on Midsummer morning. Today, however, we have for alterity the young Latvian woman, who imagines she comes from impoverished peasants (perhaps kolhozniks), who conceives a child in England with the seed of an irresponsible Latvian boy also imagining he has endless generations of impoverished peasants in his background. Such is the result of the alterity that the parliamentary government of Latvia presents its people with.

Walter Benjamin is writing about his “ravishment” (his feeling his way into an alterity) while thinking of a young Latvian woman, a theatre director, (“a Russian revolutionary from Riga”—circa 1920s) with whom he is infatuated. Asja Lācis is an object out there in Walter Benjamin’s field of vision, that—to paraphrase Benjamin in first person singular—…cuts a one-way street through me, and by that cut stimulates my commitment to Marxism…. Walter and Asja live together for two years in Berlin (no doubt this is the time when Asja cut through Walter Benjamin with arguments that she makes ever so much more profound than words on paper). An intellect bound together by love (be it infatuation) is able to make the quantum jump from singer to linden tree in blossom time, to the song of bees in the blooms, and to the Revolution. So can’t government acting as if it has the rights of state and can go riding piggy-back on the wagon of history pushed onto the steel rails of a neo-liberal capitalist economy.

An important point raised by Michael Taussig is Benjamin’s perception of history. Writes Taussig: “The radical displacement of self in sentience—taking one outside of oneself—accounts for one of the most curious features of Benjamin’s entire philosophy of history, the flash wherein ‘the past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at an instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again.’ Repeatedly this mystical flash illuminates his anxiety for reappraisal of past in present, this understanding that ‘to articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger.’”

Taussig continues: “This flash marks that leap ‘in the open air of history’ which establishes history as ‘Marx understood revolution’ as ‘the subject of a structure whose site is not homogenous, empty time, but time filled by the presence of the ‘now’.’”

The government of Latvia, the one in office for the last twenty years, perceives the history of Latvia as a homogenous empty time. By so doing, the government causes the Latvian people to perceive their history as an “empty time” as well. The Latvian government of today empties the people of their “now” as a community and replaces it with visions of conspicuous consumption. In the end, conspicuous consumption is a form of cannibalism performed by the government on the people so that when everything else has been consumed, they consume themselves. The subjection of and then the limitation of the peoples’ subjectivity to Pop globalizes the world for freedom to be a Conspicuous Consumer, but it fails to impress the community of proto-Latvians, 200,000 of who have voted with their feet and left Latvia.

The Latvian people describe the consumption of their state with the phrase “the stolen state”, a word combo that is one of the top ten in Latvia. It is "the stolen state", the nicely crisped body with green garnishes on the long dining room table, that is the centre piece of attention of the guests.

I trust this explains what alterity has to do with vision, with tomorrow, with a people at peace and a purpose. The “not-vote” campaign continues. To not-vote must be done to ensure humankind an alterity beyond that of the Conspicuous Consumer. It is worth as a consciousness raiser. My 99 blogs lead toward it.

Copy leaflet at 98 and pass it on.

2010-04-10T16:46:00.007+03:00

98 POSTSCRIP (1)

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. Photos: The juices are flowing.Tapping the birch.

The NOT-VOTE as Debt Nullification.

Thomas Jefferson proposed that the states have the right to “nullify” unconstitutional federal laws. Virginia supporters of the Constitution (1788) insisted that the Constitution possess only the powers “expressly delegated” to it. Jefferson included the world “nullification” in his draft of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.

The “NOT-VOTE”, an action proposed by this blogger for the upcoming elections in Latvia (October 2, 2010), is a form of citizen opposition to the seizure of the government by a consortium of corporate populists. The seizure is made possible (not only in Latvia of course) by having the courts of law recognize corporations as individuals, giving them the rights of individuals. The corporate “individuals” then create a form of corporate populism, sometimes known as partidocratic democracy. Of course, the corporate populists condemn citizen populism. Indeed, in Latvia the word “populism” has been forced to become a synonym of “chaos”. This is how corporations manage to shift the blame for the chaos caused in Latvian society from themselves to the people.

There is an urgent need for the citizens of Latvia to act on the NOT-VOTE if the destruction of the community of Latvia is to be avoided. The community of Latvia must insure—among many other things—a Constitutional Revision Assembly, which hopefully will fence in the heretofore Conspicuous Consumption free-for-all endorsed by corporate interests, which has brought economic ruin to the country. One hopes it will be replaced with community oriented long-term economic policies.

Not least, a NOT-VOTE by the citizenry of Latvia may nullify the IMF''s and their own government's imposed debt slavery, because a NOT-VOTE constitutes an act by a sovereign people against the ills brought their community by a “foreign body” (be it one of their own or other).

The term “nullification” has a long history. One may argue that a not-voter acts as a member of a jury. Here * is a link to one interesting discussion of the topic.

Below is material for a popular flyer. You are encouraged to forward it to your contacts.

AN INVITATION TO NOT-VOTE
(a translation in Latvian below.)

Not-Voting In Latvia

What Does “Not-Voting” mean? A not-vote means that you vote with your feet and do not visitt the poling station.

Who is organizing the “Not-Voting” campaign? The not-vote is being organized by UPNoVo, United Populist Not-Voters. Everyone who has ever not-voted or thinks so doing in the future is a potential member.

What is the purpose of “Not Voting”? The purpose of a not-vote is to free the people of a corrupt government that has imposed itself on a society and nation by a number of pseudo-legal schemes. “Pseudo-legal” means clever lawyers and politicians twisting the spirit of the law in such a manner as to achieve the opposite of the law’s intent. In the instance of the State of Latvia “pseudo-legal” acts by partidocrats have “stolen the nation” in order to exploit it to their own ends.

How was Latvia stolen from its people? Latvia reemerged from occupation under the Soviet Union in 1991 under the aegis of a movement known as The People’s Front. However, as soon as The People’s Front passed its populist authority to the reconstituted government, government adapted a policy of Conspicuous Consumption as its near- and long-term goal. The new “vision” (never explicitly stated) by government not only fragmented the aforementioned populist movement, but became an occupation force in its own right. The government hid its “vision” of the future behind academic jargon. Conspicuous Consumption became known as “shock capitalism”.

Where is it written that Latvia’s politics is devoted to “conspicuous consumption”? There is no “written” law, but it functions de facto, that is,

a) it has made many politicians and ex-politicians rich;
b) government has supported MACRO (big) businesses over MICRO (small) businesses;
c) government has sold the people of Latvia into debt-slavery, because it knew beforehand that if it had to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this would be the result;
d) all the bail out money went to cover the losses of mostly Swedish and Danish banks; nothing went to Latvian business; not only the debtors, but the entire citizenry of Latvia must now pay off the debt to the banks;
e) the government has no real “vision” of Latvia’s future. In fact, it refuses to envision a future, because “conspicuous consumption” suits those in command positions.

What happens if I “not-vote”? In spite of the to be expected arguments by the government to the contrary, the members of UPNoVo (United Populist Not-Voters) may set up assemblies to rewrite the Constitution, discuss and debate the development and long-term goal of Latvia, discuss future public referendums, organize interim government, all this and more aware of the economic difficulties the world is in and is likely remain in for a long time. A different mind-set is necessary if the government of a sovereign people is to enter the future with confidence. Act by “not-voting!” The whole world will be watching.

Because the economic crisis was invited to happen not only by Latvian neo-liberals, but also the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there exists the possibility that upon the establishing of a majority not-vote, it may be possible to nullify the loan (repudiate the debt) accepted by a corrupt government.

UPNoVo, United Populist Not-Voters

* P.S. The following a quote from above link is most relevant to the NOT-VOTER: “Those whose interests lie in maintaining government control of social behavior may argue that the Constitution provides the necessary protection of liberties. But legislative bodies will always confirm the constitutionality of their own acts. And the oaths sworn to uphold the Constitution by judges and public servants have historically been only as good as the power to enforce such oaths. Nor are free elections adequate to prevent tyranny without jury veto power, because elections come only periodically and give no guarantee of repealing the damage done. Additionally, the second body of legislators are likely to be as bad as the first, since they are exposed to the same temptations and use the same tactics to gain office.”

AICINĀJUMS NE-BALSOT

Ne-balsošana Latvijā

Ko nozīmē “Ne-Balsot”? Ne-balsot nozīmē, ka jūs balsojat ar kājām un nepiestājat pie balsošanas iecirkņa. Jūs ne-balsojat.

Kas organizē “Ne-Balsot”? Ne-balsošanu organizē VPB vai ViPoBa, Vienota Populistiska Balss. ViPoBā iederās ikviens pilsonis, kurš kādreiz ir ne-balsojis. Ne-balsotāji ir žūrija, kas vērtē valdības nedarbu.

Kāds ir iemesls “Ne-Balsot”? Dotā brīdī ne-balsošanas mērķis ir atteikties no korumpētas valdības, kura ir iesēdusies valdības krēslā izstumjot no tā sabiedrību. Šī “okupācija” ir panākta ar dažādu instrumentu palīdzību, ieskaitot pseido-juridiku. “Pseido juridika” nozīmē, ka advokātiem un politiķiem tiek dota iespēja izbēgt no likuma gara un izveidot tam kaut ko pretēju. Šī aicinājuma gadījienā “pseido juridisks” akts nozīmē “nolaupīt valsti”, lai to izmantotu savtīgām interesēm par labu.

Kā nozaga Latviju no tās iedzīvotājiem? Latvija atbrīvojās no Padomju okupācijas 1991. g. To vadīja populistiska kustība Tautas fronte. Diemžēl, tikko Tautas fronte atdeva savu populisma mandātu officiālai valdībai, valdība noteica populismu šķēlošu mērķi: Pār-tērēt; tulk. angļu valodā: Conspicuous Consumption. Akadēmiskais žargons pār-tērēšanu slēpa ar vārdu frāzi “šoka terāpija”.

Kur ir rakstīts kā Latvijā valda “pār-tērēšanas” princips? Nav tāds rakstīts likums, bet tas darbojās de facto:

a) tas ir padarījis dažu labu esošu vai bijušu politiķi bagātu;
b) valdība galveno kārt atbalsta MAKRO (lielos) uzņēmējus;
c) valdība ieveda Latvijas iedzīvotājus parādu verdzībā, jo zināja, ka ja būs jāprasa Starptautiskais Valūtas Fonda (SVF) aizdevums, rezultāts būs tāds kāds viņš ir;
d) visa SVF aizdotā nauda tika dota, lai glābtu zviedru bankas, kuras veicināja valsts parādus. Parādi tagad jāatmaksā ne tikai parādniekiem, bet visiem Latvijas iedzīvotājiem;
e) valsts vīzija par Latvijas nākotni kā nav tā nav; fakts ir, valdība ir izvēlējusies “pār-tērēšanu” kā valsts mērķi, un šis mērķis pilnībā saskan ar pie varas esošo partidokrātiju interesēm;

Kas notiks ja es “ne-balsoju”? Neskatoties uz dažādiem valdības pret argumentiem, VPB biedri pārrunās tālāku Tautas Frontei līdzīgu iedzīvotāju organizēšanos, ka piemēram, sasaukt Satversmes pārrakstīšanas konferenci, diskutēt un debatēt par Latvijas attīstību īslaicīga un ilglaicīga laika ietvaros, organizēs pagaidus valdību, un atcerēsies, ka ekonomiskā krīze notiek kā Latvijas, tā pasaules mērogā. Citiem vārdiem, sekmīga ne-balsotāju akcija iespaidos visas pasaules politisko nākotni. Pasaule vēro!

Tā kā ekonomisko krīzi veicināja ne tikai “pašu bālēliņi”, bet arī arzemju bankas (SVF ieskaitot), pastāv iespēja, ka ja ne-balsotāji ir pārliecinošā vairākumā, pastāv iespēja SVF “aizdevumu” apstrīdēt un nullificēt.

Latvijas iedzīvotājiem laiks atcerēties “dziesmoto revolūciju” un izmantot tās garu “ne-balsojot”. Domāsim par pagātni, tagadni un nākotni ar drosmi un pašapzinību. Ziedosim savu drosmi “ne-balsojot” par stagnāciju vai pār-tērēšanas principa turpināšanos.

ViPoBa, Vienota Populistiska Balss
P.S. Sekojošais links šeit [http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/history-jury-null.html] (angļu valodā) sniedz saīsinātu vēsturi par žūriju spēju nullificēt likumu. Datora tulkojums ne visai precīzs, tāpēc blogotājs pats mēģina tulkot raksta priekšpēdējo paragrāfu. Nepārprotami, te ir nepieciešams pieredzējis tulks, tomēr jēga ir pietiekami skaidra, lai lasītājs saprastu, ka tikai vara, kura pieķērusies pie likuma radīšanas kā tikai savu tiesību, noliedz žūrijas principu latviešiem. Tā tad, NE-BALSOTĀJI ievērojiet:
“Tiem, kuru interesēs ir uzturēt valdības kontroli pār sabiedrības uzvedību argumentēs, ka Konstitūcija satur [visu], kas ir nepieciešams, lai aizsargātu cilvēka tiesības. Tomēr, leģistratūras vienmēr apstiprina pašas savu aktu likumību [konstitutionalitāti]. Vēsture [pierāda], ka tiesnešu un valsts darbinieku zvērasti ir vienmēr uzticāmi tikai tik, cik likuma garantētājs ir spējīgs zvērastu īstenot. Brīvas vēlēšanas nav pietiekamas, lai novērstu tirāniju, [tādu] kura atsakās no [absolūtas] veto varas, jo vēlēšanas notiek tikai laiku pa laikam un nedod nekādu arantiju, ka tās atcels iepriekš pielaistās kļūmes. Toties, jaunie ievēlētie [varas locekļi] iespējams būs tik pat slikti kā iepriekšējie, jo viņi būs padoti tiem pašiem kārdinājumiem un lietos tās pašas [izvairīšanās] taktikas [kā iepriekšējā vara].
Datora tulkojums: Tiem, kuru intereses atrodas saglabāt valdības kontroli pār sociālās uzvedības, var apgalvot, ka Konstitūcija sniedz nepieciešamo aizsardzību brīvību. Bet likumdošanas iestādes vienmēr apstiprina konstitūcijai savu rīcību. Un zvērestus zvērējuši ievērot Konstitūciju, tiesneši un valsts ierēdņi ir vēsturiski ir tikai tik labi, kā pilnvaras īstenot šo zvērestu. Tāpat arī ir brīvas vēlēšanas pietiekamas, lai novērstu tirāniju bez zvērinātajiem veto tiesības, jo vēlēšanas nāk tikai periodiski un dot nekādas garantijas atcelšanu darīt bojājumus. Bez tam, otrā ķermeņa likumdevēju, iespējams, ir tik slikti, kā pirmajā, jo tie ir pakļauti tiem pašiem kārdinājumiem un izmanto to pašu taktiku, lai iegūtu biroju.

2010-04-04T21:46:00.001+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

AN INTERMISSION
97 To Be Continued at Another Time (2)

I     Mythology, when understood to be more than about ghosts, vampires, and dragons is a set of images whose complexity give evidence of having once been a well thought out and well told. The story of Oedipus, re-presented in my blog series “Tiresias’ Revenge” (see blogs 68-81), and my re-construction of “The Story of Clever John and Crazy Jane” (blogs 92-95) give support to the belief that these stories are profoundly spiritual in content. Unfortunately, in both cases, the world dwells on fragments and easily and often misinterprets them as a convenience to forgetfulness.

No doubt, my interpretation of the story of King Oedipus (“Tiresias’ Revenge”) puts emphasis on something passed over by Sigmund Freud’s interpretation. At the same time, the knowledge of how a story can be constructed and deconstructed and constructed yet again—rather than one example being the only example for all times—tells us that many examples may be tried and not always the best model is chosen. The story of King Oedipus clearly bends the plot of the play more to my reconstruction than that of Freud. Sophocles’ version of the play masks some disturbing events in the background that Freud and most everyone pass over.

Both of the aforementioned stories (“Tiresias’ Revenge” and “The Story of Clever John and Crazy Jane”) give an interpretation of The Real that we are not accustomed in perceiving. Most of us know the Real as a Western positivist projection. While the positivist advertisement best points its finger at the Barbie Doll, the Real of Oedipus and Clever John gives evidence that their creators knew how to chop wood. For a king to discover that it is not for having slept with his mother that ten of his family die, but for him not having suffered the risk of sacrifice is devastating. It is devastating for all who trusted the king’s (or government’s) authority. Clever John (clever in the sense of the unhesitatingly using his wit in an invidious manner when opportunity allows) gets taught the priorities of the Sun in no uncertain terms.

It is through the story of Clever John (a story very likely from before the written word) that we discover that proto-Latvians knew what the price of a wagon load of gold was. It was the “Clever Johns”, the  kaupos, who came to replace the itinerant Johns of arch-Christianity. Crazy Jane became crazy because Clever John could not be trusted though it cost him the spectacle of the lights going on just in time to discover that in return for a wagon full of gold, he has the pleasure of making love to a straw doll.

The people who formed the Latvian governmentwhich followed the “singing revolution” and exposed Latvia to the shock treatment of neo-liberal economic policies, betrayed the people and the state of Latvia by seizing it for conspicuous consumerism. One may argue that they neither knew nor understood better, and were mere kaupos on behalf of neo-liberalism. Ought they to not know now? There is no evidence that they do. The recent appearance of a group that calls itself “The Meierovic Group for Progressive Changes” (whose initial members count 43 prominent names) proves that the fault is not only with the government, but the intelligentsia of Latvia. Perhaps it is mute; perhaps it does not exist, though it is mentioned frequently as if asserting it makes it so.

Describing itself as “non-political”, the Meirovic Group has announced that its members are “…ready to give their time and energy to make of Latvia a dynamic, self-aware and honorable 21st century Western nation” (re Press Release of 21-3-2010). Are they joking? Does not the word “Western” represent—implicitly and explicitly—a political orientation?

If before the disintegration of the Soviet Union and with it the orthodox Left in the West, one could argue that “West” (or Western) was a word that contained both the Left and the Right political wings, today this is no longer true. Anyone who follows politics today knows that politics has been captured by money that favors a neo-liberal orientation. True, the latter pretends to be an all embracing “Western” political ideology. But it is unlikely that the members of the “non-political” Meirovic Group do not understand that “Western” has come to stand for the creation and maintenance of weak citizenship. What else is the Latvian government, but a bought off conspicuous consumer partidocracy making a gross spectacle of itself with the “positive” political support of its corrupt self? The Latvian people stand outside this glass bowl with but one orange fish in it and watch the fishy wiggle its tail as a form of reform.

The Maeirovic Group asks citizens to be “demanding” and suggests that this demandingness will metamorphose into a demand for schools and health care. Have the Latvian people not been demanding this all along, but have been yoked by their government to debt and tax slavery and banks instead? The political winds of today blow people not toward benign globalization, but toward more neo-liberal exploitation of the politically weak and uninformed populations said to believe in something the government and its cronies call “populism”. The “growth” of the consumerist Humpty Dumpty goes on uninterrupted even in a crisis that is as permanent as the war on terrorism by “democratic” and “freedom (loving)” consumer nations. Even Alice (in Wonderland) knows that Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall; not so, it seems, the said Meirovic group.

II    It would have been politically more neutral for the Meierovic Group to say that it stood for an East-West neutral 21st century nation. This evidently did not occur to the group. Why not?

The answer is only a guess, but the ones who should have questioned the politics of a “non-political” group should have been those with links to the “old left”. The Maeirovic Group does have members with such links. However, apparently these members stand for that particular “left” which has no ideas of its own and finds primitive accumulation an apolitical act. In short, the Meierovic Group sees the war currently being waged on the behalf of and to further the cause of Conspicuous Consumption as an end in itself, and of course as destined to win. Therefore, so the logic goes, why oppose “Western” political ideology which is a Winner from the word go? Did not the so-called Cold War happen between the Soviet Union and the West? Did not the “West” win and provide proof of a successful depolarization of politics?

What the Meirovic Group does not say is that the “West” unambiguously supports Conspicuous Consumption with the military forces of NATO. Only a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, the symptom of Conspicuous Consumption broke out in an acute event, which we know as “9/11”. A group of young people, saturated by, with, for, yet unaware that they had been poisoned by the bacillus of Conspicuous Consumption, motivated by jealousy (and angered by delay in the instant gratification promised in televised soap opera ads), they attacked one of the financial centers of the West. For all its paradoxes, it was a chronal moment. The events ocultated (sorry; a new meaning to the word ‘occultation’), occultated in such a way that paradoxes met, shorted, and something humongous happened: the sick unknowingly retaliated on those who made them sick more profoundly than they had dared imagine. [For backup of this hypothesis of the new polarization see “Afflicted Powers”, Verso, 2005, by Retort, a group of San Francisco Bay area that describes itself as “antagonists to capital and empire”. An interesting read; see Ch 5 & 6 to be sure.]

The crisis of Latvia is that of a community without a purpose, dreaming of conspicuous consumption, financially poor, psychologically adrift. The present Latvian government (a partidocracy controlled by businesses wholly committed to conspicuous consumption) sells conspicuous consumerism to the people without reservations, because the government emerged from under the Soviet yoke as a political a tabula rasa. A moment after this reconstituted entity rid itself of the inspired romanticism of “liberty” explicit in the “singing revolution”, it instantly morphed into a failed imagination. The imagination fails the Meierovic Group. This does not mean that its surreal presentation of itself as “not a political party” does not continue the romantic notions of the “3rd Awakening” of Latvia. Indeed, it does continue it. However, this suggests that the crisis which the group perceives and of which it is born is more serious than the group knows. This will present the group or whatever may emerge from it with either a strategic failure, i.e., a continued preoccupation with a fake present, or the emergence of the only alternative—a revolutionary act.

As this writer has suggested many times, one such revolutionary act (or, if you will, not-violent terror—see blogs 1-81) is a “not-vote” in the upcoming elections in Latvia in October. Unlike the pean of peacemakers: “They declared war, and no one came”, which is far too soon to predict to be soon doable, ‘not-voting’ is doable. The members of the Meierovic Group have not only the potential talent and influence to carry off the act, but to prepare for its success (of which there is a good chance) by preparing forums for the necessary debates, conferences (to rewrite the Latvian Constitution for one), and install a temporary government while the house of Latvia is debated over and put in order. This kind of effort will surely be worth joining and its growth will send chronal echoes through all political spectrums of the world.

P.S. Spring is icumen in. I write this on the 30th of March, 2010. The cranes, storks, geese, and starlings returned a day or two after the spring solstice. The first butterfly was seen at a local cemetery—as one rose, but the other went from being a point to becoming a wave as the holographic model of the universe suggests. Immersed in an affliction known as ‘lack of time’, I take an intermission to do other necessary things. From time to time I may return with yet another Postscript. I hope the readers found the above essay interesting enough to back up to the early blogs, even back to the beginnings. The build-up through all that boring stuff was necessary to erase the orthodox and calcified image of both “ancient” and more “recent” (proto-)Latvians and create the beginnings of an alternative.

P.P.S. For all those of you who did not care a wit for any of my blogs, I send you herewith the greetings and “apologies” of Clever John and Crazy Jane. See here. I have a feeling that you will want to see this twice.

Last but not least: a link to a workshop of “How to start a populist NOT-VOTE movement” or
any-other-such and to “"Eso's Chronicles" for a philosophical trump over the usual “a Not-Vote is Sin” sweats (see blogs 96 & 97 to get the idea): It is the only way for people to recover the State.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest
On material deprivation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".)
Of interest to me is this  (news on the California elections to legalize Johns Grass) and this article (coca politics in Bolivia). The articles express some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
Interesting material  relating to Johns.
A provocative and stimulating news-analysis-opinion site (from someone very American): http://emsnews.wordpress.com/
……………………………………………………..
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-04-01T21:37:00.004+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

AN INTERMISSION
96 To Be Continued At Another Time (1 of 2)

The time has come to end this series of blogs on which I started about three years ago at www.LatviansOnline.com under the topic of “Latvians On Faith”. At first this was a series of entries under the topic of “The Janis Festival and All About Jānis”. [Jānis = John.] After I concluded that thought-cluster, I moved on to my own blogspot at http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/ I availed myself of the opportunity to introduce my blogspot via the Open Forum at LatviansOnline. On the average, I wrote two blogs every week. The number of clicks per each entry (according to my rough log) was from a low 33 to a high 350, with the average somewhere around a stable 100 + a 20-30 variable.

My interest in the Johns Eve Festival (hence to be abbreviated as “Johns”) began when I was seven years old and moved from Riga to Ērgļu pagasts (about 100 km east of Riga), where an aunt (Emma Melbārde, nee Jurjane, the younger sister of my grandmother) and her husband had a farm. The move (1940) was necessitated by the occupation of Latvia by the Soviets and the rise to political power of Vilis Lācis, a writer become Chairman of the Latvian SSR, who forced our family to move from our home at Juhrmala so he could move in. Vilis Lācis’s move was very much a symbolic gesture of “trumping the boss”. Mr. Lācis came to fame as a writer with the help of “Jaunākās Ziņas”, founded (1911) by my grandfather Antons Benjamiņš, of which Emilija Benjamiņš (nee Simsone, my grandfather’s second wife) was the publisher. At the time my father, Jānis (John) Benjamiņš was the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. The bad taste exercised by Lācis in removing my family from its home for the sake of a questionable political gesture was ultimately too obvious a vendetta of a proletarian-(of-pretension) and Lācis subsequently thought better of it and moved out. Presently the house, sans its once pleasant garden, is the residence of the Russian ambassador to Latvia.

To return to the itinerant John or Johns, one of my favorite topics. Though I was familiar with the Johns Festival as it was celebrated at Juhrmala, the well-known beach-side suburb of Riga, I was unprepared for the tradition as it was celebrated in the more native (less cosmopolitan) countryside. The difference in the manner of celebration of the festival, especially the sense of community that the visits to and from neighboring “saimes”, brought to the senses of an seven year old not only a strangeness, but also a delight. Such an impression has lasted to this day. It was this unstated ritual (along with the Lihgo songs) that aroused in me a special interest, and when I lived in the U.S., I thought of trying to discover the origins of the festival.

My interests in Johns lead me to educate myself about mythology. While the natural inclination of my mind is to weave thought as a surrealist (I owe this observation to Robert Lowell, the late American poet), I was drawn to mythology, because besides the obvious surreal elements in any mythology, mythology is hierarchical as well. Not being familiar at that time with Jacques Lacan’s concepts of ‘the Real’ and ‘Mirror Stage’ and like possibilities (Lacan befriended French surrealist artists before he turned to the study of the human psyche), and finding America not only surreal but bizarre (in its aimless agitation to say the least), the structure implicit in mythological stories provided a sort of anchor for me. I could dip my own string into the sugar or salt water of stories and draw to light my own crystals.

My early experience with political violence and war initiated by some of the “major” States made me skeptical of State governments to the limits such skepticism takes. I distrust any State, even though—some may be surprised—I recognize the need of it in a religious-moral sense. The question, for me, revolves around trust, i.e., who to trust? This puzzle only fed my interest in mythology and introduced me to the now often dismissed studies of it as presented in “The Golden Bough ” by Sir James Frasier and “The White Goddess” by the poet Robert Graves. Both men gave special attention to human sacrifice. Whatever the specifics of these two men’s personal orientations, I found myself in broad agreement with their material and approach. With the help of these and other authors (I especially like Michael Taussig), I perceived that one cannot speak or do politics without taking into account the “ultimate sacrifice”, the latter not so much in terms of the common soldier, but of the politicians themselves. As perhaps Lacan would agree: an oath that is but one’s word must be guaranteed in the Real (unchangeable) by acts.

I attribute much of the vileness of contemporary politics to the absence of public demand that politicians sacrifice their lives at the end of their lives if their names are not to be removed from public records and/or declared unmentionable. I believe that the absence of public demand for such sacrifices from the political parties is due to the dumbing down of the public that began with the destruction of arch-Christianity by neo-Christianity. This is what ‘disappeared’ the itinerant preachers, the Johns, among the Bogomils, the Cathars, the Children of Johns, the Muslims, Jews, and others. This happened a thousand years ago, plus or minus a hundred years. Incidentally, such a contra neo-Christian chronology of history is suggested by Anatoly Fomenko, a Russian mathematician (topology) and historian with whose arguments I am in sympathy with.

However, while in the United States of America, its status as an empire unquestioned and promoted by all possible positivist means of control, the mindset kept my thinking within the boundaries of neo-Christian mythology. There were not many in my youth who did not hear the Christian myth and the Bible first. While one may say that in terms of open spaces and free market policies America presents no limits to thought, the very same prevent thought from solidifying enough to press back at a boundless and irresponsible positivism with something resembling solid opposition.

Nevertheless, I gradually discovered that the failure to find a point from which to leverage was the dilemma of our times for all: nowhere—anywhere from America to Latvia—can one find a point to leverage from. In a system where corruption is imbedded in law, an honest death cannot escape being called a suicide, and therefore it loses the political tension an honest death had in times when no written word interfered to corrupt the spoken word.

After returning to Latvia [after a total of 51 years abroad (4 in Germany, 46 in the U.S., 1 in South Korea—the latter as a U.S. Marine right after the signing of the armistice in 1953)], I noted with profound regret the changes and demoralization of the community of Latvians. Understanding by now that even the community of 1942, or 3, or 4 and earlier had lost much of what it had formerly possessed (I am thinking back to the Lihgo flag of 1874, and 1209 when Bishop Albert went on a crusade against the proto-Latvians in the kingdom of Jersika), yet because it was so much smaller than America, I was prepared to look at the Johns Eve Festival and image it as the night of human sacrifice on Midsummer Eve—for the reason that there should be no doubt that the Sun would rise on Midsummer Morning.

The stage of human sacrifice in the development of a society is dismissed by Westerners as belonging only to the Inca, Maya, and a few other pre- and post-aboriginals. I submit that such a tradition in Europe was practiced not that long ago, until just before the arch-Christians arrived to replace it with traditions of fasting and sexual abstinence, but retained the ‘endura’—fasting unto death—as a way to prove one’s earnestness about life. The Children of Johns were one of a number of like-minded groups. The widespread use of the name “john” (jahnis, iannis, ivan, johann, hans, huan, aengus, andžs, etc.) in an almost endless chain of offshoots, gives evidence of ubiquity when all was yet one or nearly so. The origin of arch-Christians has nothing to do with neo-Christian Jesus. The word “Christianity” itself tells us that it originates in “Krust” (for cross) + Yahnis (John) = Krust-iyan. Jesus is forced to displace the Johns in order to accomplish—on behalf of secular princes—a total moral flip-flop.

The rise of neo-Christianity has everything to do with and nothing to undo secular politics compromising all convictions. As the used car dealer used to say to his salesmen: “Tell them how they just missed a great “Sale” yesterday, but you promise that you will see to it that they still get a bargain today”.

The neo-Christians replicate the car dealer through a similar practical cynicism: ‘…tell them that they can have everything they want, including God, Bliss, Sex, and Heaven, and they will come to you, shut their eyes to the violence about them, and eat out of your hands, because your force and violence can accomplish this “miracle”’. There is but one qualification: it can be done only as long as the Earth can absorb the cost of “the-willing-to be-violent” and they pay nothing. When the illusion of paying nothing is withdrawn, then as W. B. Yeats wrote: “...the blood-dimmed tide is loosed” at the next step. Is this what humankind wants?

As I see it, modern politics dares not answer to the question: Is self-sacrifice so out of place in politics in our times? As I word-pictured it in Blog 90: While Jesus and Mary have been found to be guilty by the Inquisition and must be burnt at the stake for thinking differently, the Pope is thinking hard of a substitute sacrifice—and does not discover it. For the last thousand years the leadership of humankind has not taken an oath not to take an oath in order to prove that one’s word is real. The reason for this is that in arch-Christian times the spoken word accepts death as a way to keep the truth of the word intact. The politicians of our day are not used to that kind of a commitment to the people of which they are the government of.

Last, but not least, how to start a populist "NOT-VOTE" movement:
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement.html
If interested, acknowledge with a note.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
A provocative and stimulating news-analysis-opinion site (from someone very American): http://emsnews.wordpress.com/
...............................................................
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-29T21:43:00.004+03:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs
THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
95 The Story of Clever John and Crazy Jane (4)

An old Latvian story retold. For the original see
3.A.327.B.460. A.K. Bramanis Rīgas apg. LP,V,36 (3,1).

The Fourth Leg of the Journey. Having loaded up the wagon with gold, Clever John drove up to the main gate of the castle of King Great Ruler. Over the gate hung a large sign, where large letters spelled “Jersika”, i.e., a Latvian colloquialism for “Jerusalem”. This was the first kingdom of proto-Latvians that anyone has heard of. Six guards rolled their drums to summon the king. King Great Ruler himself came to the gate to greet Clever John. This time the King wore leather boots to his knees. The King’s eyes shone in anticipation.

When King Great Ruler saw the wagon full of gold, he called for his daughter princess Complete Satisfaction even before he greeted Clever John. But the King and Clever John waited in vain. A guard of the Jersika castle came running to say that Complete Satisfaction was delayed. King Great Ruler apologized to John for the inconvenience.

“Since you are Clever John, you surely know how these women are,” said the King. “But do not worry. You will meet her in bed. You will be no worse for the anticipation. Beside, the custom in Jersika is to celebrate the marriage ceremony without the bride present. It is thus that Complete Satisfaction builds up Anticipation for the lihgo she will enjoy with you in bed.”

The wedding ceremony is a great feast. Clever John invites his six brothers to attend. The whole day of the ninth day after “Johns Eve” passes in dancing and tournaments of strength and wit. Clever John’s brothers’ dance with Great Ruler’s other daughters all day long. The daughters appear to the brothers as having been met before, which is why no one is shy. Even the Mother of the Devil and King Great Ruler are seen dancing with each other and their guests.

Who would have ever imagined that bathing seven crickets in the sea would lead to such an awesome ceremony and an all day feast?

At last, evening comes, and it is time for Clever John to go lihgo.

King Great Ruler along with the Mother of the Devil lead Clever John to the bedroom, also known as the Lihgo room. When they come to the door of the room, they give Clever John some last minute advice: “The moment you go inside and by the light of the door see where the bed is, do not wait, but close the door and dive right into the divan. Your prize (the Latvians call it “dahvana”), Complete Satisfaction, is waiting for you. If you hesitate the princess may lose the heat of her desire for you.”

A servant of the King’s court opens the door of the Lihgo room. Clever John sees the divan and dives right into the bed. As the servant closes the door, everything goes pitch black around him.

No sooner is Clever John under the blankets than he begins to feel for the princess. With great anticipation, he feels something soft beside him. He feels the material of a night gown, finds the buttons, and… he feels! he fears! it is straw. Can this be true? “I wasted no time jumping into bed!” shouts Clever John to no one in particular. “You cannot blame me for being late! What the Devi…,” he shouts, but he does not finish the word, because the door of the room suddenly opens and a shaft of light discovers Clever John on all fours on the divan feeling up a straw doll.

Into the Lihgo room come servants with large candelabras of lit candles. Right behind them is Crazy Jane.

As soon as the servants leave and close the door behind them, Crazy Jane wastes no time and says what is on her mind: “What do you take me for, Clever John?” she screams. “Was I not the first woman who you proposed to? Do you really believe that some princess named Complete Satisfaction was here just waiting for you?”

For the first time in his life Clever John is speechless. “But, but…”, he begins, but cannot find other words.

Crazy Jane has been holding in her hands a pair of long leather boots. She throws the boots on the bed. “Put these on,” she commands. Clever John notices that Crazy Jane, too, wears boots.

Clever John does as he is ordered. He pulls on the boots. And the moment that the bottoms of his feet touch the bottoms of the boots, he feels himself seized by a big shake. His skin is transversed by pleasant shivers, and then he is seized by a heat wave that alternates with a cold wave. Crazy Jane has pulled off her night gown and with her boots still on has jumped into the bed and now lies beside Clever John.

From outside each door of the bedroom the chorus of the court of Jersika (Oh Jerusalem!) breaks out in Lihgo songs.

“Lih-go! Lih-go!” (Often the word “Lihgo” is sung as one yodelling in the mountains does it: “Lih-ih-go! Lih-ih-go!”) The voices of King Great Ruler and the Mother of the Devil are heard among the singers.

“Ai, Johnny, son of the Sun,
Lih-ih-go! Lih-ih-go!
Ai Janey, daughter of the Devil,
Lih-ih-go! Lih-ih-go!”

After the chorus is done, the trumpets sound the fanfare fanfare to Clever John and Crazy Jane. It sends shivers through every Latvian who has ever heard or not heard it before.

That is how they once celebrated Johns Eve in Jersika-Jerusalem of proto-Latvia.

This is where the story ends. Clever John and Crazy Jane live to this day in Jersika. It is the Latvian Jerusalem—though today few make the connection between the name Jersika with Jerusalem. One hears that Clever John still has his long boots on, and some people wonder how it is possible for him to keep them on for so long. There is an answer to this mystery, of course.

You see, Clever John and Crazy Jane have never yet climbed out of the bed, and this is why the soles of their boots never are worn down. It is not for nothing why Clever John is also known as the Father of the Dead.

(The end.)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".
Of interest to me is this (news on the California elections to legalize Johns Grass) and this article (coca politics in Bolivia). The articles express some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
Interesting material relating to Johns;
A recommended site.

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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-26T11:43:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs
THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
94 A Story of Clever John and Crazy Jane (3)

An old Latvian story retold. For the original see
3.A.327.B.460. A.K. Bramanis Rīgas apg. LP,V,36 (3,1).

The Third Leg of the Journey. After Clever John had visited with all whom he had promised to help, he rode straight for the court of KingOverAll. It was the seventh day since Johns Eve, since Clever Johns was on his own.

KingOverAll himself comes to meet Clever John. The King’s chin has a sporty goatee, but surprise! Surprise! He wears no boots. One can see that his toenails have not been cut for a long time. Only a very rich man can afford to live, thus, as he wishes, paying no mind to public opinion.

“What can I do for you, Clever John?” asks KingOverAll.

“I have come to ask you for your daughter’s hand, KingOverAll,” answered Clever John.

“Well,” answered KingOverAll, “if you are the real Clever John of whom I have heard so much, then before I give you my daughter, I would like you to bring me a wagon full of gold. If you bring it to me, the Princess Complete Satisfaction will be yours.”

Clever John thanks KingOverAll and goes to think it over. The King’s request is no ordinary one and certainly not easily realized. Where can one find a pile of gold on such a short notice? After all, Clever John does not wish to spend all his life just scouring and scraping for gold; life is short as it is.

As he seeks the answer, Clever John turns toward the north, the south, the east, and the west, but no answer comes to him. At last, nearly desperate, Clever John begins to rub the gold ring that Crazy Jane had given him after their nap together. The answer comes to mind almost instantly. The advice tells him in so many whispered words to “Go to the seashore and call for the raven. When it arrives, climb with your horse and all on his back. The raven will take you to the pile of gold. It knows where it is. It has been tied to it like many a time before.”

Clever John wastes no time and calls for the raven. No sooner called than the raven arrives.

“Why are you looking so sad, Clever John?” asks the raven.

“Well, raven of all ravens, I must find a wagonload of gold right away.”

“That is no problem at all,” answers the raven. “You and your horse, you just climb on my back and I will take you there.”

Clever John is surprised how easy it has been so far and gets a little worried about being taken in by it all. He nervously twists between his fingers his neck scarf. As if out of nowhere arrives Crazy Jane. She is sitting as if on a cloud of dreams, while Clever John explains to her his worries. Crazy Jane listens to John’s story, then leans into his ear and whispers the answer:

“When you are up in the air, the first question that the raven will ask you is ‘How large is the sea?’ You answer him: ‘As large as a large lake.’

“The second question the raven will ask you is ‘How large is the lake?’ You answer him: ‘As large as the largest puddle.’

“The third question the raven will ask you is ‘How large is the puddle?’ You answer him: ‘As large as the eye of a dead horse.’

“May your dreams true, Clever John,” said Crazy Jane and disappeared into the cloud she had come in.

Clever John, still on horseback, climbs on the back of the raven. The raven lifts itself and its load up into the air. It flew high, and then higher, and then higher again. Clever John feels the cold and takes from the saddle bag the black bear coat and puts it around his shoulders.

After flying yet higher, the raven croaks: “Clever John, how large is the sea below us?”

“It’s as large as the largest lake,” answers John.

“Kra, kra,” croaks the raven and flies yet higher again. After a while it asks: “Clever John, how large is the sea now?”

“It is as large as the largest puddle,” answers John.

“Kra, kra,” croaks the raven and flies yet again higher. The mustache of Clever John freezes solid. His horse shakes until it shakes no more.

After a while the raven asks: “Clever John, how large is the sea now?”

“It is as large as the eye of a dead horse,” answers Clever John with lips nearly frozen stiff.

“We’re as good as there,” croaks back the raven, and having said it, it shakes Clever John with the horse of its back. Clever John falls out of the saddle, and horse and Clever John fall to earth their separate ways.

Clever John happens not to fall into the sea, but into the dunes along its shores. Sand flies in all directions. And… and under the dunes there lay a pile of gold the size no one had ever before seen. Apparently some pirates had buried it there while they went and pirated for more.

Clever John does not remember for how long he lay in the dune, but it surely was no sooner than the eight day, when he awakened.

He soon realized that it was a question of what to do next? His horse had frozen to death and was dead. As Clever John thought things over, the big fish that was for ever tied to the shore came to his help.

With one flip of its tail, it sent Clever John and the entire dune and the pile of gold under it right up to the gate of KingOverAll’s castle. For a moment Clever John thought that he had drunk too much Johns Grass tea the night he spent sleeping in the haystack.

Nevertheless, for all the good luck that was coming his way Clever John knew that he had yet another problem: How to bring all that gold to KingOverAll. He had neither a horse nor a wagon.

No sooner is trouble mentioned than a solution was at hand. Out of Johns cloud of dreams appears Crazy Jane again. Along with her comes also the Mother of the Devil. The mother’s hair is all over her face and stands in the air. In her hands she holds the reigns of a horse that appears to have survived the fall from the sky remarkably intact.

Crazy Jane and the Mother of the Devil help Clever John lift the pile of gold into the wagon. Crazy Jane whispers into John’s ear yet another piece of good advice: “Don’t be in a hurry. Walk slowly, be dignified. The Princess will not disappear or run away. The word of KingOverAll is his word of honor. He makes no oaths, but he is true to his word.—or he dies. You will surely get to sleep with Princess Complete Satisfaction.”

(Next blog: the fourth and last part of Clever John’s journey.)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others”, see Orwell's "Animal Farm" .
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this  and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
An interesting read from 1936.

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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-22T21:22:00.001+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
93 A Story of Clever John and Crazy Jane (2)

An old Latvian story retold. For the original see
3.A.327.B.460. A.K. Bramanis Rīgas apg. LP,V,36 (3,1).

The following links lead you to think of life with a different entry point in time than the machines that we have made to roar around us enter us in. I recommend you listen and see the links in the sequence as below before reading the story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIroakIXto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g50iAWTJF3M&feature=related

The Second Leg of the Journey. After she was done chopping heads, the Mother of the Devil was out of breath and took a rest. This was time enough for the seven brothers to jump out the window of the hay barn and run to the stall for their horses. They then rode like hell was on fire. The boots on the horse of Clever John carried him to the head of the pack.

Half-way home though, Clever John had an idea. He reigned in his horse and waved for his brothers to stop.

“Good brothers,” said Clever John, “we are out of danger. The Mother of the Devil will not catch up with us now. But you know, I have not seen the Sun come out once today. And it has been raining without a stop. Let us go visit the Sun and ask her why She did not come up on Johns Day. Maybe something is wrong”.

“Are you crazy, man?” All the six brothers spoke as one. “We just escaped from the Mother of the Devil and are lucky to be alive. We want to go home.”

“I am smart—as always,” answered Clever John. “I saved you your lives once, and I will save them again. Trust me. Let’s go. It will be alright.”

“You are crazy all the same,” the brothers retorted again in unison. “You promised us brides, and here we are still bachelors. You have no more smarts in your head than the black behind your nail. We are riding home. Who knows where those crazy boots on your horse will take you.”

So it happened that Clever John continued his journey through the world on his own. His horse seemed to know where it was he was to go. They rode on for a while. After a while Clever John decided that it was enough for the day, so he stopped. He took the boots off his horse, tied its ankles to each other, and then found himself a hay stack to sleep through the night.

The next day, after he had dressed his horse and they had traveled to about midday, they came to a tall pine not too far from the road.

At the tip of the pine tree sat a raven and cawed: “Where you going, Clever John?”

“I am riding to ask the Sun why this is the second day that she is not shining,” answered Clever John.

"Ai, be so good, Clever John, and ask the Sun for how long am I going to be tied to this tree.”

Clever John continued on his journey. On the following day he came to a sea. He saw a big fish there. One side of the fish was tied to the shore, the other side was bathed by the sea.

The fish spoke up and said to Clever John: “Where you going, Clever John?”

“I am riding to ask the Sun why this is the third day that she is not shining,” answered Clever John.

“Ai, be so good, Clever John, and ask the Sun when she will untie me from the sea and the shore.”

On the fourth day Clever John came to a river. To his surprise, he saw Crazy Jane standing up to her knees in the river with a bucket in her hand. As soon as Crazy Jane had filled the bucket, she poured it out again. She did it tirelessly, bucket after bucket.

“I was wondering what happened to you, Jane,” said Clever John. “What are you doing here? I thought that you were dead.”

“The Devil’s children have ways of coming to life again,” answered Crazy Jane. “I will tell you as it is. This is my punishment from my mother for trusting you with her and my secrets. Where you going, Clever John?”

“I am riding to ask the Sun why this is the fourth day that she is not shining,” answered Clever John.

“Ai, be so good, Clever John, and ask the Sun when she will allow me to stop bailing water?”

By the fifth day, Clever John arrived to the Sun Mountain and rode up as high as the mountain was. No guards stood at the gate. There were just the usual bells at most gates and other entrances. One has to shake them themselves. Clever John rang the bells.

The Sun came to meet Clever John Herself. She brought him to sit in a large chair and put around his shoulders a thick coat of a black bear fur. After just a few minutes Clever John was perspiring as if he was a rain cloud. To help him, one of the daughters of the Sun brought him a glass of lemonade.

The Sun asked the first question: “Clever John, where are you going? It is five days since the skies are cloudy, and I cannot see what is happening on Earth.”

“That is what I came to ask you about,” answered Clever John. “You just stuck out a few rays on Johns Day morning, and then went away. We were sad to see the rains come.”

“Oh, I know, I know,” answered the Sun. “But clouds also have their place. Your brothers seemed hardly concerned whether I rose in the morning or not. Perhaps the weather will clear up by tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Mother Sun,” said Clever John. “The raven asked me to ask you for how long must he be tied to the pine tree.”

“As long as it is necessary,” answered the Sun. “He will be tied to the tree as long as the room cleaner’s child lies dead and unburied there. Once the child is buried, the raven is free to go.”

“Thank you, Mother Sun,” answered Clever John. “The great fish wants to know for how long she will be tied to the sea and the shore?”

“That will be a long time,” answered the Sun. “It cannot be any other way. However, if you know of a way to untie it, then go ahead.”

“Thank you, Mother Sun,” answered Clever John. “Crazy Jane, the Mother of the Devil’s own daughter, wants to know for how long she must bail the river.””

“That can be an endless task,” answered the Sun. “She must answer the question why she stole from her father his boots and gave them to you? If you return them to her, she is free to go, none the worse for the wear.”

Clever John is sweating under the bear mantle. As soon as the Sun finishes speaking, Clever John springs to his feet and with many bows to toward the Sun, he leaves the court going through the gate backwards.

Clever John’s last words to the Sun are: “Thank you again, Mother Sun, for receiving me.”

Clever John then jumps on his horse and makes it down Sun Hill as fast as the horse can. At the foot of the hill, Clever John is so exhausted that he decides to spend the night where he is. The mantle of the black bear now comes in handy.

The following day, Clever John meets Crazy Jane again. He takes the boots of his horse and hands them to her. “The Sun said that if I gave these back to you, you are free to go.”

“No, I want the other pair, too,” said Crazy Jane. She makes Clever John take off his horse the other pair of boots it is wearing as well. As if by magic, Clever John discovers that he is standing in his bare feet now, not much of prince anymore.

Crazy Jane thanks Clever John. “Clever John,” she tells him, “I love you this moment more than ever. If you ever need my help, just call my name, and I will come running.”

That same day Clever John comes to the sea and the great fish. He pats the fish on the back, gives it a hug, and whispers into her ear mystical numbers and magic words.

The fish thanks Clever John. “Clever John, if you ever need my help just call me, and I will come swimming.”

Clever John meets the raven next. He looks for and finds under the pine tree the body of the unburied child. He buries it. The raven flies off, cawing after her: “Clever John, if you lever need my help just call me, and I will be there.”

(Next blog is the third part of Clever John’s journey.)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On  material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others”, see Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/09/28/coca_politics/ . It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.

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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-19T22:02:00.004+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
92 A Story of
Clever John and Crazy Jane

An old Latvian story retold. For the original see
3.A.327.B.460. A.K. Bramanis Rīgas apg. LP,V,36 (3,1).

For transition from proto-Latvian Kingdom of Jersika to modern state of Latvia (the image of which is currently under the direction of what can best be described as the Chicago School of Latvia) see blogs from 58 on.

The following links lead you to think of life with a different entry point in time than the machines that roar on our streets and over our heads. I recommend you listen and see the links in the sequence as below before reading the story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIroakIXto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g50iAWTJF3M&feature=related

Introduction. Once upon a time there were seven brothers. The seventh brother, the one who was the youngest, was the cleverest. This is why his brothers called him Clever John.

Even while he was very young, Clever John called his brothers together and said to them: “You know, guys, I know where there lives a mother with seven daughters. These are going to be our brides. Still, do not get married until I grow up.”

The brothers of Clever John thought it over and agreed to wait. After all, one could have fun while waiting. The village had many young women, and few were shy.

The time went, and it did not seem so very long before Clever John grew up. He then called his brothers together once more and said to them: “Guys, the Summer Solstice Festival, Johns Day, will be here day after tomorrow. You know how important this day is. There will be a big to do as all wait for the Sun to rise. We all know what will happen if She does not rise. Anyway, there will be a large crowd and a big dance at the Waysiders Inn on Johns Eve. The seven daughters that will be our brides will also be there. Now let us saddle our horses and off we ride.”

“Nice idea, Clever John,” answered his brothers, but where will we find seven horses. We don’t even have one.”

“No problem,” answered Clever John. “Go catch me seven crickets and I will fix it.”

The brothers looked at each other as if to say “Just listen to this, guy”. On the other hand, Clever John had done many clever things in the past, and perhaps this was going to be another one of those times. So, they went and caught seven crickets, stuffed them in a sack, and brought them to Clever John.

The first leg of the journey. Clever John looked into the sack, counted seven crickets, and invited his brothers to follow him to the sea.

When the brothers had come to the sea shore, Clever John opened the sack and shook the crickets into the shallow water that lapped the shore there. The crickets kicked around in the water for a while, and then one after another went limp. It seemed that they were about to die, if indeed they were not dead already.

One of the older brothers of Clever John was about to start laughing, thinking that Clever John had pulled off a joke on them, when, suddenly, the crickets started to shrivel and drew themselves into something that looked like seven pinheads. Then the pinheads began to grow larger again. They grew and grew into ever larger bubbles, until one could discern inside each bubble a horse. When the bubbles burst, out of each one of them stepped a horse in full saddle. The brothers, too, discovered that they all had a new suit and new riding boots.

“Well, did I not say that this will happen? And is it not so?” asked Clever John.

He was wasting his breath, however. His brothers had already mounted their horses and were at a full gallop over the dunes and unto the road to the Wayside Inn. The sea gulls barely had time to call to them good bye before they were out of sight.

Clever John was left with the seventh horse. He jumped into the saddle and was ready to ride, but discovered that because the bubble that his horse came from had burst a prematurely, his horse was smaller than the others. This is why Clever John could not ride as fast. Came evening, Clever John had still not caught up with his brothers, who, no doubt, were already at the inn and celebrating Johns Eve. It was the custom of the land that if on Midsummer’s Eve a man promised a woman the blossom of a fern and sunshine in the morning, the women could hardly refuse the men whatever it is they asked of them—come rain or sunshine.

So, this is what happened. By the time that Clever John reached Wayside Inn, it was already the morning of Johns Day. The Sun rose, discovered that no people had come out to greet her. None stood on the hilltops or had the Johns fires still going when she rose. She drew a peak through the windows of the Wayside Inn and discovered that everyone but one had had so much fun the evening before that everyone but one was asleep. Apparently, as soon as the six brothers of Clever John had arrived at the inn, the dancing had begun for real. The wife of the establishment owner, known as the “Mother of the Devil himself” had not spared on the beer. Her daughters, the waitresses, had not only served the beer to the customers, but had allowed themselves a portion. When Clever John opened the door to the inn, he saw that what had taken place was not only a Yandahls (Johns Dance), but a wedding. Everyone lay about where they had fallen.

In a far corner of the inn sat Crazy Jane. She was the oldest of the mother’s seven daughters. Clever John’s brothers, thinking her less pretty than the others, had left her for their youngest brother. There was no question, that Crazy Jane was lanky and flat chested. On the other hand, just as Clever John opened the door of the inn, the Sun cast on her one shaft of light, upon which Crazy Jane raised her eyes and saw Clever John. She knew she had not waited in vain.

As for Clever John, he was no dummy. “There is nothing to be sorry about,” he said to himself. “I will take what is left for the taking. The more she is lanky, the more she will bend.”

Crazy Jane invited Clever John into the inn. In the kitchen she baked him bacon and eggs, and served it on a plate with caraway cheese and beer. Then she sat down across the table from Clever John and asked: “What took you so long, Clever John?”

“My brothers played a joke on me,” replied Clever John.

“Yes, my mother told me,” answered Crazy Jane. “She saw what happened. She told me to wait up for you. We plan to reward your brothers for not waiting up for the Sun.”

“I will be much obliged,” answered Clever John. “I think that you are so beautiful, you can come live with me. I am the owner of a big inn. I have a stall full of horses.”

Just then Clever John’s six brothers and their brides started awakening. The brothers put on their hats and went out to the stall to take care of their horses. Outside the rain was pouring. Perhaps the Sun was crying. While the six brides fixed up the inn, Crazy Jane invited Clever John to her room to rest a while. She lay down beside him and whispered a secret into his ear. She also gave Clever John a warning. It was about how she and her mother planned to give the brothers their reward. Clever John thanked Jane for the information and went to sleep.

When Clever John awoke, Crazy Jane had prepared a surprise for him. On the table beside the bed, Jane has set for John a fresh neck scarf. On top of the scarf was a gold ring, and next to the bed stand a pair of new riding boots.

Crazy Jane then told Clever John that she had stolen the boots from the Devil himself. Then, as if to prove that along with this story, she was indeed a little crazy, Crazy Jane told John not to put the boots on his legs, but on those of his horse.

“With boots on, the horse will carry us both off to our honeymoon,” she told John.

“Alright,” says Clever John. “That will be some ride.” He then puts on the neckerchief and the gold ring that Jane has set out. When Crazy Jane looked at John, he looked just like a prince. Crazy Jane was so thrilled that she gaveClever John a big kiss. Clever John kisses her back.

After a while Clever John remembered that he, too, must take care of his horse. However, instead of putting on either his own or the Devil’s boots, he cleverly dressed as was the custom on Johns Day--he put on his feet bark loafers. In each hand, he carried a pair of riding boots.

“When one is strong and another is weak, both are strong,” whispered Crazy Jane into Clever John’s ear as he went out the door.

On his way to the tall, Clever John meets with his brothers who are coming back from the stall. They come toward him whistling, and then one of them greet him. “Hey, Clever John, what are you going to do with those boots? Are you going to put them on that nag of yours?” All the brothers break out in a laugh. Ha, ha! But only Clever John knows what the boots are really for.

Another brother hm-m-med and asked: “Did you ask Crazy Jane how many men have stretched her before she got so long?”

While everyone laughed, Clever John winced.

“You dumb horseflies,” said Clever John as he then turned to his brothers. “What would you do without me? Do you have any notion of what awaits you tonight?”

The six brothers took control of themselves and gathered around Clever John. “What’s this? What can happen to us? Our brides are like honey covered strawberries. Are you jealous of us or something?”

Clever John then begins to explain: “Look, my dear brothers. The innkeeper-es is no innocent angel, but the Mother of the Devil himself. She is so angry with you for falling asleep last night that she would as soon as….” Clever John draws a finger across his throat. “More over, her daughters have only been pretending. They would probably like to strangle you.”

“What kind of dumb horseflies do you think we are?” said yet another brother. “Our brides purred us to our sleep last night, and look! We are alive.”

“Yes, and they now have proof just how much you honor the Sun.”

The brothers stood as if transfixed. “Men, we are into big doodoo,” said the very oldest of the brothers.

“Here is my plan,” then began Clever John. “Listen! When the Mother of the Devil invites us to sleep in the hayloft and bids us good night, she will give each one of us a kiss, so we all think that she is so very nice. She will hand to each one of us a nightcap, which we are to put on our heads during our sleep. She will give a wreath of flowers to each one of her daughters.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” said one of the skeptical brothers.

“That is not all,” said Clever John. The Mother of the Devil will tell her daughters to sleep along the rafters of the loft, while we are to sleep in a row on the outside.”

“So? What’s wrong?”

Clever John put down the boots, put his hand into his pocket and pulled out six cream of milk candies. “Don’t you suck on these,” he tells his brothers, “but give these to your brides. Tell them it contains a special love potion. They will go for it. Actually, along the cream is mixed with a sleeping potion and your brides will soon be snoring. When your brides are snoring, put your nightcaps on their heads and roll them into your place on the outside row. Then put their wreaths on your heads. This is no joke, else you will not stay live.”

“Can we roll the sisters while we’re still awake?” asked one of the brothers. Perhaps he wished to be smarter than smart, but he got no answer.

Clever John looked around to make sure no one overheard and then told his brothers something that made them see black smoke and doom. Their eyes opened wide. Yes, that is something that one better not kid about. Of course, it is difficult to believe what Clever John is telling, but one never knows for sure. Maybe it is for real.

It all happens as Clever John has foretold.

A few minutes after midnight the barn door creaks open, and up to the loft came the Mother of the Devil. She held in her hands an axe that was wide as the length of two feet put end to end. And then she proceeded to chop off all the heads of all who lay along the outer edge right edge of the loft with nightcaps on their heads.

It is in this way that the Mother of the Devil cut off the heads of all her daughters—including the head of Crazy Jane, the Mother of the Devil’s eldest daughter. Clever John had been so clever that he had made Crazy Jane believe that she would be his bride. Of course, this was not fair. After all, was that not a great secret that Crazy Jane had entrusted Clever John with? Was that not true love?

We now see--don’t we?--of how it is with true love sometimes.

(In the next blog the second part of Clever John’s journey.)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm"
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 LatvianOnline + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-16T19:25:00.001+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
91 Gridlocked in Latvia (10)

The future of Latvia is unknown. At the present the country is adrift. The country exists, but turns like a falling leaf caught by no current of air. Perhaps this is the result of Latvia’s leadership having run to capitalism for succor. It advised them to follow the Chicago, Georgetown, and Harvard economists’ advice and sign up for economic shock therapy. It worked. The hammer hit the pin and it bounced to the bell, but then—as things are wont to do at the circus—it as quickly fell back and resulted in a double shock.

The government of Latvia is putting up quite a show how to create a disaster, except it hurts to watch. It hurts in the real. Even the few oligarchs are complaining—though they are much the cause of the disaster.

The drift of Latvia comes without the pleasures of playing casino on an old fashioned riverboat. Unfortunately, the boat drifted onto a sandbank, and the players must now drag it off the dune. As one donkey said to another: “It was a gamble, and this is the payoff ”. Chances are they will get another chance to go downriver, but with no pleasure. The Latvian girls used their mobile phones, called a limousine, and are gone.

Most Latvians can hardly believe what is happening. Did they not suffer the years 1940, 1949, and all the pain that a government by force can deal? Do they now have to watch their own extinction? Have Latvians not proven Thomas Jefferson’s axiom twice over: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Well, there is enough manure of Latvians to last some time. The trouble is that while there is a “soft” tyrant in the form of a Latvian neo-capitalist partidocratic government, there is no blood of patriots, not even symbolic. Jesus and Mary are waiting to be burnt as heretics, while the pope tries to think of who other can take on the sacrifice.

The political leadership of Latvia, whether in office or hoping to come into office come October (2010) elections is talking the talk with brain contorted in a neo-Christian seizure: no more living wills, but orthodoxy to the hilt. The cramp snakes through the brain like soup made of starched strawberry jam. It is not nutritious, but it is sweet. People are pulled to it like flies to sugared flycagaric. The soup needs to be removed from the table and dumped into the garbage bucket. But who will do it?

Like the pope, the government and its ministers are thinking about it, but at this time the effort has brought no fruit. The Latvian media—the same that ought to be holding the broom that sweeps the dirt out the door and whacks the power inebriated partidocrats—is compromised by having drunk too much urine of the shamans who fly about the offices of Latvia’s ministries. Boiled juice of fly agaric is said to work wonders even after several passages through the bladder. Nepotism by intoxication is a form of political Ponzi scheme. One editor of a now defunct newspaper, filling in as an interviewer on a news show this past Friday evening, managed to ask Valdis Dombrovskis, the Latvian Prime Minister, whether it was true that he meditated. When the PM confirmed that he did, the editor enthused about his inane question by commenting how this was all to the good.

As this blogger searches through the links of the internet for Ariadnes’ silver thread to get through the labyrinth of economic bull, the following struck me as coming from the keys of one who has expertise both in forest fire fighting and economics. The writer writes: “Find a professional in wildland fire science. Speak the phrase, ‘Long periods of drought, followed by high winds.’ A sane response by a seasoned professional in that field would be, “Oh, CR*P!" That is to say, someone will light a match and the entire surround will burst into fire.

Another quote from the same link, noteworthy given the fact that the President of Latvia is a professional surgeon:

“This is like surgeons in the 1840’s strutting around, ‘Hey, we’re surgeons… and hand washing is stupid, because we’ve never heard of these things called germs!’ Surgeons continued to kill over a quarter of their patients for decades, including women delivering babies in hospitals, until the 1880’s when Pasteur extended Koch’s germ theory of disease.” Only after thousands of unnecessary deaths and Pasteur’s studies did surgeons begin to wash their hands.

Will the partidocrats and those who manipulate them learn about the real that turns the economic wheels? A solid case can be made for the tourist industry as an export business. Even so, the export is not only to bring to Riga Las Vegas gambling casinos. After the priming cap burns off, its place must be taken by a more solid fuel. Johns Grass in the countryside may be one of the attractors even for all those over seventy years old who believe that their lives have come to completion. Stem cell research that leads to cloning is the booster that puts the traveler from one civilization into another.

Is Latvia being rescued by a bailout of Swedish and Danish banks? Here is a link to some CR*P! from the president of the Bank of Latvia Ilmārs Rimšēvičs. Says Rimšēvičs: “As trust [in the Bank of Latvia] increases, there is a notable decline, still ongoing, of the percentage [we] have to pay to sell the lats. The rate has fallen from 14% three months ago, to 2.5% today.” (My translation, admittedly not verbatim.) Not a cent of IMF money goes to the Latvian people or Latvian business?

A convincing contrary view to that of the President of the Bank of Latvia can be found at this'address. Pay special attention to the 2nd paragraph (in Latvian), which identifies Ilmārs Rimšēvičs and Einars Repše, Latvia’s minister of Finance, with Georgetown, Chicago, and Harvard schools of economics theories. These came from the late monetarist Milton Friedman. Not surprisingly, the theorists were known as the “monetarist school”. I believe that this means that they like to spend money.

Does Latvia have a chance of ever crawling from the crater of debt? The answer, given the present leadership, is no. Of course, there will be a few exceptions, but Latvians as a community of people are slaves to banks and their paper. It is time to change tack and break through to the future by daring to think even the not-unthinkable.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's fable, "Animal Farm"
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-13T11:13:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
90 Gridlocked in Latvia (9)

Dawn, day, dusk.

When history is forgotten and replaced by a shallow myth, everyone who lends the myth a credulous ear puts one foot in the zionationalist camp. This is not to say that battles to overthrow the yoke of oppression cease to be heroic deeds or that shallow myths fail to mention them. Even so, the nation needs a history of sufficient depth of credibility to discover its bearings and not resort to tortured persuasions that do not persuade.

Unfortunately, Latvia ends the first decade of the 21st century as a nation absent a persuasive leadership. To have to listen to the leaders of Latvia insist that the priority of Latvia in 2010 is “providing employment” to those whom previous administrations of the government failed and are still failing is like telling the nation go dig another crater for a meteor or go and deforest your country. The current government of Latvia, in short, has not only no idea what to do with itself in the future but exists for no other reason that the people of Latvia have not yet given it a “not-vote”. One may think that the Latvian people are as much a crater in the ground their government.

Is perhaps the passivity of Latvia due to a myth of origins that is a crater, too? It is a question worthy of attention.

As pointed out in earlier blogs, the subjugation of arch-Christian beliefs and the destruction of the 11th century proto-Latvian Children of Johns—along with the Cathars of Lanquedoc—culminated for both in the coordinated crusades of 1209. One pincer of the crusade sacked the hilltop castle of the Cathars at Montsegur, Languedoc; the other burnt down the castle of King Visvaldis of Jersika. “Visvaldis” is of course a Latvian name with ontological meaning, which is why the king may also have been a high priest. While King Visvaldis and the kingdom of Jersika are known to Latvians, their importance has rather compulsively been replaced by the figure of Kaupo (d. 1217). Historians and literati have tortured the hell out of the figure of Kaupo trying to avoid calling him one of their own. Who was Kaupo—such an unavoidable, yet unmentionable figure?

If one follows CaterineBruschi's argument (see p. 88 ff) that the Catholic Church used spies, also known as “explorers”, to intimidate and “…loosen(ed) the heretics’ bonds of loyalty and secrecy, introducing suspicion and fear….”, Kaupo may be seen to be a member of the Children of Johns arch-Christian tradition, who betrays not some vague “religious views of Baltic tribes” (“baltu cilšu reliģiskos uzskatus”) as Latvian philologues are wont to refer to the Children of Johns, but serves in unmentioned ways to undermine the history of a people and a region. Indeed, by failing to see Kaupo as a spy who is intimidated by the Inquisition to spy on his own, but by presenting him instead as a figure that lends itself to the interpretation of various “meta-narrations”* (all presenting Latvians from a neo-Christian perspective), the history of Latvia is made invisible, not to say false.

If some radical economists today bemoan the inability of consumers to wean themselves off consuming unnecessary goods and polluting the planet and guess that the weakness of the consumer is hid in some Lacanian paradox (mirror stage), a radicalized Latvian ought bemoan the inability of the orthodoxy-mired state of Latvia to divorce itself from the figure of a christianized Kaupo, the spy for the West, and constructing from the flattened ruin of Jersika an economically viable and mind enlightening surround for Latvians and all who come to visit.

As things stand, the zionationalist government of Latvia dreams of positioning itself—in a geopolitical sense—in a manner not unlike that of Israel . While the harbor of Riga presents Latvia as an important geopolitical location, the question remains—to what ends is it for? Will Latvia (along with Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, et al) serve as the eastern wall to NATO, and, thus, become a forward military base of NATO? Or will Latvia become a major research, technology, medicine, cloning, and social anthropology research center for Europe—East and West? If the orientation is toward the West only, remaining a border zone may not be safe enough for a long term investment.

We have been witnesses to how a zionationalist state may secure for the state and the people living within its borders a negative image. The Latvian government of the last twenty years has dreamt its time away by doing little more than Kaupo. It, too, has presumed itself before its sisters and brothers as more “Christian” neo-Christian than the Children of Johns could aspire to be. This isolationist neo-Christian voice has played a certain voice among the down beaten. In an impromptu survey conducted by the television show “What is happening in Latvia?” (“Kas notiek Latvijā”—Wed., 7/3/10), the answer to “whether you support changes in the immigration laws of Latvia (in effect liberalizing them)”, the answer that won most votes was “—No, there are too many uncontrollable risks”. After being boiled, dunked, well orthodoxed, then stir fried, it is no mystery why the Latvian people prefer 16:1 self-isolation. Yet this is hardly the condition to be in if one sees ahead for Latvia a future that embraces and is embraced by the world.

The zionationalists know where to find their “enemy”. They find the “enemy” in the internal 6:3:1 (roughly) ratio of Balts to Slavs to Others. That is to say, the “enemy” is found in the minority that reads 3+1. One result of such a posture is provided by the unsurprising appearance of various symbols of Russia—starting with youths wearing pullover hats with “RUSSIA” spelled in Cyrilic alphabet on it to the tsar’s eagle on the wheel covers of at least one car—on Riga streets. For several weeks the Latvian media has gone ga-ga over these simple if direct expressions of protest over the neglect of the Russian and Other communities in Latvia. Zionationalist divisionism (not necessarily excluding Russian political circles) hopes and trusts that the result will be a heterogenous Latvia overgrown by a homogenous reactionary mindset.

The problem for a zionationalist government in Latvia is that while most NATO countries agree with the U.S. policy of securing Oil and whatever other goodies in the Middle East for the West, the EU countries in spite of being members of NATO, do not wish to destroy Russia, but merely weaken it by hooking its people to over consumption of European rather than Chinese products. In moves clearly in opposition to Baltic zionationalists, Germany and Russia are about to circumvent the Baltic countries by laying a gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, France has negotiated with Russia a deal that sells it four Mistral class warships and purchases from Russia 14 Soyuz rocket boosters.

The Baltic zionationalists are countering the projects of Germany and France by puffing up NATO military exercises. [Is this not like digging a hole for a meteriorite to fall in?] Starting Saturday, March 17th (to 20th) various types of fighter planes will thunder over my head in the Latvian countryside to impress an unmentioned antagonist. Will these exercises impress at a time when the zionationalism in Latvia has suffered the people huge economic losses not only due to corruption in the government and business circles, but because of a failure to integrate the nation’s 6:3:1 ethnic ratio into 1? The propaganda that tells the public that the zionationalist government in office is the bridge that spans economic failures in the past and present to economic success in the near future has the smell of something rotten in Riga about it.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
* My comments on Kaupo are based on a paper by Renate Kākliņa, “Vēstītāja perspektīva Kaupo tēla interpretācijās”, Kultūras Forums, January 22-29.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-10T11:02:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
89 Gridlocked In Latvia (8)

It is winter still, but comes spring. The sun has climbed noticeably higher in the sky.
How Latvians became linked to zionationalism requires an explanation. Before moving on, below is a sketch of how this blogger sees it.

The linking of the Latvian “Children of Johns” (Jāņu bērni) with the Jews, the Bogomils, the Humiliati, the Paulists, the Bosnian Church, the Cathars, the Waldensians, King Arthur’s Court, etc.* as of one ancient church is not fancy, but a past that has been forced (beaten, burnt, tortured, and the like) into submission by being forgot.

With the turning of the Children of Johns into heretics [the Latvians know them as “ch(ķ)eceri”; now children playing mean ghosts (or Mārtiņbērni on Halloween Night], they were forced to convert from their beliefs (“hereticism”, of course!) and ways to new, uniform (very important), and harmless (also very important) creatures who served the princes submissively. Today, having gone through the meat grinder and after having been doctored with many promises of better days to come, the transformed heretic is still recognizable in the figure of the passive consumer buying every kind of necessary and unnecessary item at the shopping mall. The princes are part of government (it does not matter whether if is called a democracy, oligarchy, dictatorship, or what not) still, and corporations are turned into individuals impersonated by CEOs. Priests of the current version of westernized neo-religions (Christians, Muslims, Jews), are all trained now to provide psychological counseling, i.e., a means to try turn whatever inner unhappiness one feels with regard to the state of the world into passivity. The word is: Stay mum, take my advice as a “buy” signal, buy it, and move on.

For all of the horror that the Children of Johns had to suffer in order to, when all was said and done, find themselves unable to resist their “convertors” (the neo-Christian Church), Latvians still bear within themselves a latent sense that somehow they have their own “Latvian” religion. The only trouble is that in spite of the feelings of certainty that there is a religion there for sure, they have no idea what the religion is.

So, what was the “arch” and what is the “neo” religion? And who, more precisely, were the Children of Johns et al?

As to their professional lives, the Children of Johns were most likely associated with weaving. Writes Caterina Bruschi in her book "The Wandering Heretics of Languedoc" (a book I have mentioned in my blogs 57, 59, 60): “….there had long been an association between cloth-makers and heretics, which is recorded as early as mid-twelfth century.” The book’s author may speak only about what was true for Lanquedoc; but this is also true for many places in Europe, Latvia including. This is how most likely the famous and mysterious Belt of Lielvarde (Lielvārdes josta) came into being. The Children of Johns took not only to weaving, but also took to smithing , pottery, inn keeping inn keeping, and hosteling. In short, the proto-Latvian inhabitants of the kingdom of Jersika (and surround) while unlikely to have been strangers to farming, were tradesmen and women also. [The myth of Latvians as peasants originates with the neo-Christian church, which facilitated the deforestation of the land and then helped the barons turn the repressed trades people into “pagani”, the name likely being a variant on the name of John, J(Y)ahnis in Latvian, re: pa-yani (pa-Jāņi) or “Johns who were”, hence lowly workers of the earth.]

After they were forced to abandon their religion of immanence (divinity, among it fallen angels, was/were believed to be walking the countryside roads), the neo-religion of Christianity [originally Krish-yanis—an itinerant country priest in the Baltic region and Bosnia (and likely everywhere)] became realized in a name corrupted to spell Christ-i(y)an, and was imposed on proto-Latvians with great rigor. Whatever memories of their arch-Christian past that the “Children of Johns” remembered in their inner eye, they had to repress it by not speaking its name or about it. The “Jāņu bērni” today is a dimly remembered indicator of something that no longer is. Only those who participate in the annual midsummer festival known as Johns Eve (“Jāņu vakars”) may dimly recall that “Jāņu dziesmas” (Songs of John, aka Lihgo, which they no longer know because they no longer sing them) once referred to real people. Which means that while the Latvians forgot their ancient religious beliefs, they did not forget the sense of achievement that their demanding (you had to live up to the calling) religion had left them with.

It is in the forced forgetting of what was old and dear, and a violent imposition of the new, that zionationalism discovers corrupt and, yes, fertile ground for itself. With their distinction as a people of moral fibre earned by the practice of self-sacrifice—also known as martyrdom—not necessarily always associated with death, but finding common practice in fasting known as “gavēnis” [think of Sir Gawain (Ya-w-ain) of King Arthurs’s Court], the proto not-nationalist Latvians were easily persuaded to become nationalists with a vengeance, i.e., zionationalists. Like the Jews, who traveled a parallel path, the Children of Johns grew into Latvians and exercised their frustrations over not knowing who they were by looking for revenge. The desire for revenge was barely sublimated. Thus, many suggestions by self-serving interests of who the “real” enemy of Latvians may be. The Latvians often took the hook, and many were ready to attack any target offered, and did not take time and reflect on the whys and the wherefores and the if to act or desist.

Zionationalism among Latvians is first discerned in the displacement of the figure of John (still present on the cover of one of the first books of the “First Latvian Reawakening” of 1874, re Baumanu Karlis’ "Lihgo" ) by the figurē of "Lacplesis" (Strangler of Bears) by Pumpurs of 1888. A leap of fourteen years from John the Peacemaker to Bear Strangler is a short time span, and indicates that what remains of the Children of Johns is the barely perceptible crowd in the back of the holy tree. In 1918, the zionationalists of Latvia declared independence of Latvia. The United States of America recognized Latvia only in 1922.

The zionationalization of Latvia has been a process. By declaring Latvia to be a Christian nation by way of making the Lutheran Church briefly the religion of the Latvian state, Latvia homogenized itself by excluding, in effect invalidating, a notable part of what had helped create the peoples’ past belief system—even if today the Lutheran Church no longer is part of the state. As we see, with the state (and the lost voice of the academia of Latvia) dismissing proto-Latvians of the Jersika kingdom as a historic curiosity, the Children of Johns of arch-Christianity and proto-Latvians were denied a presence in Latvia’s future. In the political realm, the Saeima of Latvia remained so heterogeneous that by 1934, K. Ulmanis imposed a homogenizing authoritarian government over it. Ulmanis was aided in moving the homogenizing process along by following ethnic lines. The secret Molotov-Ribentrop Pact between Russia and Germany helped ethnitization by having the Baltic Germans remove themselves as if voluntarily. We see that Ulmanis’ attempt to homogenize the political circles to a political goal or perhaps some notion of having “a mission on Earth” was an utter failure. Nevertheless, the Children of Johns—had the history lessons included their contributions—most likely would have questioned the absence of orientation and might have had something to say about this.

In other words, an unintended side effect of the secret Hitler-Ribentrop pact was that most Baltic Germans left Latvia voluntarily, which gave many Latvians the impression that what had taken place was a peaceable ethnic cleansing arranged by President K. Ulmanis. Whatever of K. Ulmanis’ accomplishments, today there again lingers that undesirable 6:3:1 proportion of which “ethnic” Latvians are “6”.

The last barely identifiable signal of the proto-Latvian self was last heard from around 1874. Nothing remains of it but folk ornament now. It is from such and similar repressed pasts that the zionationalism of Latvia’s government is born—without anybody but the “government” leading the charge. We ought to help the government lead the charge by casting a not-vote and going the other way.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
* Many scholars who write about the early middle ages and later appear to be stuck on the idea that it was the Catholic Church that preceded the various “heresies”, the latter apparently arising due to the neglect of the Catholic Church to press the faith in areas under its control. This writer makes just the opposite assumption, that is to say, the “heretics” were there from the beginning of time, and that the Catholic Church is an arm of secular princes that does all it can to destroy a religion of great moral fibre—not least as a martyr religion (re: fasting, the endura)—so the military arm of the princes can better control civil society to their ends.
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-03-07T07:23:00.003+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
88 Gridlocked In Latvia (7)

The decomposition of the Latvian people, the 80% or so, who are at or below the poverty line, is continuing apace.

One obvious example of the decomposition are the 150,000 (soon to reach 200,000) Latvians who are now speaking English as a result of emigration from Latvia. 200,000 unemployed are willing standbys for the next emigration airplane.

To learn English as one of Latvia’s official languages to facilitate Latvia’s integration in the European Union, however, does not seem a politically viable proposal—even if it may help save Latvia. The leaders of the Latvian state have found it expedient to turn to jingoism or what I call zionacionalism. Zionationalists (there is more than one party) use neo-Christendom and the Latvian language as two foci for their political campaigns for populist votes. Unfortunately, the zionationalists misuse these populist issues cause negative effects on populists and the nation.

How and what ill affect? By dismissing arch-Christianity to which the forebears of today’s Latvians were born-to. By making public references to “Christianity” (implying that the party understands by it neo-Christianity and all is for it) and dismissing arch-Christianity as an antique by not knowing a thing about whence the Latvian Midsummer ritual known as Johns Eve (and Day).

Politicians impose on Latvia the idea that it is a homogeneity, whereas Latvia is a heteroginy. Heteroginy in Latvia does not begin as Milda Female and Lahchplehsis (Lāčplēsis) Male and this is all yee need to know. It begins in a mindset that wishes to impose on the personality of Latvia a one-piece furniture set. Thus, for example, Johns festival (really a Festival of Johns Children) is encouraged to become by the time it ends a celebration by drunks. Because zionationalists do not acknowledge that their policies encourage the Earth to become unipolar, the Children of Johns Festival becomes at best a day in the fields of grass. That is fine, but Latvia and its people could do better.

Let me therefore get to the theme not too popular among populists thought it ought to be discussed in the media and other public places.

No doubt, if Latvia’s laws were to be written in English, Latvia needs to become a country that has to institute an education system with obligatory courses in three languages, re Latvian, Russian, and English. Given that the time for community rebuilding and reshaping was the time when the Soviet Union fell, a time when most Latvians already spoke Latvian and Russian, one could expect that a third language was unlikely to present a psychological block to students. It was to be expected that since the lingua franca of the Soviet Union was Russian, the new requirement would meet resistance among the Russian speaking population, which had developed psychological blocks against learning another language just as Americans have. The three-language society was unfortunately never publicly discussed; indeed, the rapid rise of zionacionalism encouraged just the reverse: it was obligatory to study Latvian, because the language of government was to be Latvian, even if logic put at risk the future of Latvia.

An expedient political tool for “urrah” (for Latvia!) enthusiasts, zionacionalism escaped rational analysis, perhaps because in the world at large it has certain political overtones that some prefer not touch upon and some use this to their advantage. If we think at it, we as practitioners of zionacionalism potentially face two outcomes, which in a paradoxical sense are one. Let us see.

One of the poles of zionationalism is exemplified by the state of Israel under Zionist leadership, whence the word “zionationalism”. Israel faces a rapid and catastrophic decomposition due to its refusal to become an integrated state. It needs a “victory” by way of a decisive war—if it is to survive with its zionationalist policies intact. This is why its influence over the U.S. government is so important.

Israel’s influence in the U.S., however, is not because of the presence of Jews in the U.S., but because the U.S. needs Israel as an anchor on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea to better effect its foreign policy. The U.S. has invested heavily not only in Israel, but in its own foreign policy aims, as we witness from the deposition of the Iranian government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, to the war in Iraq (now moved to Afghanistan), and the renewed threat of war on Iran, which nation deposed the U.S supported Shah in a surprise revolution known as the Iranian revolution in 1979. A victory by the military forces of the West over those of Iran would likely secure the “victory” that the zionationalists of Israel seek. Given that the interests of Russia and China are to see Iran remain as much as possible an independent state, such a “victory” depends on the successful implementation of Western (the U.S. and NATO countries) foreign policy. The stakes for all interests concerned are high. Israeli zionationalists are betting on a U.S.-NATO victory.

Before we move on, a few words here on “zionationalism”. Though zionationalism, as we shall see, arose concurrently with the "apartheid" system in South Africa by racist whites in 1948, the same word was used to describe the political situation that was created by the Israelis between themselves and Palestinians.

Nevertheless, religious and ethnic apartheid is an Israeli invention, re: Arabs vs Jews, Muslims vs Jews, Palestinians vs Jews, disarmed Arabs vs armed Jews, Evil Muslim WMD possessors vs good Jewish WMD possessors, etc. Though apartheid is clearly exclusionary and makes the excluded the enemy or a potential enemy, and therefore has similarities with the Palestinian vs Jews situation, it does not quite fit the shoe of a Jew. The reason is because Jewishness in modern times evolved with two components, Jews as an ethnic entity and Jews as a religious community. At one time it was that only the religious community mattered.

[As this blogger has argued in previous blogs, the Jews, the Cathars, the Bogomils, the Bosnian Church, the Waldesians, the (proto-Latvian) Children of Johns share the same religious origins in arch-Christianity. In some ways the arch-Christians are the Europeans when Europe was still mostly wooded land. Neo-Christianity, with Catholicism its first institution, arises with the deforestation of Europe and increasing urbanization of the land. The vagrant holy man named John, is burnt (or other) and sent to heaven as Jesus.]

Zionism, drawing on the myth presented by the Bible and arguing that the Jews had their own ethnicity and religion, evolved into an international nationalist political movement that supported the establishment (indeed, “reestablishment’) of a Jewish state, which according to the myth existed in Israel. Israel is purported to have been a country in the geographical area known as Palestine.

The concretization of this myth (by all kinds of sleight of hands) made fiction real and the conquest of the “historical land”—Eretz-Israel—legitimate. Zionationalism pretended to sovereign rights for a certain group of survivors of the branch of arch-Christianity. Of course, by doing so, the Zionists brought upon the Jews (the other denominations of arch-Christianity having been forgot) the latent prejudices persisting in neo-Christianity in real time. The holocaust against the Jews and a near total forgetfulness of arch-Christianity was both the terrible and unfortunate result for heteridoxity.

Interestingly, the Latvians (currently of know-nothing mind) most probably originated in the arch-Christian Church of the Children of Johns. The true extent of this community is the entirety of Europe and beyond. However, one of the specific communities of this arch-Christian sect may be discerned in the 12th and 13th centuries in a kingdom known as Jersika. Jersika was then under the rule of a king named Visvaldis. Not much is known about this community and its geographical outlines are vague.

Be that as it may, out of the proto-Latvian mindset—after those who harbored it were defeated and their King Visvaldis was humiliated (by neo-Christian Bishop Albert of Riga)—there arose a zionationalism peculiar to Latvians.
Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here  to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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  + Forum Home + 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/

2010-03-04T10:28:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
87 Gridlocked In Latvia (6)

Photos: A shelter to be at "Melnays Jānis", a temple to forests now gone.

“The imprisoned Russian oil magnate Mihael Hodorovski suggested a bloody uprising in Russia if the excesses of the criminal system [of government] are not circumscribed [by the government]. ‘Such an eruption may be caused by almost anything’, opines the former ‘Yukos’ magnate in the [Russian] newspaper ‘Nezavisimaja Gazeta’. Hodorovski was once the richest man in Russia.” So reads the post at the DELFI website, which subscribes to the news service LETA.

One almost instinctively knows how much schadenfreude such a prognostication brings to many Latvian ears. Vo! Yes, this would be a great comeuppance to the brash and sometimes narcissistic Prime Minister of Russia, Putin, who appears to have maintained his former influence over the future of Russian politics. Hodorovski is especially incensed over the petty corruptions engaged in by low caste officials in the Russian government system.

I suspect that few or no readers will agree with my sympathies, which are, in spite of his personality, with PM Putin. Putin appears to have determined that what Russia needs at this time in its history is an authoritarian government. And he is pursuing that policy as determinedly as President Karlis Ulmanis in the 1930s pursued it in Latvia. While Putin’s premiership put him in a position where his voice will be listened to by Russia’s President Medvedev, his successor to the presidency, and the Duma, he has maintained the appearance of being in support of Russia as a democracy.

If we assume the latter, then Latvia is today in much the same situation as Russia. In spite of an endless series of patriotic speeches by Latvian politicians and candidates to government positions, Latvia, too, is beset by petty officials, who use their government posts to personal advantage. Moreover, Latvia has its share of oligarchs who sympathize with said Hodorovski and wish Latvia to pursue shadowy neo-capitalist policies which maintain its supporters in a position of being “more equal than others”. Since seeming wealth (all that glimmers) still appears to lie in the West, the vision of Latvian politicians—such as it is—if to pursue the path of least resistance, i.e., by way of a “drang nach Westen” and “flicht von Osten”. It hardly seems that the ruling neo-capitalist “ideology” is set to take advantage of Latvia’s geopolitically important location and make something of it.

The governments of Russia and Latvia are in a near equal bind. Both states are drifting toward the rapids, which we may call “The Mill of Hell.” No less determined to save the Latvian state from bodies floating in the water below the rapids than Putin is Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia. Like Putin, Dombrovskis has not only the oligarchs to contend with, but the petty officials of Latvia’s regions and municipal administrative centres known as “novadi”. The latter, stitched together of older and smaller administrative units known as “pagasti”, are bucking the new system, because government sponsored administrations that can be turned to personal enrichment are suddenly very much fewer. Like Russia, the Latvia state is interested in using the modern communications apparatus of wheels and internet technology to compensate for the disadvantages of staying a century or more behind the rest of the world in terms of administration. Having said this, Latvia’s Dombrovskis has no vision that could justify his becoming an authoritarian, who like Putin would make something of the country and its cities something more than transit point for airplanes, producers of logs, glass fibre and nails.

Which brings me to mention a popular weekly show known as “Kas notiek Latvijā” (What is happening in Latvia?). The interviewer on the show is Jānis Domburs, and he frequently interviews as many as ten individuals who either are of the government (politicians, ministers, economists, and representatives of NGOs) or experts relevant to the question of the evening. The participants on the show sit in a semicircle focused on the interviewer. The show, known popularly as “Domburs Show”, is on the air since 2001. There is no question of the show’s popularity, because Mr. Domburs frequently tries to pinion evasive politicians to receive better than evasive answers.

Yet the show has a problem because of its popularity: it has no counterpart with regard to the rest of the people relevant to Latvia as a community of peoples. Call it an image problem or a question of how to project a community of 2.3 million people who at the same time have their own smaller community groupings. This is not to say that there are no interviews in Latvia with figures affecting Latvia’s culture and community as a whole. However, the dominance of “Kas notiek Latvijā?” tends over time to present political figures as representing a note worthy community, while the larger community and communities of Latvia escapes projection or attention.

If we combine the singular attention given to the community of politicians and their ilk, most with strong neo-capitalist leanings and ideology for the ego driven, no vision of the future, and no questions of “What Latvia should aim to become”, the “Dombur show” itself has come to project the main events in Latvia as a flight of wealthy rabbits well trained in evasive tactics from a hungry fox with a limp leg.

What is happening in Latvia? My personal answer is that the deforestation of the land that is quickly leading to its desertification is the main event. The next important question for me is What is in store for Latvia in the future? What is the vision thing? Since the community of politicians are evading the answer, the answer must come from an authoritarian figure. As Latvians today know, they are lost in a big forest. They need to find their way out of the forest not by following the leadership of a hundred directions provided by the present Latvian government, but by displacing the community of politicians who bring to the community terror through psychological uncertainty.

The transition to a new government may be accomplished by a successful “not-vote” campaign, which will force the government to resign or declare itself a dictatorship. IMO an authoritarian government is preferable to a dictatorship. Given the overall performance of authoritarian Karlis Ulmanis, I do not believe that in spite of numerous faults, K. Ulmanis ever became a dictator. I believe that the Latvians of today can control this process equally well (and probably better) by limiting the authoritarian regime to, say, eight years before the next elections. After all, a majority community not-vote is a political reverse Nelson on politicians who would deny the people the last word, no? Not to act on the not-vote means continued stagnation.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-28T16:22:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs
THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
86 Gridlocked in Latvia (5)

For origin of photos please see Blog 85

“The practice of sacrifice has today fallen into disuse and yet it has been, due to its universality, a human action more significant than any other. Independently of each other, different peoples invented different forms of sacrifice, with the goal of answering a need as inevitable as hunger.” –So wrote Georges Bataille (1897-1962), the well known French librarian, not to say underground figure, in an essay called "The Jesuve". (Vision of Excess, Selected Writings, 1927-1939, Univ. of Minnesota Press.)

Bataille goes on: “It is therefore not astonishing that the necessity of satisfying such a need, under the conditions of present day life, leads an isolated man into disconnected and even stupid behavior.”

Let me abbreviate and rephrase Bataille slightly: “The practice of sacrifice… [is] a human action more significant than any other.” Why?

Georges Bataille gives a very complicated, stark, even puerile answer. The famous Frenchman provides the reader with his personal and subjective reasons, ones that are not for children to read and which some people would turn around on him and describe Bataille’s thoughts as an isolated man’s puerile imaginings. Even so, the answer to the “why” rings loud and clear: the practice of sacrifice is for the sake of a communal experience, one that binds the participants in the sacrifice to a common memory and through the memory into one community. More likely than not, the memory is never voiced, because like soldiers who return from war with innumerable deaths of the enemy to their credit, those who participate in the sacrifice know its horror and its paradox—the cosmic orgasm that may result in the creation of a community-state.

Perhaps not so strangely, a community-state that exists as a result of inertia, that is, because it exists on the basis of sacrifices that occurred long ago, the community-state devolves in relevance as the inertia of the thrust given it by the past is reduced by the absence of sacrifices in the present. In short, Latvia is a wagon with a wheel over the edge of an abyss. As Artis Pabriks, a member of the Party for Other Politics (SCP) is reported to have said by the news service BNS : … “If these were the 1930s and a time of war, then this nation would be occupied, because almost no one is ready to defend it.”

There are few Latvians who wish to admit to the fact that their community is dying, that the dying is everyone’s unspoken knowledge, and because sacrifice has fallen into disuse—a profound disuse, a disuse based on a false religion—it has become manifest as a collective syndrome similar to the curious Tourette’s Tourette' syndrome''. To see the syndrome’s tracks in our every-day, all one has to do is read the e-mail responses from the deeps of internet to the screens of “letters”. There, starkly projected, is the animal response of the Latvian gut to the daily news and articles. How else can it be? The same Pabriks states: “All you see on the streets today is a mob of egotists”, which confirms Tourette’s syndrome as an infection troubling the entire social spectrum of Latvia.

One person who ought to recognize this syndrome among the populist “crowd” is the former editor of the newspaper “Diena”. By not calling populism by name, but by blaming the people’s low education for Latvia’s problems, she does a disservice. I was surprised to read of Ms Elerte’s “Stiprais stāsts” (‘strong story’)—a concept she presented in a speech made during a visit to the U.S.A.—that such a thing was necessary to influence the Latvian people. She did not tell the listeners just what the “Strong story” is. Well, no, she did by the way of an elitist rant that a “Strong story” is 1) the story of exiles, meaning that Latvia needs to be maintained in the West; 2) the story of the Latvians in the Soviet Union who kept up their dream of a free Latvia; and 3) Latvians need to join NATO and EU. Ms Elerte’s idea of a new “great” story for Latvia is “…a Latvia as a modern, nationalistic, democratic and European nation. One that is self-conscious and able to compete in the 21st century.”

I—and I believe many—said under our breaths “what the f**k”. The most that Ms Elerte is able to suggest as an antidote to dissolution is “selfless work (pašaizliedzīga sadarbošanās)”. There is no mention of self-sacrifice. Yes, we all know that we are selfless in our own eyes, but as for self-sacrifice, well, as Pabriks—a member of the Unity Party that Elerte espouses—said about Latvia: “…almost no one [in Latvia] is ready to defend it.” Ms Elerte is not alone. The readers may have noticed that from pretenders to top dogship, such as messieurs Šķēle and Lembergs, to former Presidents no one has told a “Strong story”. What we do hear are risk free, un-self-sacrificial stories calling for selflessness, which for that very reason fall on the voters’ ears as politically inspired f***s.

Ms Elerte’s desire to alienate Latvians from all ethnicities but that of Latvian neozionists like herself, and move Latvia from the River Daugava (skip the Rhine, the Rhone, not mention the Thames) straight to the Potomac, well, is a high-jump that simply amazes.

Latvians and the descendants of Latvians who may still identify with Latvia must realize that what the people who live in Latvia need is leadership by example. If that example does not present the leaders as individuals willing and able to offer their very lives for Latvia, then Latvia is not a community that wishes for itself an assured presence in either the near or far future. One reason for this phenomenon is because leadership is presumed by the populace to represent its best. Alas!

If Ms Ēlerte is serious about political office, and knows what a “Strong story” is, she ought to try once more and rather than beat around the bush come straight to the story.

P.S. What does state do to help a young Latvian woman and her child, portrayed in the pictures here? Young woman has to do on Ls 38 a month ($76). What happens to the teeth when they need fixing?

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm"
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".)
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.

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 + Forum Home + 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/

The following is speech by Ms Sarmīte Ēlerte as forwarded to me by an acquaintance.

S. Ēlertes runa ASV 2010.gada februāris

Pirms divdesmit viena gada kad līdzīgi uzrunāju latviešus ASV pilsētās man bija ļoti vienkāršs un stiprs stāsts. Mans stāsts bija par to Latvija drīz būs brīva.
Ka latvieši grib atpakaļ savu brīvību, ka LTF ir skaidrs plāns, kā to panākt un ka Padomju Savienība ir tik vāja, ka drīz sabruks. Toreiz es biju arī Vašingtonā Valsts departamentā un tikos ar Paulu Goublu, un arī viņam stāstīju savu stipro stāstu. Sarunas beigās viņš man paliecās man pretī un teica, tas viss ir jauki un interesanti, ko jūs stāstāt, bet Padomju Savienība ir ļoti stipra un tā nekad nesabruks. Tas bija 1989. gada janvārī. Vēlāk, tiekoties ar Goublu esam vairakkārt to smejoties atcerējušies. Pusotru gadu vēlāk 4. Maijā Latvija pasludināja savu neatkarību un divarpus gadus vēlāk PSRS sabruka.
Es nebiju gaišreģe, es tikai biju tikai viena no daudzām mazām mutēm, kas ar lielu pārliecību stāstīja savu mazo daļu no lielā, stiprā stāsta.
Šogad 4. maijā mēs svinēsim neatkarības atjaunošanas dienas20 gadus. Un mums ir vērts ar lepnumu atcerēties uz kādu vēsturisku varoņdarbu ir bijusi spējīga mūsu tauta. Toreiz Baltijas brīvība nemaz nebija pašsaprotamība. Jā, Padomju Savienībā bija dziļā ekonomikas krīzē, un noturēt savu ietekmi aukstā kara spēku balansā PSRS vairs nespēja. Gorbačovs gribēja reformēt valsti, tam vajadzēja rietumu atbalstu. Tādēļ viņš piekrita Vācijas apvienošanai un tāpēc ļāva Austrumeiropai iet, cerot to saglabāt kā neitrālu sociāldemokrātu pārvaldītu reģionu. Protams, austrumeiropeieši pie pirmās izdevības atpakaļ neskatoties ātri ātri devās uz NATO. Ar Baltiju bija sarežģītāk. Amerikāņi baidījās, ka baltiešu aiziešana apdraudēs Gorbačova pozīcijas, tātad visas pārmaiņas un aukstā kara beigas.
Tādēļ tikai un vienīgi tautas pilsoniskais ideālisms, liela skaidrība par mērķi, pašaizliedzīga sadarbošanās tā vārdā, tātad piederība vienam skaidram stāstam - ka latviešiem ir tiesības uz savu brīvo, eiropeisko un demokrātisko valsti, izmainīja vēstures gaitu.
Es jau vairāk kārt pieminēju vārdu stāsts. Ir arī svešvārds, lai to apzīmētu - narratīvs. Tas ši gadījumā ir lielais tautas stāsts, kas izskaidro notikušo, sakārto atmiņas un notikumus, izskaidro cēloņsakarības. Juris Rubenis reiz teica: cilvēks ir tas, kā viņš sakārto savu pagātni.
Šāds stāsts balstās nacionālajā identitātē, skaidro šo identitāti, bet skaidrodams to arī maina un veido.
Tā lūk arī ir mana šodienas tēma - kas notiek ar Latvijas stāstu, vai tas skan? Un vai nebūtu īstais laiks domāt, kādu stāstu būtu vērts stāstīt.

Mums ir bijuši daudzi stipri stāsti, nu piemēram, 20 gados, kad Čakste un Meierovics – klauvēja pie lielvalstu durvīm un prasīja Latvijas atzīšanu – bija stiprais stāsts par to, ka latviešiem ir sava atšķirīga valoda un kultūra, tātad arī tiesības uz savu valsti. Tas bija arguments, lai pārliecinātu pāriniekus, bet vienlaikus arī motivēja latviešus biedroties un attīstīt savu kultūru, veidot organizācijas un vākt latviešus mājās pēc 1. Pasaules kara. Beigu beigās tas spieda pasaules varenos rēķināties ar mazo tautu. Lūk tas ir piemērs tam ko es saucu par Stāstu, tas ir vienkārši izstāstāms, tajā ir ietverta ļoti liela enerģija un tajā ir vieta katram tautas pārstāvim. Un katrs no tā var attīstīt savu mazo stāstu.
Bija trimdas stāsts – par brīvo Latviju, kas jāuztur rietumos, ja jau tā ir atņemta dzimtenē, par to, ka tā reiz būs vajadzīga, kad Latvija reiz atkal būs brīva .
Latviešiem padomijā savukārt bija savs stiprais stāsts par savu brīvo valsti, kas mums kādreiz bija. Mēs varējām šai stāstā spītīgi atsperties, lai pastāvētu pret pārkrievošanu.
Deviņdesmito gadu stiprais stāsts bija – mums jātiek NATO un ES, tikai tas garantē iespēju Latvijai ilglaicīgi pastāvēt. Stāsts par noenkurošanos rietumu pasaulē beidzās 2004.gadā. Līdz tam patiesībā sniedzās LTF laikā noteiktais vērtību vektors.
Pēc tam mēs balsojām par labklājību, bet labklājība kā zināms, ātri nāk un ātri zūd. Un nekāda īpaša stāsta tur nebija.
Tieši krīze nežēlīgi tieši atklāja, to, ka mums nav lielā stāsta, kas saliedē, apvieno, rāda virzību.
Krīze Latvijā ir lielais atjēgšanās laiks. Tā spiež nopietni analizēt, kā tas varēja notikt, ka mēs esam krīzē vissmagāk cietusī Eiropas valsts. Tas ir krīzes pozitīvais devums. Un tieši krīze, vismaz man, lika domāt par to nākamo stipro stāstu.
Jau pirms globālā krīze pārvēlās pasaulei, Latvijas tautsaimniecība bija nestabila un ievainojama.
Es tagad ķeršos pie, manuprāt, zīmīgas faktu virknes, es atvainojos tiem, kam tas jau zināms un arī par to, ka būs drusku garlaicīgi.
Pēc 2004 gada Latvija būtībā peldējās naudas straumē – līdz 2007.gadam, triju gadu laikā budžeta izdevumu daļa dubultojās. No 2004 līdz 2007 gadam kopprodukts auga par 10% gadā. Tajā pašā laikā valdība turpināja aizņemties naudu un lēja eļļu ekonomikas pārkaršanas ugunī. Kredītu plūsma koncentrējās tirdzniecībā un nekustamā īpašuma spekulācijās, jo tas deva ātru un lielu peļņu. Algas auga par 30% -50%, bet darba ražīgums palika viens no zemākajiem Eiropā. Auga pieprasījums pēc importa precēm un to apmaksāja ārzemju banku kredītu imports. Privātie kredītu apjomi ik gadus auga dubulti. Nodokļi bija augsti darbaspēkam, bet nekādi nekustamā īpašuma spekulācijām un kapitālam.
Rosīga ekstensīva attīstība notika valsts lielo atbildību jomās – veselībā un izglītībā. Kādas Kanādas lielas klīnikas ārsts nesen Latvijā mazā lauku slimnīcā apbrīnoja miljonu vērtu vismodernāko diagnostikas aparatūru, kādu viņam tur Kanādā vēl kādu laiku neredzēt. Tas būtu tā it kā Latvijā lauku šķūnītī stāvētu nolikta kosmosa raķete.
Latvijā ir ļoti daudz modernas veselības aprūpes tehnoloģijas un jaunas slimnīcas. Latvijā ir augstākais gultas vietu skaits uz 100000 iedzīvotājiem - 760 (Igaunijā – 557, Dānijā – 350), Latvijā ir procentuāli lielākais finansējums pacientu aprūpei tieši slimnīcās. Un Latvijā ir sliktākie veselības aprūpes rādītāji reģionā – ar augstu zīdaiņu mirstību un tuberkulozi, agru mirstību, īpaši vīriešiem. Latvijā ir viena no augstākajām skolotāju - skolēnu proporcijām reģionā, tātad vidēji – mazas klases. Kaut arī laikā no 1990.gada līdz 2007 gadam skolēnu skaits ir samazinājies par 28%, skolotāju skaits palika iepriekšējais. Savukārt algas skolotājiem pēc OECD datiem ir pārsteidzoši zemas un neatbilstošas tai kvalifikācijai, kādu ir guvis skolotājs. Tātad mums ir pārāk daudz skolotāju, kam pārāk maz maksā. Tas savukārt padara neiespējamu piesaistīt skolai jaunus, spējīgus cilvēkus, kas nodrošinātu kvalitāti.
Latvijā ir viens no augstākajiem studentu skaitiem Eiropā, bet neviena no Latvijas augstskolām nav Eiropas un Austrumeiropas 200 – 300 labāko augstskolu skaitā. Savukārt Igauņiem šajā sarakstā ir divas augstskolas un lietuviešiem – 3.
Tātad galvenajās valsts atbildības jomās, kas ir: izglītība un veselība pastāv ekstensīva un pilnīgi ačgārna sistēma: izglītība tiek finansēta, lai nodrošinātu ar darbu skolotājus, veselība tiek finansēta, lai maksātu algu ārstiem un medmāsām, augstāko izglītību finansē, lai nodrošinātu pasniedzējus. Un varētu turpināt – valsts pārvalde un politiķi tiek finansēti, lai nodrošinātu viņus ar darbu.
Tas ir stāsts par tādu viduvēju izdzīvošanu.
Te kritiski trūkst stāsts par to, ko mēs gribam izdarīt ar savu valsti.
Jā, krīze ir izdarījusi būtiskas korekcijas, atlaisti tuvu 30 % skolotāju, tiek slēgtas slimnīcas, kopprodukts 2009. gadā samazinājies par 18 procentiem, mazumtirdzniecība kritusies par 30%.. Bezdarbs Latvijā – 23% augstākais ES. Varbūt pats dramatiskākais skaitlis ir šis: 2009 gada laikā 130000 cilvēku ir pārkāpuši nabadzības slieksnim, tagad Latvijā ir 453000 cilvēki, kuru ienākumi mēnesī uz vienu ģimenes locekli ir mazāk par 90 Ls . Starptautiskais aizdevums ir 35% no IKP - 7,5 miljardi eiro. Lai glābtu Parex banku valsts ir tieši vai netieši atvēlējusi 1 miljardu latu. Palielināti nodokļi, samazināti izdevumi, publiskajā sektorā algas samazinātas par 20%, tas dzen uz leju algas privātajā sektorā un ceļ Latvijas konkurētspēju. Pēdējā laikā parādās stabilizācijas pazīmes, kopprodukta kritums ir piebremzēts, ekonomika stabilizējas un nesen Latvijas spēju veikt nežēlīgas reformas minēja kā piemēru Grieķijai, kas ir šī brīža Eiropas sāpju bērns.
Es minēju kritiskus skaitļus, bet vēl kritiskāki ir skaitļi, kas rāda attiecības starp varu un sabiedrību.
95% Latvijā grib valsts izdevumu samazināšanu, jo vairums neuzticas valdībai, bet vienlaikus gaida no valsts - gan vairāk izdevumu sociālajām vajadzībām, gan lai valsts uzņemtos rūpes par indivīdu. Vairākums Latvijā netic demokrātiskai valsts pārvaldei – tas izriet no 82 % cilvēku uzskata, ka viņi nekādi nevar ietekmēt valdības darbu (Ziemeļeiropā – šādam uzskatam nepiekrīt 50%). 75% uzskata, ka daudzi vai visi politiķi ir iesaistīti korupcijā (Dānijā tā uzskata 3%). Jā, korupcija Latvijā ir problēma, bet varu jums galvot, ka 75% politiķu nav korumpēti. Šis skaitlis pēc būtības nozīmē korupcijas legalizāciju, nevis realitāti, samierināšanos, ka korupcija ir normāla, tātad attaisnojama arī individuālas izvēles gadījumā. Visi taču dara tā.
Nesen SKDS aptaujā vairāk kā puse aptaujāto teica, ka Latvijas valsts nav pelnījusi, ka tai maksā nodokļus. Savukārt uz jautājumu, vai citā valstī viņi maksātu nodokļus, vairums atbildēja pozitīvi.
Krīze daudzas lietas atklāj ļoti nepievilcīgā gaismā, tādas kādas tā ir.
Šīs sabiedrības – varas attiecības saucu par vagaru un kalpu sindromu. Mums ir dziesma „Mēs gribam būt kungi savā dzimtajā zemē”. Bet ne vagars ne kalps nav Kungs. Kungs izvēlas, nosaka, uzņemas atbildību par savu rīcību. Ne vagars, ne kalps tā īsti līdz galam nav ne par ko atbildīgi.
Kad Kalvītis lēja eļļu ekonomikas pārkaršanas ugunī, palielinādams valsts izdevumus un algas, laikā, kad ekonomikas attīstība skrēja debesīs, vai viņš nesaprata, ko dara? Saprata, bet bija bail. Ja politiķis nejūtas kā kungs, kas atbild, bet kā vagars, kam vara ir ierobežota, kam no savējiem bail, kam pārvaldāmā manta sveša un uz laiku tikai nodota pārvaldījumā, tad viņš attiecīgi rīkojas. Neuzticība ir tik augsta, ka politiķiem nav iespējama godīga vienošanās ar tautu. Ir bail iet pie tautas un teikt – mēs nevaram celt algas, valsts iet pretī lieliem satricinājumiem. Tā vietā tauta tiek pirkta – ar lielākām algām. Vagars neizturas pret valsti kā kungs, viņš to nepārvalda, viņš to lieto
Kalps arī nav kungs. Viņš vagaru, saprotams, ienīst, jo tas taču tomēr tā kā kungs, bet pats par kungu tapt negrib, jo tad nevarēs paģērēt, lai par viņu gādā. Tad būtu pašamjāuzņemas atbildība.
Krīzes dziļumā patiesībā bija sajūta, ka cilvēki apšauba, vai latvieši ir nobrieduši demokrātiski pārvaldīt savu valsti. Tiešām bija sajūta, ka cilvēki apšauba savas tautas suverēnās spējas pārvaldīt savu valsti.
Tāpēc tik svarīgas būs šīs vēlēšanas. Vai nu turpināsies kā līdz šim, vai arī ir jānāk jaunajam lielajam stāstam, kas dod virzību.
Mana pārliecība ir, ka tam ir jābūt stāstam par Latviju kā modernu, nacionālu, demokrātisku un eiropeisku valsti. Pašapzinīgu un konkurētspējīgu XXI gs Latviju.
Uzstādīt šādu uzdevumu nozīmē ietekmēt nacionālo identitāti un man šķiet to ir svarīgi darīt. Jo nacionālā identitāte nav kas dabiski dots, tā ir konstrukcija, tā tiek konstruēta, radīta politisku, sabiedrisku, kulturālu apsvērumu dēļ.
Nesen runājot kādā Igaunijas augstskolā Igaunijas prezidents Henriks Ilvess atgādināja, ka 20.gados runāja par 4 Baltijas valstīm, un četras tās vairs nav tikai tāpēc, ka Somija palika citā dzelzs priekškara pusē. Tagad tā ir attīstījusi savu Ziemeļvalsts identitāti. Ilvess saka: „Tāpat tagad mūs neviens nevar apturēt, ja mēs vēlamies sev radīt identitāti, kas būtu ciešāka par XX gs jau novecojušo un visai paviršo identitāti”. Atkārtoti runājot par Igauniju kā ziemeļvalsti, Igaunijas divi prezidenti: Lenards Meri un Henriks Ilvess ir devuši izcilu ieguldījumu Igauņu pēcpadomju identitātes konstruēšanā. Šie divi igauņu līderi stāstīja savai tautai ka igauņi ir maza sekmīga, reformspējīga ziemeļvalsts, tad vēl piebilda, ka informātikas tīģeris utt. Man liekas igauņi tam pamazām noticēja un atbilstoši sāka uzvesties. Runājot ar jebkuru igauni jūs dzirdēsiet, cik ātri viņi attīstās un cik tālu viņi ir priekšā latviešiem, pat ja tas nav taisnība.
Stāsts par moderno XXI gs Latviju vēl nav sākts stāstīt. Bet ir pēdējais laiks.
Tāpēc ir vērts veidot Vienotību – 3 partiju (JL, PS, SCP) apvienību, kurai pievienotos vēl ceturtie – pilsoniskās sabiedrības pārstāvji. Jaunais Latvijas stāsts prasīs apvienot intelektuālos spēkus, visus iespējamos resursus.
Es tagad gribu dot savu skatu uz nākamajām vēlēšanām. Tajās būs 3 lieli bloki: 1. Oligarhu partijas: Lembergs, Šķēle, Šlesers. Tās nevar piedāvāt XXI gs Latviju, jo valsti lieto, lai uz tās rēķina pelnītu.
To nevar prokremliskais Saskaņas centrs, kas noslēdzis līgumu ar Putina Vienoti Krievijai. Šo Krievijas partiju pēdējais PSRS prezidents ir nosaucis par vissliktāko Komunistu partijas atdarinājumu. Un - no Krievijas nāk impēriskās vēsmas, nevis modernitāte. Kopš 2008.gada 7. Augustā, kad Krievija iebruka kaimiņvalsts Gruzijas teritorijā, vairs nav spēkā pēcaukstā kara pasaules drošības izkārtojums, apstiprināts Parīzes hartā 90 gadu sākumā arī ar Krievijas parakstu. Tas noteica, ka katrai valstij ir tiesības uz vienlīdzīgu drošību, tiesības izvēlēties sabiedrotos un alianses un ka ietekmes sfēras vairs nav spēkā. Vienīgais iemesls, kāpēc Krievija iebruka Gruzijā un joprojām okupē 20% tās teritorijas, bija tas, ka Gruzija gribēja kļūt par NATO dalībvalsti, rietumu sastāvdaļu. Rons Asmuss, Nato paplašināšanās arhitekts Klintona administrācijā nesen iznākušajā grāmatā apraksta tās augusta dienas valsts departamentā. Amerikāņiem nebija informācijas, kas ir krievu nodomi, vai viņi ies uz Tbilisi, vai gāzīs Saakašvili valdību. Un viņi arī apsprieda, vai gadījumā krievi negatavojas iebrukt Baltijā. Krievi grib būt reģionāls centrs, viņi grib mazināt cita reģionāla centra – ES nozīmi, vislabāk to darīt, ja viņiem ir balss ES un NATO. Ja Saskaņas centrs uzvarēs, tā būs ne tikai Latvijas, bet arī ES un NATO problēma.
Vienotība, ja tai izdosies piesaistīt pilsoniskās sabiedrības intelektu un uzticību, manuprāt, spēj piedāvāt šo XXI gs stāstu.
Vienotības prioritātes ir:
1. Godīga politika, efektīva valsts pārvalde
2. Eksports kā prioritāte izaugsmei un importa aizstāšana ar pašmāju produkciju, bet nodrošinot to brīvā sacensībā, bez protekcionisma, kāpinot darba ražīgumu.
3. Rietumu izvēle, integrācija rietumu drošības, saimnieciskajās, informācijas, sociālajās struktūrās
4.Nacionāla valsts, kur integrācijas pamats ir latviskā kultūrtelpa un kodols – latviešu valoda. Un kas ir atvērta visu tautību latviešiem. Jo tieši šādi jaunie latvieši, kas publiskajā telpā pastāvētu par savu piederību Latvijai, mums trūkst. Kaut tādi ir, bet bieži atgrūsti dēļ 19. Gs vai padomjlaika līmeņa nacionālisma. Mums ir sava valsts – ir jābūt jaunam progresīvam, valstiskam nacionālismam.
5. Izglītība, veselība, ar pasaules līmeņa vidusskolām un slimnīcām rajonu centros un pieejamību visiem, neatkarīgi no bagātības un dzīvesvietas.
Par XXI gadsimta moderno Latviju mums jādomā ar steigu. Globālo pasauli tikai uz mirkli piebremzēja pasaules ekonomiskā krīze, tā turpināsies. Globalizācija mazina atšķirības starp reģioniem, Eiropa un atrašanās Eiropā vairs nav garantija labklājībai. Robežas starp globalizācijas vinnētājiem un zaudētājiem vairs nebūs ģeogrāfiskas kā 19. Gadsimtā. Tās tiks vilktas vienas sabiedrības iekšienē starp tiek, kas mācēs apieties ar globalizāciju un lietot tās priekšrocības un augļus un tiem, kas paliks zem šīs neredzamās šķirtnes.
Latvija ir maza un aptverama, mums jādara viss iespējamais, lai Latvijas cilvēkiem iedotu XXI gs mākas un prasmes.
Manis minētā kādreizējā cariskās Krievijas aukstā nomale Somija, ir spējusi izveidot pasaules labāko izglītības sistēmu, kas nodrošina, ka visā Somijā, jebkurā skolā tiek somu bērniem piedāvāta vienādi augsta līmeņa izglītība. Tam ir jābūt mūsu mērķim.
Latvijai tuvākajos gados kritiski trūks resursi. Budžeta saīsinājumi ir ārkārtēji, nākamajos divos gados budžets vēl būs jāsaīsina par 800 000 miljoniem latu. Vienīgā Latvijas iespēja ir reformas, kas koncentrē resursus, uz kvalitāti, kas rajonu centros koncentrē vidusskolas ar pasaules līmeņa izglītību, kas panāk pasaules līmeņa programmas Latvijas augstskolās, kas nodrošina to tramplīnu modernitātē.
Latvijai šobrīd visvairāk ir vajadzīgs Stiprais stāsts un Pilsoniskais ideālisms lai labāk sadarbotos savā starpā un labāk pārvaldītu savu valsti. Latvija mums ir nodota lietošanā uz īsu brīdi. Mums Latvijas valsti jāatstāj nākamajām paaudzēm labā kārtībā. Tā vēl daudziem pēc mums būs vajadzīga.

2010-02-27T09:44:00.000+02:00

A MESSAGE, PRE-BLOG 86
http://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

Election speeches are beginning in earnest.

In the next blog (86) I will respond to S. Elertes speech in the USA.
Here is a picture of a young Latvian mother and her child.

I am using the picture with her permission, but a request
to respect her anonymity. A quick fact: Young woman and child
presently have to make do on Ls 38 = $ 76 (state support)
+ 7 kilos dry macaroni, 7 kilos flour, a few other items allotted by the municipality
+ plus home made conserves of tomatoes, and a few other items.
I have made a contribution that may help increase her monthly income
by Ls 45 ~ $ 90, i.e., total of Ls 83 or $ 166.
Now please go to Blog 85.

2010-02-26T21:46:00.000+02:00

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
85 Gridlocked in Latvia (4)

I have observed the aforementioned virtual family (see Blog 84) for many years. I find similar cases to family X everywhere I look.

This is because, unfortunately, over the last twenty years the economic situation in Latvia has not improved. I do not consider a new refrigerator necessarily an improvement in quality of life, though it is undeniably a material acquisition not possible in Soviet times. A difference between then and now is that while twelve years ago when I first met some of X family members, the children where by that much younger and by that much more hopeful. Today four of family X’s six children have left Latvia to seek greener pastures (jobs) in other countries and whatever hope existed in the first ten or so years of Latvia’s renewed independence has been replaced by merciless cynicism about government and despair over the negative turns (lack of a job, minimal income, poverty) in one’s personal life.

Family Y, of who I will write about next, describes the vale of tears of a number of virtual people. In other words, what follows is a conglomerate.

A virtual neighbor of mine just told me that he has been waiting for a year and a half for the authorities to register five of his cows so he can take them to the market, but no word yet from the agency responsible for the registration. When Y calls Riga and asks what the hold up is, the answer he receives is that “everything is okay, just wait for our letter”. Meanwhile, the man cannot sell his cow or cows to the market and he is broke. A kilo of cow brings in 40 santimi, thus a 500 kilos of cow or bull x 40 = Ls 200 – ~Ls 20 (in taxes) = Ls 180 (~$360). However, the cash from the slaughter house does not arrive right away, because the law permits three month before payment. Assuming that my virtual neighbor sold all of his five cows, he would earn approximately Ls 900 (~$1800). Divide $1800 by 24 months waiting time for the papers (never mind the time and expense it took to raise the cattle) = ~ Ls 75 per month / 30 = Ls 2.5 ($5) per day. I am no mathematician, but…. Is this worth getting up at 4 a.m. and go to the barn and take care of the animals?

There are several answers to those who cannot for one reason or other emigrate: 1) a bottle of “krutka” to forget the troubles; 2) find a rope to go hang; 3) bite your tongue when daughter becomes a prostitute or runs off to Pakistan; 4) think becoming violent; 5) you add your version to the aforementioned. Interestingly, the grandfather of virtual farmer Y in K. Ulmanis era (1934-1940) owned a profitable horse and stud farm in Abrene. The Soviets sent grandfather and father to Siberia, where neighbor Y was born. After Stalin died (1953), neighbor Y’s father was allowed to relocate to Latvia.

When said virtual neighbor’s wife (from who he is long separated, but not divorced) went to the village administration to request government aid (she worked for years as a cook at a local school—until it was closed last year), she was refused aid. The reason given was that, well, your husband has five cows and some pigs, so you are not destitute yet.

How do these “virtual” people get by? I frankly do not know. When my virtual neighbor’s sow (a very important animal, because she can bear piglets) got sick, and my neighbor broke out in cold sweat because he could not afford to call the vet, we extended our barter agreement, and he now shovels my yard and driveway when I am snowed in.

Not long ago in a village—not too far from where I live—an A-frame house caught fire. It was probably due to an overheated stove. Yes, there were days here when the temperatures dropped to -30C. The village administration could afford no more than Ls 150 (~$300) to give the woman who owns the house. Ostensibly the money was for rebuilding the roof of the house.

Yet another virtual neighbor, a man who is in his prime has not left off alcohol for years. This is what happens when you work to get out of the hole, but as soon as you reach the rim of the crater, you—like Sisyphus—fall back, and are forced to dig yourself repeatedly out of the hole all over again. It should surprise no one if the day comes when the man lights a candle for himself (as one virtual man I knew did) and…good bye. Indeed, Latvia has no mountains to climb, but has plenty of craters. When recently a fictitious meteor “dug” a crater not too far from where I live, I suspect that it was not dug to advertise a mobile telephone company as the media insisted. I would argue that while the phone company did pay some men to do the dig, they dug the ridiculous crater as a work of love, because the crater projects a meteoric "rise" of despair that has visited their community.

During our conversation my virtual neighbor also mentioned that on television news, he saw the minister of education being interviewed on television upon her return from the Olympic games in Canada, but could not name the Latvian athletes who had won medals at the games there. We both had a laugh, but we did not laugh over the news that the Latvian Prime Minister was to attend the games later in the week, too.

Last, but not least, as economists know, one cannot invest money into new projects or realize plans if one is forced to become a slave to debt. Instead, debt slavery produces anxiety and anger, both public and private. If there is no money to pay for the minimum necessities and if one finds one’s self in a hole already, the resulting anxiety will not help improve the situation. One will—like a plant sown in a season of too much rain—rot. So will a nation. That is presently the case with Latvia. And though our neighbors see this (not in my unkind words), our own haughty http://www.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/195326 government pretends not to see, which is one good reason for letting it go.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
TO THE LATVIAN VOTER: While a “not-vote” is not a cure all, it is 1) a step toward choosing and then setting up a program for achieving a realistic future; 2) it helps exit the simplistic mechanics of a dysfunctional community so reduced by politics as usual; 3) it refuses to keep the current “death spiral” (political, economic, demographic, you name it) under wraps and presents it as an emergency it is; 4) it reintroduces charisma as an essential element for the survival of Latvia. Come October 2, 2010, cast a NOT-VOTE. No amount of votes cast for any of the parties now campaigning will result in improvements in the peoples lives whatsoever. Indeed, it will make things worse, because the government’s dysfunction is endemic. Yes, we know the argument that the Latvian constitution provides that even if no more than a thousand people vote in the elections, the government may declare itself legitimate. However, if the majority of the 700,000 eligible voters cast a “not-vote”, everyone will know that the government has no other options than either resign or declare itself a dictatorship. There is no other way to a viable future than through a not-vote; or as the French writer Genet put it: [Else] nous ne sortirons jamais de ce bordel..
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here  to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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://esoschronicles.blogspot.com/

2010-02-23T22:46:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
84 Gridlocked In Latvia (3)

The following excerpts from post by Igors Suvajevs, philosopher and sociologist. The full post at Apollo.com.

“….Those who suffer from poverty are found also among the wealthy.... Among the impoverished are not only the poor [but also] the rich. In our days the dominant factor is a consumer society, which is not characterized by careful utilization [of resources], but encourages spendthrift expenditures, which create impoverished individuals—as much diminished by poverty as by wealth.

“…A third-world nation is forming almost in the centre of Europe. The nation is called Latvia…. We are told that more than a half of the people living in Latvia can be classified as poor. More than two thirds of the inhabitants live in poverty, that is, in circumstances where there is a shortage of money to meet even minimum needs. The salaries for more than a half of those employed meet only their minimum needs…. The level of inequality [in Latvia] is simply colossal. The inequality coefficient stands at 20%. In effect this means that the poor become ever poorer, while the wealthy become ever wealthier….”

Suvajevs describes the situation in Latvia in abstract terms. Here is what this blogger knows about the situation from personal observation. The story of family X describes a situation that is not unusual in the countryside.

Family X is a kaleidoscope of virtual family originating in rural Latvia. I ( emphasize the word rural. Family Y and Z (to be presented in future blogs) will be virtual single mothers also from rural areas. Their cases will be presented in future blogs.

Virtual family #1 has six children. The father does manual work for a local farmer, but has bouts with alcohol that sometimes last for months on end. While father has visited the detoxification clinic often, his employer refuses to cover the expenses, because the procedure does not result in a permanent cure. The mother of the family, also suffering from bouts with alcohol, left her husband some years ago and has been living off and on with other men as housekeeper. Both parents are about fifty years old.

Son #1 is nearing thirty. He has an elementary school education. After sowing his seed wildly and irresponsibly and living with several women in various regions of Latvia, he eventually abandoned them. He is presently living and working in England. He is likely to be working (judging from earlier work history) as a construction worker.

Son #2 is in his mid-twenties. He attended trade school and studied to be a car mechanic. He has a wife and one child. Most recent employment was as a car mechanic. However, because of the financial and economic crisis, his monthly wage has been cut to 120 lats (about $240) or 30 lats ($60) per week. He is soon on his way to England. A friend (so he claims) has arranged a job for him.

Son #3 is in his mid-teens. The teenager is bright, but has a terrible and incomplete elementary school record. He is suspect by his neighbors of petty thievery. Like many young boys, he loves motorcycles.

Daughter #1 has four young children. Her husband works as a farm laborer. The family is best described as poor and barely scraping by. For lack of money daughter #1 often requests brother #3 to absent himself from school to watch her children while she goes to market or visits with friends.

Daughter #2 has not completed her elementary school. She was briefly married and has two children from the marriage. She divorced her husband and children and traveled around Europe as companion to several truck drivers and became pregnant again. She abandoned her last child, and then moved to England where she worked as a waitress and took up with immigrants from Pakistan. She has now married a Pakistani man and moved to Pakistan.

Daughter #3 is in her early twenties; has not completed her elementary school education. She was married and has two children, but then divorced (perhaps influenced by sister, re #2), abandoned her children, and now lives in England. She, too, very likely lives with a Pakistani man. Her former husband has moved with their two young children to England, where he works in a factory. On occasion the young woman comes from London to visit her children.

Blogger’s comments: The virtual family illustrates the supercilious and neglectful attitude of the Latvian government toward rescuing Latvia from demographic collapse. Twenty years after regaining its independence from the Soviet Union, Latvia’s independence can be described as a people’s tragedy. The political leadership of Latvia has done little to set its priorities on “survival” or better. We know why: children do not vote, but when they are grown old enough, they will be “dumbed down” and vote for which ever political party spends most money on campaign advertising.

To the extent that this writer is familiar with the above and like situations, the chief causes of the problems—aside from neglect by government—are poverty, alcoholism by parents, and lack of understanding of the value of education by many who live in the countryside. The failure to value education runs throughout society, and may be traced to “guaranteed” jobs and wages during Soviet times, as well as education presented in a rote and uninspiring manner, i.e., without a vision of how education may help lift the students out of life at subsistence level. [University students are of course excluded and count as an exception to the norms.] All members of the virtual family are, so to speak, normal people, at least to the extent that their dysfunctional and anxiety filled lives allow them to be such.

Let us not forget that it is the state (originating in princely violence and land grab), aided by a bought off religion, which destroyed the traditional way of life of the community. As a consequence the family lost its clan and ceased to be a saime (a household; a form of the extended family particular to the Balts) and was made directly dependent on the state.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest
TO THE LATVIAN VOTER: While a “not-vote” is not a cure all, it is 1) a step toward choosing and then setting up a program for achieving a realistic future; 2) it helps exit the simplistic mechanics of a dysfunctional community reduced to such by politics as usual; 3) it refuses to keep the current “death spiral” (political, economic, demographic, you name it) under wraps and presents it as an emergency it is; 4) it reintroduces charisma as an essential element for the survival of Latvia. Come October 2, 2010, cast a NOT-VOTE. No amount of votes cast for any of the parties now campaigning will result in improvements in the peoples lives whatsoever. Indeed, it will make things worse, because the government’s dysfunction is endemic. Yes, we know the argument that the Latvian constitution provides that even if no more than a thousand people vote in the elections, the government may declare itself legitimate. However, if the majority of the 700,000 eligible voters cast a “not-vote”, everyone will know that the government has no other options than either resign or declare itself a dictatorship. There is no other way to a viable future than through a not-vote; or as the French writer Genet put it: [Else] nous ne sortirons jamais de ce bordel.
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to tacky marble. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted screws with some naval jelly. Click  here  to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".)
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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  + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-20T10:10:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
83 Gridlocked In Latvia (2)

Pictures: Two young persons leaving Latvia for England.

It is very unlikely that the existence of Latvia is at risk as far as the territory of Latvia as an administrative center of the EU is concerned—as long as the EU exists. As time moves on, the EU (if successful) is likely to shift eastward and include Russia. However, before the latter can occur, two major policy shifts have to occur in the West and Central Europe. If these shifts do not occur, the EU faces collapse or will remain dependent on this or that “other” power.

First, the EU has to develop its own foreign policy vision out of which it will evolve its own defense straategy, and, yes, it must let NATO atrophy. As long as Europe remains part of NATO, an organization with obviously aggressive tendencies toward Russia (re the undercutting of Russia’s belly from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean under the guise of fighting “terrorism”), Europe not only delays its own internal political development, but threatens the economic future of its people.

The age of the rule of Paris—the major sponsor of neo-Christianity and the crusades—is over. This in spite of whatever the current prime ministers of France and England may think. Of course, the EU needs energy resources, but the road to their access does not lie through Washington, which would like to see the EU remain permanently fragmented. A fragmented EU virtually guarantees that Washington will not have to discipline its oligarchic democracy, but simply shut Europe out when the Near East comes under its control. Nevertheless, it appears that at present time London, Paris (a la Brussels), and Berlin naively buy into a policy of support for NATO incursions into energy rich zones of the Near East and beyond.

Assuming (but don’t hold your breath) that Europe will do the right thing for itself, a major transformation has to occur in all parts of Europe, East, West, and Center, but with Central Europe leading the way.

It is evident that the future of a European Federation lies through Central Europe toward the East. Central Europe itself is divided into roughly three paths. First, there are the roads in the south that go by way of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf and beyond; in the central part there is Poland, Hungary, Romania, and others; while in the north the roads go by way of the Baltic Sea. In the latter part, the Baltic countries, carved out of former Livonia, have a special role to play, because of their proximity to Petersburg and Moscow. However, the lynchpin role of the Livonian outgrowths, Latvia and Estonia, depends on the ability of these countries to evaluate our times with foresight, and then take the risk necessary to implement a new future. One of the necessary risks is to exit NATO membership and assume a neutral role vis a vis the East, i.e., Russia.

The Baltic countries need to distance themselves from NATO asap. The present financial and economic crisis is an opportune moment. As mentioned above, Latvia’s existence is not threatened as an administrative area in the European Union, but its participation in NATO threatens its existence from many directions: economic, political, and cultural. Culturally Latvia is not a Western country as some insist (see below). While Latvia was and remains exposed to various influences from the West—starting with the occupation of their territories by the Teutonic Knights—the origin of the Balts lies closer to the Volga than the Rhine. In fact, this is true for all Central European countries. This is why they have such an important role to play in a unified European Union, East and West including, be it takes a hundred years to accomplish.

At this time, however, the Germanic (perhaps one should say Habsburgian) mindset, taking advantage of the traumas visited on Central Europe by the Soviet Union, insists on its regressive preeminence. The evidence is in the continued German policy to use Central Europe as a buffer between itself and Russia. The planned gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea and Polish paranoia and love of NATO rockets is proof of it. Still, the work on the pipeline has not yet begun and the rockets are not yet in place. Since the present economic crisis is also a systems crisis, this is an opportune time for all parties to rethink their option.

In Latvia such reconsideration must begin by rejecting the strident voices arguing on behalf of the separation of Europe into two halves. Because Latvia faces elections this fall (2010), the time to reject the blocks put in the way of reanalysis by advocates of fear is now. Moreover, the advocates of the separation of Europe have suffered a yet unacknowledged loss in Latvia through the near bankruptcy (it was avoided through a sale to another party) of the preeminent advocate of the West sans East, re: the newspaper “Diena”. Interestingly, an important factor in the newspaper’s collapse was its rejectionist editorial stance with regard of the East and anti-populism.

Even so, the diehard separationists are attempting a come back. The following post from Apollo (my free translation from Latvian) here:

“Elerte sees great energy among the citizens [of Latvia]. BNS, Saturday, 13th of February, 13:48. The former editor-in-chief of the newspaper ‘Diena’, Sarmite Elerte, claimed in a speech at a meeting of the New Times (JL) Party that she feels a great flow of energy coming from the [Latvian] citizenry. ‘The citizens are more active than ever before, because the people feel that Latvia is in danger. I wish this energy to inspire the Unity Party [see Blog 82 for more details] and give it direction.’ The editor emphasized that there are many people in Latvia who will do everything not to allow Latvia to orient toward the East. ‘To choose the West is an important foundation, something that I see as an important goal and a good reason to unify over. The highest goal is Latvia—a European [Latvia], a nation able to compete [in the market place], one that has educated people. This choice [of direction] has not been put to the vote yet….’”

What does Ms Elerte mean by “…many people in Latvians will do everything (my emphasis) not to allow Latvia to orient toward the East?” Does Ms Elerte believe that Latvians are ready to shoot themselves in the foot to stop their natural inclinations? One may say that the former editor of “Diena” has been struck with what some economists call “neoliberal madness”. For a description of the latter see article “Latvia’s Neoliberal Madness", authored by economists Michael Hudson and Jeff Sommers. [Click on link, scroll to Articles.]

Indeed, Ms Elerte’s position has not been put to the test. As I am suggesting throughout my blogs, the way to test it is with a “not-vote”, that is, voting by abstaining from a vote. Though a “not-vote” is not a cure all, it is a necessary step for the citizenry of Latvia to break the stranglehold on the region of Central Europe by those who wish to keep Europe permanently separated into two halves; and, not least, to keep the citizens of Latvia permanently indentured as slaves to the banks of the West. The road to a better future lies through the hearts and minds of 700,000 not-voters.
Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
It is obvious that the mindset among the Latvian political elite at this time is not only gridlocked, but has turned to stone. These blogs are, for one, an attempt to loosen the rusted in screws with some naval jelly. Click here to discover the meaning of the Overton Window, and here to see what purpose it serves.
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984")
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-16T20:55:00.001+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka. Jaņdžs

THE NOT-UNTHINKABLE
82 Gridlocked In Latvia (1)
[This begins a new theme series (see above) and ends one called “NOT-VIOLENT TERROR”. While the previous series took a look (with the aid of a hologramatic perspective) into a heretofore unheard of Latvian social and anthropological past, the present series will attempt to take a closer-to-home look of things. As the reader may know, this blogger believes that during the elections on October 2 of this year (2010) the voters should give the government a NOT-VOTE. A not-vote is a vote that begins to count when it reaches numbers that give the not-voters authority over and above that of the government. While the government may claim that such a result is unthinkable, a majority not-vote gives the not-voters an opportunity to reassert their sovereignty over the government, which must resign, leaving a caretaker government to administer the state until a new Constitution is written. With but a total of 700,000 voters in Latvia, a not-vote is possible. What constitutes a quorum is a question for academics and legal experts. With regard to what Latvians may wish to accomplish with the not-vote (in one man’s opinion) and other proposals see Blog 81 and preceding.]

One may reasonably argue that the Soviet Union unintentionally conserved Latvia and its germanic cultural tilt (also known as a tilt to “the West”) of the Latvian capital of Riga and the related proto-urban landscape of the small regional cities as a result of a too slow a pace of assimilation of Latvians into the Soviet Man. Perhaps the slowness was due to Bolshevik overconfidence and brutality, and because they failed to consult with social anthropologists.

However it happened, the Soviet Union did not last long enough to cause the Latvians to lose their identity entirely. Many Latvians to this day resent profoundly the liquidations, deportations, and destructions practiced during the Soviet rule. Just as the resentment of the Jews against Hitler’s holocaust is parahistorical, that is to say, is a history never to be forgot, so the remembrance of the Central Europeans of Stalin’s atrocities are parahistorical too—certainly for Latvians.

Be that as it may, a parahistorical memory does not need to become Zionist or zionationalistic, but may transcend history and the shortness of human memory by calling for the institution of self-sacrifice on the part of high government officials not only of their own nation, but as a form of government self-control and citizen control of government the world over. This may be (and likely will be) accomplished by nullifying the separation of state and religion one of these days soon.

Parahistorical memory is not new. It was practiced in prehistorical times, when the self-sacrificial individual was known as the “Sacred King”. One of the last sacred kings was John-Jesus (in this blogger’s terminology). The cause or source that created the Sacred King in ancient times—just as in our own—is the potential of material and spiritual corruption among the rulers (in early times the elders) of the community. When a corrupt cabal of rulers (most likely those of the Byzantine Empire) had grown strong enough, they took away the “John” that was a part of Jesus’ name, and sent Jesus to Heaven. Once in heaven, Jesus could but sit on his hands. As the Latvians know, “John” was then turned by the secularists into the King of Beer. The secularists live happily to this day. The state they control continues to preach separation of state and religion, while the Balts (and the Slavs) get drunk on Johns Day, re Midsummer Eve.

Post-Soviet Latvia is, as one government official described it recently, “is not just some small nation, but we are now part of NATO”. [Director of State Chancellery (Valsts kancelejas, VK) Gunta Veismane in an interview on LTV1 program “100. Pants” on February 15, 2010.] The statement was made in an effort to justify said official’s intent to call for the Latvian State Security Police (DP) to investigate a journalist’s source of information. [The call did not go through because of the scandal that the official’s actions elicited in the media.] My reason for quoting it is that it implies an attempt by the official to justify interference with the flow of free information on the basis of Latvia being a participant in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). In other words, an official of the Latvian government is willing to compromise a journalist’s right to investigate by referring to NATO as a reason for compromising freedom of information. This also puts into question freedom of speech in Latvia.

Also, there is a much larger political context that the official’s statements may be put. Here is a paragraph from Blog 80: “This past week several Latvian “political” parties made yet another step toward apolitical politics when the Citizens Party (PS) declared its readiness to form a coalition with the New Times Party (JL) and Party for Different Politics (SCP). Said coalition is to be called "Unity Party", and according to Girts Kristovskis, chairperson of the Citizens Party, it will oppose parties of the oligarchs and pro-Russian parties.”

Let there not be doubt that this government’s “drang nach Westen” would not be possible without Latvia being a member of NATO, a military axis of the U.S. and the EU nations. As the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said with regard to [NATO] stationing interceptor missile components on Bulgarian soil: “My opinion is that we have to show solidarity. When you are a member of NATO, you have to work for the collective security.” Compare this to Ms Veismane’s “[Latvia] is not just some small nation, but we are now part of NATO”. It is beginning to sound as if the member nations of NATO are getting ready—in the name of “collective security”—to curtail freedom of information by intimidating journalists.

(More on Latvia’s tilt toward militarism and “the West” in upcoming Blog 83.)

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm". A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".)
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-13T12:39:00.002+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, aka Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
81 Climbing Mt. Citheron (XIV)

When a systems change occurs—something we learn when all the buttons that worked previously no longer work and a catastrophe becomes imminent—there is much confusion. Ships the sizes of supertankers suddenly find themselves at the world’s edge and fall over even though everyone knows that the world is not flat and there is no edge to fall over. Alas, the catastrophe occurs not because there is something wrong with the shape of the world, but the size of the ships.

The trouble with super sized ships is that they cannot turn as fast as an emergency situation demands. A crew well trained to deal with orthodox problems (whatever these may be), turns out not to know what to do when a systems change becomes reality. The crew cannot rebuild the ship that had a faulty or overambitious design, and throwing people overboard will never lighten the ship enough for it to stay afloat. Indeed, those thrown overboard may survive, whereas those on board may go down.

Tomislav Sunic’s comment (see Blog 80) on how liberal democracy has fostered the growth of apolitics (Laclau and Mouffe are likely among his influences) has its reflection in the failed or, to be kind, seemingly failed democratic Latvia. Its positivist government has been sailing in an imaginary sea for twenty years, while its stranded and wrecked ship of state has not only not improved, but with its partidocratic and zionationalist crew is perfectly happy to sit on the rusty deck, smile, and do nothing.

With Latvia on the Baltic and Greece on the Aegean seas, the ebbing tide of time has laid across central part Europe the carcass of a rusty old shipwreck that no one seems to be either willing or able to dismantle. And the age of the Tethys Sea is unlikely to soon return to float it.

Will the political and economic wreck of Central Europe—with Latvia as its bow—divide West and East Europe and keep the halves from merging for ever?

Answer 1: As long as Latvia remains part of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the West of Europe (England, Germany and France especially) continue to envisage the conquest of the East of Europe (Russia) by taking advantage of NATO (essentially under U.S. control) and join in the violent undercutting of the under-belly (Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India) of Russia, Latvia will remain in a state of apolitical rigor mortis and economically destitute.

Answer 2: As long as Latvia remains a member of NATO, Latvia’s internal politics—until and unless its people replace the partidocratic apolitical system with a government of Enlightened Authoritarianism—will remain apolitical and its economy will remain at the subsistence level of mushroom picking and a diminishing mushroom crop due to implosive deforestation. The existing partidocratic zionationalist apolitical system will never abandon its oligarchal tilt (the latter already committed to accepting continual bailouts by the NATO nations)—because oligarchs poisoned by monarchal ambitions are virtual big ships in a sea of corruption. Everyone who there betrays the hegemony engineered by the military machine gets the bullet sooner or later.

Answer 3: Think enlightened authoritarianism. What is it? Rather than take several blogs explaining it, the following is a brave attempt by blogger William Hooper to argue on its behalf. My own ideas about authoritarianism are likely to emerge in the process of writing. Indeed, the idea of self-sacrifice as an essential ingredient of government has been made in past blogs. A number of Latvian jurists would of course make their contributions and help write a new Constitution and work out the details of transition from unsustainable consumerism sponsored by partidocratic apoliticians to a long-lasting and prosperous community.

Answer 4: Unseat the present government of Latvia through a successful “not-vote” populist campaign, followed up by a new Constitution and all the steps that are necessary to set the stage for a government of Enlightened Authoritarianism democratically arrived at and sustained by.

Answer 5: With new parameters thought out and with the countries to the East and the West of Latvia discussed and signed treaties with, Latvia would shift its geopolitical orientation from “West” to “neutral”. Of course, the EU and Russia may be shocked. What are we to think? However, the country has its own plans. It wishes that the future political centre of Europe is in the middle of Europe, in Riga (the Jerusalem that bishop Albert dreamt of). This time Riga will come to its druthers by way of “problem solving methods”, not violent methods of persuasion as Bishop Albert used and taught.

Answer 6: Because poverty and fears of economic destitution today are based on a misconception of the future (facilitated through oligarch owned media and by the advertising industry), Latvia will reorient its interests. Because the country has a firm base in the pharmaceutical industry, and because healing is as old an art in Latvia as its “dziednieki” (healers), Latvia will reorient its economy and concentrate on

a) research in the field of stem cells and give human cloning a high priority status;
b) sociological-anthropological research in the formation and creation of a family of the future. Many Latvian farms retained the old household system of living in “saimes”. These are likely to have been an inheritance of arch-Christian times and may have prevailed during the proto-Latvian Jersika culture. “Saimes”, perhaps pale remembrances of their former self, but nevertheless functional, were still in existence in 1944;
c) with Riga as a major centre of activity for medical science and indeed DNA implanting, the countryside may be let rest, restore, and reforest itself. No doubt, “interspaces” in the forest may be designated as areas for communities of “saimes” to establish their multi-generational estates.

Answer 7: The current apolitical at the same time radically individualized and infantinelized societies must be educated through life-long education programs following high school; this part of a voluntary, but encouraged college level program. An Enlightened Authoritarian Democracy oversees these programs and makes the necessary adjustments that are needed to move toward the goal smoothly.

Answer 8: Make the name of Latvia read Jersika. Redesign the Latvian flag by replacing the color of crusted blood with a green landscape.

Answer 9: After the above and other changes have been realized, only the climb up Mt. Citheron remains.

If the hologramatic view—an all inclusive view—of the Universe (“Visums” in Latvian) helps the extreme individual reorient his-her life toward the community, then the climb up Mt. Citheron will be less stressed by the death of one’s current self. Because a replacement to one’s self (perhaps with one’s current self being its parent for the first twelve years) is perhaps growing up as one’s child, one may no longer be stressed by death. After several generations of individuals cloning themselves successively, chances are that self-sacrifice will have created a not-violent world. Under these circumstances not-violent terror may still be a matter of concern to the individual, but society will be not-violent and free.

In other words, the future will anchor Riga in Jersika, with both the city and the country having become the geopolitical centre of Europe.

Recently a group of Dutch citizens have begun to collect signatures for a bill that would allow all citizens over the age of 70 to request professionally assisten euthanasia. Last, but not least, if you are wedded to the present system, have a nice ride’; click here.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-09T21:18:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
80 Climbing Mt. Citheron (XIII)

Tomislav Sunic, a Croatian political scientist, in a paper called “Liberalism and Democracy? Carl Schmitt and Apolitical Democracy” writes that “…if one assumes that a new type of homogeneity can develop, e.g., homogeneity caused by technological progress, then one cannot dispute the functionality of a liberal democracy in which the homogenized citizen remains thoroughly apolitical: hypothetically speaking, political issues in the decades to come may no longer be ethnicity, religions, nation-states, economics, or even technology, but other issues that could ‘homogenize’ citizens. Whether democracy in the twenty-first century will be based on apolitical consensus, remains to be seen. Schmitt sincerely feared that the apoliticism of ‘global liberal democracy’ under the aegis of the United States could become a dangerous predicament for all, leading not to global peace but to global servitude.”

The above illustrates the thunder clouds approaching. Far in the background one may also hear thunder. Below is a scene of the way it is happening in Latvia with a sketch of the political background of it.

This past week several Latvian “political” parties made yet another step toward apolitical politics when the Citizens Party (PS) declared its readiness to form a coalition with the New Times Party (JL) and Party for Different Politics (SCP). Said coalition is to be called “Unity Party” http://www.uic.edu/orgs/unity/UnityMonthJPEG.jpg , and according to Girts Kristovskis, chairperson of the Citizens Party, it will oppose parties of the oligarchs and pro-Russian parties. The talk among the Unity Party members is to concentrate on “doma” (to think thoughts) of economics. (Source: DELFI.lv, 6.2.10.)

What is Unity Party? Let us start with the definition of “unity”, which at this link is best expressed as (6): “one of the principles by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation are preserved; conformity in a composition to these; in oratory, discourse, etc., the due subordination and reference of every part to the development of the leading idea or the establishment of the main proposition.” In other words, the Unity Party (when officially announced) may present to the public a definite program.

We already know from the news that Unity will be anti pro-Russian and oligarchs. In other words, the political “enemy” is established; however, the economic program is yet at its muz muz stage. The lack of an economic program at this stage indicates that it will likely remain at the muz muz stage even after the founding, which means the Unity Party will remain as apolitical as the activity of muz-muzing usually is. To be any other way, Unity has to choose an authority figure that the rest may join as advisors, but who in all cases will respect the authority figure.

The Karlis Ulmanis regime (1934-1940) of Latvia was a regime that started its life (by way of a coup) on May 15, 1934, but soon became a “soft” dictatorship. K. Ulmanis main support came from the Farmers Party (Zemnieku partija), the military circles, and, not least, from the inability of the radical and the “we-agree-to-disagree-in-almost-every-case” parties to be unified enough to move along the country’s economic development. In a sense, K. Ulmanis came to power as a result of an ad hoc Unity Party that soon became known as “Ulmanis regime”.

Ulmanis was the authority who spoke to Latvians and spoke on behalf of them. He was the guide in all future projects and, like it or not, he enabled many Latvians to become market savvy. The “market” in its modern guise was a concept that was new to Latvians, especially the bookkeeping part and the discipline to run a business successfully. He used his college education (agronomy and farming) at the University of Nebraska, to raise the level of education for Latvians, most of who were still of peasant stock. Ulmanis returned to Latvia from the U.S. (1913) with a broadened perspective, ready to help develop Latvia with—of course—other Latvians as his helpmates.

However, a year after his return from the U.S., WW1 broke out. The war devastated Europe economically. The new nation of Latvia, which Ulmanis helped found (1918), would need to act with an especial foresight to rebuilt its economy and educate its people. Ulmanis was ready for the task, but its execution, due to many political fractures, was to lag behind. On May 15, 1934, Karlis Ulmanis staged a coup and seized the reigns of the Latvian state.

My grandfather and father, the first the founder and both editors-in-chief of the newspaper "Jaunākās Ziņas" (since 1911) at the time, saw the political picture with a neutral eye. They appeased social disagreement, such as existed, by printing jokes about the clumsiness of “vadonis” (leader), but never disapproved of him. Apparently, the judgment of the political and economic situation by the editorial staff and publisher, authoritarianism was acceptable for the benefits it brought to the majority of Latvians, and, not least, kept the newspaper from getting shut down as the authorities reminded the staff of such a possibility often enough. A certain antagonism that existed among the newspaper’s publisher, its editorial board, and the Ulmanis regime came from both competing for the populist vote. Ulmanis needed the populists because he needed majority support to stay in power (without going to military rule), while “Jaunākās Ziņas” desired to increase the number of its subscribers and had to keep peace—a tight balancing act sometimes—among newspaper’s editorial staff and a publisher of differing minds.

So, Karlis Ulmanis became an authoritarian leader. He took advantage of the anti-nazi mood in the country by supporting the out-migration of Baltic Germans (many believed to be nazi sympathizers) and appeasing those among the public that were unhappy by making them happy through an increased sense of public pride in being a Latvian. The latter were to be thought of in terms of ethnicity. If one was a citizen of Latvia, one was of Latvia’s first (or second, etc.) generation and thus one of its sovereign owners. Under K. Ulmanis, Latvia was a majority democracy with the majority facilitating its rule through an authoritarian president.

Unfortunately, on Latvia’s eastern border was communist Soviet Union with a definition of cosmopolitanism that identified cosmopolitanism with liberal consumerism. Having encouraged the departure of the Baltic Germans, Ulmanis set up the conditions that would enable the Baltic Germans to be replaced by the Baltic Slavs who arrived into the country with the Soviet times. Are the parties who today represent the Slavs to be the enemies of the Unity Party of Latvia? Does the Unity Party plan to encourage Latvia to continue to be an ethno zionationalist state?

Lest it be the same rhetorical bluff that has guided the ship of the Latvian state since 1991, who in the “Unity Party-to-be” is going to be “the authority”? Who and what is to be the sacrifice?

The climb up Mt. Cytheron has not yet begun, certainly not in the context of our times. As Oedipus of ancient times found out, his story stands for the way of all too human endeavors, and one has to take issue with such “naked” dirty politics that the Unity Party leads one to anticipate. An anti Baltic Slav campaign will lead to the plague that puts the future of all Latvia-born children in hawk.
Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm" .
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984")
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-06T12:06:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
79 Climbing Mt. Citheron (XII)

Given the rapid breakdown of the community and community oriented hegemonies and the exponential rise of atomized individuals cultured into being by consumerist broths, society is footloose and free to do as it may. With money in the pocket, anyone may dance his or her way to almost anyplace they wish. Those without money also may go their way and many do, but the process of numbing one’s self with alcohol enough not to feel no pain of death in the cold, is a process that may take years. It’s a strange world, Mr. Jack.

A long time ago “freedom” meant having the opportunity to live away from princely courts and find refuge in a subsistence economy. Last time this was tried in the U.S. was when the hippies moved to the states of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in Canada in the 1960s. Some of them survive to this day by growing Johns Grass. In the rest of the world subsistence living—free but subject to finding food at the garbage dump, young women earning a living through prostitution, men growing and selling Johns Grass, and people dying as if they never were—is still the experience of the majority of humankind. Consumers may watch this world by taking "slum tours" as part of their consumption of vacation time. They may be preparing themselves for the rising tide of poverty that may force them to be discarded by the failed brain of our age of technology. On the other hand, there is also something to be said for wanting to live at the level of our forebears. Many would be happy to join them if using a horse and no car would free them from having to pay the government taxes.

It is a paradox of our civilization that it has not only rejected but also forgotten how the first human beings came into existence in conditions that offered them a comfortable subsistence living. In our own day, we are witnesses to how the advantage that an Earth full of fruit and life offered our ancestors has been squandered by using up ever more “lebensraum” (living space) in pursuit of consumption. Though Hitler failed in his attempt to carve out more living space for the German people by means of war (a nationalist activity often going by the name of fascism), a worldwide increase in poverty is only now beginning to see in consumerism a form of fascist dictatorship. Of course, I am speaking of a “soft” fascist dictatorship. For many Latvians going back to the ways of their forebears (if the world of the forebears could be recreated) would be an improvement over a country created with such foresight that 150,000 have left it, a no lesser number would like to, and the remainder wondering what fate had in mind when it put them ashore in Latvia

In the world as a whole, “Lebensraum” (living space) comes in many different sizes and shapes. There is concern over enough space for a growing population [risen from 2 billion inhabitants in 1950 to 6.5 billion by 2010, sixty years later, and expected to rise to 9 billion by 2040], but along with the growth of human population, the size of the ruling class has increased as well. It is, therefore, something like two billion Earth inhabitants stealing a living from the 4.5 billion others. Unfortunately, while the steal is successful, it is a steal that fails, because the theft helps increase the size of the middle classes on a planet of diminishing resources, certainly of such as are relatively cheap. Meanwhile, that part of humankind that was persuaded to abandon the ways of antiquity, yet never have had the opportunity to rise above the poverty level, continues to bring to life more people like itself than ever.

The majority of consumers live in cities, and it is around the cities that the human nakeds fill the slums. What once was a land for the original human subsistence dwellers, has become the private property of monster farms (probably bank owned) and the “bonus receivers” among bank employees, who invest and use retirement money of the middle classes for their own and the bank’s benefit. One may say that the natural order at the time when the first human beings appeared on Earth has been completely reversed: the haves then are the have-nots of today while the rulers-pretend-not-to-be are the Socialist Oligarch Party, SOP, of today.

More “growth” is obviously not a solution, but a problem to all areas that live as much on borrowed money as on borrowed time for lack analysis of the sustainability level of society and how to implement it. Sometimes a culture overgrown by a myth no longer either useful or principled may hinder the development or survivability of society as a whole.

While Latvia is a small nation, and one may think that it should escape notice of how it falls apart with all attention directed to the “biggies”, Latvia may play a big role in other ways. The current government is a perfect afterimage of what happens to those suffering from delayed gratification. The zeitgeist of consumer fascism shines bright in the eyes of almost everyone who knew the torture it was to stand in the long lines at stores during Soviet rule, yet was privy to television soaps from abroad. Such subjectivities obviously filled the heads of those who served Latvia’s bureaucracy and those who came to office as ministers and politicians. If consumer fascism is often well camouflaged in the West, it shows up in clear relief in post-Soviet Latvian morality.

Rather blatant presumption of hegemony among consumers translates itself best in images of television advertisements. The hegemony of images in advertising are unmistakeable. However, the modeling of the image began at the top, at top business and government level. There were no speed limits or blocks against running off the tracks. The examples of behavior in Latvia were set at the top and devolved down toward the valley where the people lived.

The dazzling brightness of economic wisdom in the halls of Latvia’s “refounders” made plans to built "A Castle of Light" to house a library that would put the Library of Congress in Washington to shame, but cost a mere ~140 million lats (~$300 mil.). It built the world’s most expensive bridge (~ Ls 600 million, with the lats almost twice as costly as the dollar, i.e., $ 1.2 billion) before its need was proven, and 27 million lats have simply gone missing. These and other objects reflect the high expectations of elected and unelected officials with no direct responsibilities to the voters—from 1991 on until the present 2010 election campaign. What an ironic spectacle of not only a lack of vision, but of the post-Soviet mindset revealed in all its dullness and primitiveness in the circles of the post-Soviet apparatchiki of Latvia.

The run for the sill began immediately after Latvia was retrieved—with help from the U.S.—from Soviet grasp. With America’s support, and soon part of NATO, the Latvian government felt safe. Latvian men went boar hunting and ate boar’s balls to prove the men they are. They could care less about Putin in Moscow waving red handkerchiefs and sending unkind messages, for we have in Latvia a partidocratic and zionationalist consumer nation on wheels already. Of course, consumer fascism does not smell but of coconut oil and olive skin. Latvia had one of the fastest growing economies in Europe a few years ago.

In any event, naked greed, sometimes robbery (but through an escape hatch in the ceiling always out of reach of prosecution) took the high chair of setting the public an example of correct behavior, and though there was talk of honor and honesty, the money did not go into education or its promotion. Today the founding institutions of Latvian consciousness, the village choirs and the Festival of Choirs that meets every five years to train their voices together, goes without state support. The ad hoc organizers and interested parties are left on their own, in effect homeless. If on some other occasion hard times are an opportunity for innovations, the government of Latvia is now saying in so many words that there is no mandate from the people for the choirs to stay among the living. Ligo Latvia! (Viva Latvia!)

I have already suggested using a “not-vote” as the occasion for choirs to meet near polling places and invite everyone to a not-vote sing-along.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” see George Orwell's "Animal Farm".
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984" ).
Of great interest to me is this and like articles . It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-02-02T22:16:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
78 Climbing Mt. Citheron (XI)
Latvia, Latvian, John, Johns, endura, self-sacrifice,

The doctrine of “dualism”—as ascribed to the arch-Christian Cathars by the neo-Christian Catholics—has enjoyed a presence in public space as a seemingly unprovocative lie and, therefore, let be. All this thanks to the once and current adoption of the lie of the neo-Christian perspective on life. The Devil’s days—though he never was—have enjoyed a virtual existence for ages and have, thus, been presumed to be as good as certain to bring humankind to the “good life”.

Then came the infamous “9/11” event that woke the world up to the fact that World War Two had never really ended or, better, can never end given the presumptions of our civilization. Lo, we are an “advanced” nation. The “terrorist” attack was and remains a shock for the descendants of the Pilgrims, especially to the people of “the melting pot”. These heirs (including the descendants of Latvian refugees arriving in the U.S., Australia and Canada after one of the early phases of this war) awoke the next morning with a different permanent imaginary inside their heads. Our grandparents—those still alive—reminded us of their mind’s imaginaries during WW2. Now their grandchildren can understand it. They can now see the twin towers collapse in New York, Sadam Hussein insulted as he is hanged in a dungeon of Bhagdad (the story “1002” of the One Thousand and One Nights); imagine a wedding party blown up in Afghanistan by rockets fired from a drone flown by a morally under-educated soldier; and a full undressing and measuring of the length of one’s penis and cleft of venus by way of scanners at all airports. Such imaginary writhes before us as material for a new myth. The resonances of two and more waves meet and occultate into existence a new era.

The neo-Christian church was originated by and came to power by doing the will of neo-capitalist princes in all but the rhetoric of “holy writ”, which has remained for ever rhetoric. It was the secular warriors (most likely sometime in the time span of the 9th to 11th centuries) and their princes who put the neo-Christian church in power and keep it there as a matter of patriotism. The arch-Christians were disenfranchised of their belongings by the usurpers declaring that any “suicide” forfeited not only a hole in the ground in the church cemetery, but his and/or her descendants would be kept from inheriting any of the “suicide’s” property. Insurance companies deny to this day life insurance benefits to the heirs of suicides, even if one has lived decades after subscribing to it but dies as a self-sacrifice. Though some changes have taken place, the onus remains on the “suicide”, who after his or her decision—be it by way of endura or with the help of morphine—become felons.

Though doctor assisted “suicide” is legalized in a number of countries these days, one is hard pressed to find a neo-Christian person who will agree to equate “suicide” with a Christian death of self-sacrifice which is never transubstantiated. After all, the crusade against the Cathars in Lanquedoc and the Children of Johns (Jāņu bērni) in Jersika (now part of Latvia) was to repress the existence of a people who believed that their individual rights included the right to do or not to do with themselves at their time of death as they wished.

Someone is likely to raise the question of terrorism at this point. Does not the argument for self-sacrifice also justify self-sacrifice as an act of terrorism? What about those who wrap around their waists a bandolier of explosives and detonate it on their body in a crowded marketplace? May one not perform two acts at the same time, yet let the act of terrorism become justified by way of giving priority to the part that is (made out to be) self-sacrificial?

The description of terror for the victims is a simple matter: they are aware of it. They carry within themselves an imaginary in their subjective mind of how it will be while they wait to die from the wounds they received in a violent blast; of the boy who for days after the earth shakes refuses to eat; it is no different than post-combat stress. Nevertheless, the question of what is terror is a complicated one for people far away, and those out of touch for never having experienced it. It is from the latter environment that there arise people who have no problem simplifying terror to bite size. “Terror mean[s] killing and robbery and coercion by people who do not have state authority and go beyond national borders.” This is the description of terror in its Pop version as brought to us by the former president of the United States BillClinton. In any event, a more realistic imaginary communicates a state of creeping dread, but a dread not caused by a wolf behind yonder tree, but of us for want of understanding of the significance of self-sacrifice.

This is one of the reasons why I have dwelt throughout these blogs on the need to pay attention—for some a quaint idea—to return Jesus to Earth and make him and his likes become renamed John again. I am speaking of a psychological attitude inspired by a new charisma. If the descendants of the proto-Latvians of the Kingdom of Jersika (d. 1209) do not resemble their forebears in attitude to and outlook of life, nevertheless as their descendants, they may see the wisdom of renewing the Children of Johns community as a second try at creating an updated post-Jersika prototype of a Latvian.

Such a new beginning out of the old is in order for the sake of survival of proto-Latvians in a post-ethno age. After twenty years of a government that has utterly failed to rejuvenate the community spirit in Latvia (having destroyed it by letting a partidocratic zionationalism override the rebuilding Latvia for future ages) and burdened its people with a debt they are unlikely to be able to pay off ever, the situation demands that the present government is replaced with a government that has not only a perceptive vision of tomorrow’s material world, but the self-sacrificial spirit that will create the charisma without which no effort can succeed.

Given that the present government and the majority of its ‘business’ offshoots are cynical enough to expect the public to vote for it on October 2, 2010, it is the suggestion of this Child of Johns that the people come together in solidarity and not cast a vote. Moreover, not until the day that parliamentary democracy in Latvia is revoked, a new Constitution written, a referendum held, and an election of candidates for government (from party representative to the president) makes the candidates responsible to the people directly, the “populist moment” will outwait the government—under an EU supervised temporary government—for the sake of a Latvia legitimated by the people of Latvia. If the people fail to take this opportunity in October, the next winter will bring more “snow” than this one.

In a country of 2.3 million people total and the voting public a third of that number, a “not-vote” has the potential of waging a credible campaign against the rule of a partidocratic zionationalist government and win.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's Animal Farm.
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-01-30T09:44:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
77 Climbing Mt. Citheron (X)

"King Oedipus” is a tragedy, which as a play and a story has endured a misreading, the misreading leading to tragic developments for humankind as a whole. That we have come to read the story afresh and gain new meaning from the riddle it presents is the result of a confluence of occulted near and far historical events, a chronal moment and a confluence for the inner consciousness of a writer living in antiquity and our own.

The gyres of occultation, which have enabled us to see something so obviously before our eyes as to have escaped our notice for these many years, are partly related to such events as the death of innocents; bombs upending earth seconds and not many meters behind; the sight—mercifully from a distance—of cities burning; tortured bodies marching by imaged in the clouds; and not least, the stealing from the Latvian people, of whom I am one, the future. The latter is the end result of rule by a government with no ultimate sense of responsibility for the results of its deeds as government. The people, so commonly referred to as “populists” (why not equate populism with a form of “terrorism” then?), have been pushed to the periphery where government feeds on its livers without cost to itself.

The chronal moment of unriddling the riddle (likely related to the universe as a hologram) is driven by a necessity to acknowledge events we have been censured from noting to lasting effect, and, thus, have not been able to give the chorus of dissident voices “out there” an ear. Our necessity is the necessity for truth that comes to every dying entity on its deathbed—to live on through others. So, let it not be said that either Sophocles or myself have invented the story of King Oedipus, but that it has gone unrecognized for the lack in our civilization of self-sacrifice, which has brought us to a time when a majority of people on our planet, little Latvia including, have little more than their naked self.

The willful misinterpretation of the role of Oedipus in Sophocles’ “King Oedipus” is the result of a zerstoertes (disturbed) mind. The failure by the mind in our times to look beyond the immediate is as profound as looking over the ruins of Dresden and Hiroshima and not seeing them, and the inability to bring a Stalin, a Churchill, and a Truman even post mortem to court for war crimes. The ruinous events in what so many theatre goers have presumed to be an honest rendering of a tragedy (there was a Nuremberg trial, what else do you want?), turns out to have been Sophocles’ coded scream for help, but unnoticed for the presumption that what makes tragedy has no relation to government.

If “Tiresias’ Revenge” becomes a story of which the riddle went unsolved (for good reason some may claim) for two thousand years (Scaligeri’s chronology), it may contribute toward the removal of so-called “just war” from the bag of pardonable crimes and prosecute it from the perspective of past, present, and future self-sacrifices. Were this to happen, the onus will be on those who fail to acknowledge the equal signs between themselves and the victims as well as beneficiaries of their acts. At this time, the beneficiaries of the government have the power to ignore any call to responsibility. The payment in lives and life styles is still exacted from the weak for the benefit of the strong solely because the latter invented arms that kill at a distance. The mailed fist has for too long allowed a minority to remain in denial that it is the major cause of death of “others”.

The so-called ‘just wars’ are little more than those who are violent claiming for themselves a “more equal than other” status. As the killer drones in Afghanistan prove, the art of ‘just war’ has progressed to the point where the killer kills the victim as if the latter were a figure on a video game screen and the former no more responsible than a child for pushing the buttons in a gaming arcade at a shopping mall.

With death among the violent ones having been replaced by the doctrine of ‘resurrection of the dead’, death among educated “elites” occurs as if in secret still. Indeed, the violent ones have not only eliminated direct knowledge of the death of their victims, but knowledge of themselves as mortal beings. Sure, death remains a matter for tears among one’s immediate relatives, but the laws that tell that the body will upon death be taken to the refrigerator at the mortuary make sure that death remains invisible and will not trouble the dictatorship of positivism. No rulers of hegemonies where consumers are the core of ruling parties will acknowledge that they are the cause of death of millions of—let us call them ‘nakeds’. Such ignorance follows the same line of reasoning which during the current crisis causes governments to treat the most irresponsible banks institutions “too big to fail”, because failure means their fall from power as well.

The subject of violence and death presently discussed is not often met with in the discursive space of modern media. None of the “authorities” who have done and condoned violence has sworn an oath to die a conscious death, yet the same are said to be fully conscious and in alignment with the will of Allness when they send to their deaths millions. No “authority” in our day will extinguish his-her life through his-her own will—even if that is not expected from them sooner than old age—and will censor such a notion as suitable for public space.

The doctrine of self-sacrifice and the ability to extinguish one’s life comes from an imaginary that has expectations of a future in which a larger-than-life community creates an environment that enables it to recreate itself until forces beyond it—rather from within it—end it. It is from this itself that life beyond mere naked life community arises. It is from the larger-than-life community which is able to practice self-sacrifice that the potential of a continuum of self-consciousness arises.

If one wishes to create a hegemonic community, one has to be willing to help create the kind of charismatic bond that memory will not let go of. Death through natural causes may provide the original understanding for the desirability of such a charisma. Death as a result of a violent attack may confirm the power of death’s charisma. However, only self-sacrifice faces the charisma of death (some may wish to call it motivation) in full self-consciousness. This is why one must learn to project, then internalize an image that is powerful enough to displace the image of Jesus in the sky. Innocent as Jesus himself may be, his image was engraved into the vault of the sky by the physical violence of those who reject owing up to the notion that a fully human community can result only when its members have authority over their deaths. In the context of the neo-Christian secular order, which is founded on the high blown words vs the arch-Christian Johns seeking to live with the endura engraved as the grail on their minds, it is the former who die in their beds, while the latter if not dead by fasting, once managed to die on their feet. There are none like these in public space today, unless the space is not only subjective, but hidden, and if discovered is lied about. Hopefully, the solving of the riddle of “King Oedipus” will turn the tide and soon prevent the rule of lies.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's Animal Farm.
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984").
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-01-26T21:30:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
76 Climbing Mt. Citheron (IX)

There is yet a thirteenth death in “Tiresias’ Revenge”. It is the death of the Sphinx, the chimera of child sacrifice child sacrifice that has been haunting Thebes.

When fleeing Corinth—in order to escape the prediction that he is about to kill his father and marry his mother—and on his way to Thebes, Oedipus meets and kills his father. Sophocles presents the scene as if it is a fated accident. We are told that King Laius and Oedipus meet on the road, but neither of the parties identify themselves, and both try to push each other off the road. The fight over who has the right of way escalates into a deadly fight. In the melee, the captain of Prince Oedipus’ bodyguard kills Laius, the king of Thebes.

After the “victory”, Oedipus continues his journey until he reaches the temple of the Sphinx. The temple is not far from Thebes. The Sphinx, we are told, is plaguing the city of Thebes. The Sphinx will continue to plague Thebes, that is, demand the city to sacrifice its young for its dinner, until someone is brave enough to come before it and answer its ridiculously simple riddle: Who walks in the morning on four, at noon on two, and in the evening on three legs? The answer is “man”, at least this is the answer that everyone in the last two thousand years plus (according to Scaligeri’s chronology) has accepted as being the right answer.

One may accept the given answer as the correct one. On the other hand, we should not forget that the third leg, which is not a nature made instrument, but an instrument made by man, may be presumed to be other than a cane. After a crawl on all fours and learning to stand upright, the hands may hold more than a stick. This is to say that after learning to walk, one may support himself on a spear, a sword, or a rifle. The instrument need not be associated with the physiological nature of man. It may be an instrument that is typical to a cultural ethos.

In any event, Oedipus and his father do not meet each other by accident as Sophocles misleads us to believe. To the contrary, the meeting has been prearranged by Queen Iocaste, the wife of King Laius and mother of Prince Oedipus. The Queen knows that on a certain morning the King is to go and pick up a wagon full of children he has bought from some traders for sacrifice to the Sphinx. The purchase is in lieu of having to sacrifice the children of Thebes.

The Queen arranges an as if accidental meeting by conspiring with her sister, Queen Merope of Corinth. [The history of the two sisters is discussed in greater detail in “Tiresias’ Revenge” (blog 47)]. The captain of the guard which accompanies Prince Oedipus’ flight from Corinth is informed of King Laius’ upcoming transaction, and is to take advantage of the circumstances and kill the king.

In terms of the story, we need to understand that Prince Oedipus’ journey to the temple is not so much the next episode of the play as it is a continuation of action that began at the crossroad where the exchange of the children for payment took place. In short, the death of King Laius is to be identified with the death of the Sphinx. This identification need not be made by anyone else but Queen Iocaste, because it is she who starts the story of Oedipus by refusing to expose him to the elements on Mt. Citheron, which will put him at risk of becoming a sacrifice to the Gods of Fate. Since the Sphinx has wings, we may imagine that he-she could fly from the temple to Mt. Cytheron and snatch the royal child exposed there and deny him life and the right to become part of the royal retinue. Queen Iocaste has a plan that may outwit the Sphinx.

There is no need here to tell the details of the original plot of Sophocles. What we know is sufficient to understand that Sophocles wrote a riddling play from which a number of essential elements of plot have been removed or have been so abstracted as to make the play a riddle. The most likely reason for creating the riddle is political repression. Since the political repression may be for the purpose of ridding society of self-sacrifice by identifying it with the sacrifice of children, the censure and repressive force can only come from a hierarchical society in which self-sacrifice—from the point of view of its elite—is undesirable. Self-sacrifice is an individualistic act in that it is unpredictable (subject to the subjectivity of the individual) and may cast doubt on the authority of those at the top of the pyramid, especially if those at the top have no intention of doing self-sacrifice themselves. Rather than submit their lives to fate, they rather enjoy the “pleasures of life”, albeit a diminished life in that it asks for itself no more than a leisurely drift to Hades via a river called Yana, G(Y)anges, D(Y)on, D(Y)onava, or D(Y)au(n)gava.

As mentioned in earlier blogs, other than sacrifices made during the violent times of Latvia’s founding, Latvia had two distinct opportunities for self-sacrifice in the twentieth century. One was in 1940, when the President Karlis Ulmanis could have (but did not) self-sacrifice himself in the face of the ultimatum to the nation by the Soviet Union, because Latvia had no chance of winning a fight against the aggressor, except make it a symbolic act. The other was in the years immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union, when the post-Soviet Latvian government was on its way to becoming so corrupted that it was obvious (though not necessarily noticed) to most people outside the government, and one Adolfs Bukhis (1993). The latter attempted to redeem the government’s failure by protesting the direction the government by sacrificing his life. His effort was denied recognition by both the post-Soviet Latvian government and its media.

One may object by saying that the troubles of Thebes have little to do with the troubles of Latvia. As the saying goes: yes and no. In this writer’s opinion, we shouldremember that the story of King Oedipus is

1. not as “ancient” as we are led to believe it to be by the Scaligeri chronology (I am inclined to agree with Anatoly Fomenko’s suggestions as to the reliability of orthodox history);
2. fails to confront the interests of a secular and fundamentally laissez faire prince (government) to repress self-sacrifice;
3. substitutes self-sacrifice with a return of child sacrifice, but in place of children, places young immature men and woman, re soldiers;
4. leaves the elite occupy the summit of the power pyramid, where it never makes a sacrifice, but frequently changes chairs of office among its members to escape coming into focus of the public.

The substitution of self-sacrifice and child sacrifice with “war sacrifice” by modern government confirms that our modern orientation of rule is toward maximum, rather than minimum use of violence and terror as the tool of authority for keeping government in power. This keeps the weak bonds of community weak and under the control of the government. Invariably such power is usurped power. How long will it endure? If once the answer was “not for ever”, today it is “not for long”.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's AnimalFarm.
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984" )
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/

2010-01-22T21:13:00.000+02:00

© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
75 Climbing Mt. Citheron (VIII)

Let us begin the play by pretending that we are its directors.

Imagine that you are going to the theatre tonight. The play you are going to see is some author’s scandalous rewrite of the ancient and famous playwright’s Sophocles play “Oedipus the King”. The reinterpreted and rewritten version is called “Tiresias’ Revenge”. What is Tiresias revenging? Perhaps the “truth”. What is truth? Perhaps what ought to have been done and can be done still.

This is a long play, which is why some readers have compared it to Wagner’s Der Ring des Niebelungen Der Ring Des Niebelungen cycle. No music for this one yet though. There will be a long intermission after the second act, when one may have coffee and cake. In the basement cafeteria of the theatre there will be young aides to help those interested to understand parts of the play that they did not understand. If asked, the aides will also explain what is ahead in the fourth and fifth acts. Tip the aides generously.

Imagine that the curtain of the stage is closed. It is still some minutes before the play is about to begin. The audience is in taking seats. The volunteer selling programs is still sitting in in the lobby. The balcony seats are almost filled.

There is movement from behind the stage curtain, then it parts a little, and to the front of the stage steps one of the actors. The actor is holding in his or her hand a mask to indicate that he or she is part of the production. He-she intones: “Ahem… I have an announcement to make. There are some changes in the scenery tonight. You will see one of the scenes twice. I will briefly tell you about the scene, so you know what occurs if we decide to skip through it quickly. Here it is:

“There is a temple. It stands in the mountains, indeed its rear exit stands right over the edge of a cliff. The temple is on the road from ancient Corinth to ancient Thebes. [Some directors may wish to replace the name of Thebes with that of Riga.] In the centre of the temple on a high and broad pedestal sits the Sphinx. It is a horrible beast and inspires terror the moment one sees it. However, in fact, you see nothing of the Sphinx but its Face. The face, horrible to behold, is drawn or projected on a curtain. Its features show the anxiety of life facing Death. The Sphinx is a former dragon that has devoured itself from the tail up, and the image resembles—I will let you imagine—that of your own face after you have cannibalized yourself from the tail end of yourself. The road of your rage to live has been a bloody and horror filled voyage. Now you cannot devour yourself any further. The Face cannot eat itself, but only express its terror of Death if it takes the next step towards it. Perhaps the Face looks something like the one Picasso drew in one of his last drawings, except in place of man’s tightly drawn lips, there should be teeth as horrible as the teeth of a saw.

“On the road below the temple appears a wagon drawn by four oxen. In the wagon sits a large cage, and the cage contains four to eight children. [This scene may in fact be projected on the screen behind the actor’s back as a video clip.] The driver of the wagon is Tiresias, the priest of the temple. Tiresias has not been blinded yet, but somehow he already has that “blind” look of one who has gone snow blind from having seen too much snow. On top of the cage sits a guard armed with a spear.

“Tiresias stops the wagon before the temple, opens the cage and motions one of the children to follow him. The child is dressed as if he or she has been invited to a children’s birthday party. The child and Tiresias walk toward the temple, then walk up the temple steps right up to the curtain, to the Face of the Sphinx directly in front of them. To the right and left of them in the shadows may be present some other figures. Perhaps these are the witnesses of the proceedings.

“When Tiresias has come before the large temple curtain and the face of the Sphinx, he seizes the child by the scruff of the neck, grabs the belt around his or her waist, and pushes him-her with some force through the curtain. The curtai has a tear or an opening in the middle to facilitate a quick “disappearance” of the victim. Tiresias performs the motions as if he has had lots of practice. The children do no more than cry out in surprise.”

A few moments after each child disappears behind the curtain the audience hears a thud. [Thud! x 4.] Some men may bring onto the stage four sacks of sawdust and let them drop there in a matter of fact manner, one after the other: Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!] If you want to know, yes, the remaining four children are to be saved for a later sacrifice.

“Let the plague begin!”

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:
On material deprivation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” George Orwell's Animal Farm.
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984"). An article to orient yourself on populism in America (and hear the echo in Latvia), Retrieving the Democrats’ Reason for Being by Sam Smith.
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 http://latviansonline.com/forum/ + Forum Home + 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/

2010-01-19T21:04:00.000+02:00

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
74 Climbing Mt. Citheron (VII)

The response that I received over my interpretation of Sophocles’ “King Oedipus” (“Tiresias’ Revenge”) was somewhere between a statement and a question: “How is anyone to perform all those deaths in one [the last] act?.” I was taken aback. I thought that this is what directors of a play do—besides choosing a cast, they also solve problems and think of ways to do what may seem impossible to do. A stage need not have only one platform.

Nevertheless, on second thought, I could only agree that one may get the impression that death arrives as a pile up of speeding cars speeding cars. It all comes after the discovery of the facts or, if you will, the truth. Let me count the deaths.

1. First to die is the blind seer Tiresias;
2. then comes Iocaste, Oedipus’ mother and wife;
3. & 4. their two sons, Polynices and Eteocles;
5. then Antigone, their daughter;
6. Antigone’s lover Haemon, Prince Creon’s son;
7. then Prince Creon’s wife, Eridike, because Creon will not pardon Antigone for burying her brothers. No doubt, Creon also does not forgive his son for not abandoning Antigone.

This makes for a total of seven (7) deaths. However, these seven were preceded by four (4) others:

1. The infant who was substituted for Oedipus, but whose death is not declared.
2. King Laius, killed by his son Oedipus.
3. Polybus, the king of Corinth. He is killed by the Queen of Corinth, Merope, Iocaste’s sister.
4. Oedipus.

Seven plus four is eleven, quite a few deaths indeed. A dramatic denouement, not least because the central act no longer is Oedipus stabbing out his eyes as Sophocles seemingly wants to makes us believe, but the other deaths. All lose their lives as a result of the refusal by Queen Iocaste to expose for a night her son Oedipus on Mt. Cytheron and discover whether he is fated to become the king of Thebes, Greece, or not. And then there is the “plague” itself, obviously with death lurking at the end of the road.

The reader, who knows the play according to Sophocles, will quickly notice that either Sophocles hid the motive why Oedipus was exposed to the elements, or I have added it. In Sophocles’ version of the play, at least the version that has come down to us, King Laius wishes to kill his newborn son for reasons unknown. In my rewrite or deconstruction of the plot, I propose that Laius does not wish to kill Oedipus for reasons unknown, but to test the will of the Gods. In other words, by exposing Oedipus to the elements on Mt. Citheron, Laius and all Thebes will know if the fates are agreed that he is suited to grow up to be king of Thebes. There are other additions as well, for example, Sophocles nowhere mentions that Queen Merope of Corinth is Ioacaste’s sister.

My acquaintance made no comment on my interpretation of the play or, more accurately, my resolution of the riddle posed by Sophocles. Rather than probe and embarrass myself by having to listen how perhaps my Latvian skills made reading the play difficult, I let the matter rest. Perhaps on another day would come and offer another opportunity. After all, the plague that plagues Thebes may be said to plague Riga and Latvia, and plagues do not simply disappear. King Oedipus may be renamed King John, and imagined as a descendant of the king of Jersika, King Visvaldis. [See blog 58 ff. for a discussion of the kingdom of Jersika and its king.] An interesting coincidence is the fact that the current President of Latvia is a surgeon, and the English name “surgeon” may be read as “sur-john” or Superjohn.

In any event, the several years that separate my probe into the nature of the Protestant mindset in Latvia has done little to change my impression that self-sacrifice as the cause of death is a subject too touchy to touch. It has obvious political implications. The sacrifice by Adolfs Buķis (see blogs 16, 36, 67, 68) of his life in front of the Freedom Monument in Riga and the dismissal of the event as inconsequential by the authorities and the media is ample evidence of the unwillingness of Latvia’s post-Soviet government and society to take itself “that” or so seriously as to involve self-sacrifice. The bureaucracy of the state, with self censorship its second nature—thanks to eight hundred years of self-repression—knows how evade any subject, itself including.

Mostly my disappointment was however the way the echoes of self-sacrifice rebounded on Latvian society itself. It simply had no ear for it. No doubt, the fate of Oedipus and Thebes could be imagined as in some way applicable to not only the current political situation in Latvia, but indeed to the political atmosphere the world over. Whatever the rest of the world may think or make of self-sacrifice, in Latvia it is but a clump of clay stuck to the shovel and what the shovel needs to be freed of. This is taken for evidence that everything is as it should be. Self-sacrifice as a phenomenon necessary for the creation and maintenance of a community, which makes it a political force, has not been able to find room for imagination here.

Now the act which my actor acquaintance was questioning is the last act, the fifth. (See blogs 46-47.) It is true that most of the deaths in the play (eleven +) occur or, better, are declared in this act. The entire network of relationships among those who are part of or somehow connected with King Oedipus’ court unravels here.

For the time being my probe to try discover Latvian reaction to tragedy had proven itself to be unsuccessful. As I came to interpret it, it was simply too risky to risk upsetting a Latvian audience with a play that insists in introducing such radical changes in how we have grown up to see ourselves. Latvians would rather continue to perceive the Sphinx as a mystery rather than a revelation.

However, there is a solution to the difficulty of having to present to the audience death after death after death. One solution is to tell the audience the story first or by giving it a hint of what the play is leading up to. Not all of the eleven and more deaths need to happen in the last act, but can be told in a brief introduction. In this way, the audience is given some tools with which to imagine the events in the play more easily.

Let see how this might work in the next blog.

Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

On material depravation in Latvia.
On the theme of “more-equal-than-others” Orwell's Animal Farm
A recommended read: “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” by Emmanuel Goldstein (A book within a book from George Orwell's "1984".)
Of great interest to me is this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.
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 + Forum Home + 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/