© 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/

© 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/