[Lettonia: la signora Albright in visita nei paesi baltici riceve
onoreficenze ed a sua volta loda il governo lettone per il suo zelo ad
entrare nella NATO e per la sua politica di apartheid razzista
antirusso; nel frattempo, i neonazisti ed i reduci delle SS celebrano
ufficialmente e tranquillamente le loro ricorrenze...]
Da: Rick Rozoff
Data: Gio 29 Gen 2004 04:20:57 Europe/Rome
A: antinato@...
Oggetto: [yugoslaviainfo] Albright Praises Apartheid, Neo-Nazi Latvia
For 'NATO Readiness'
1) Madeleine Albright Praises Latvia For 'Progress,'
NATO Readiness
2) Mass Protests In Latvia's Capital Against
Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing Laws
3) Latvian Police, State Security Personnel Videotape
All Protesters
4) Latvian Government Formally Celebrates Waffen SS
Veterans, Consecrates Their Cemetery
5) Latvian Waffen SS Honors Its Colleagues (March 3,
2000)
1)
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/3-cee.asp
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 28, 2004
FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE LAUDS LATVIA'S PROGRESS
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on
27 January praised Latvia's upcoming accession to NATO
and said she hopes it will help improve regional
stability, BNS reported. At a press conference
following her meeting with President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga, Albright stressed the importance of
NATO having a constructive dialogue with Russia.
Albright's discussions with Vike-Freiberga centered on
the role of the World's Women Leaders Council and the
role of women in politics and the economy. In earlier
talks with Prime Minister Einars Repse, Albright noted
Latvia's progress in EU and NATO integration. As part
of her two-day visit, Albright on 27 January received
an honorary doctor's degree from the University of
Latvia for her achievements in politics and
contribution to Latvia's independence through her
promotion of Latvian-U.S. relations. She also attended
a book signing on 26 January to promote her book,
"Madame Secretary," during which she stressed the need
for Latvia to improve its policies toward minorities.
SG
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=341845&PageNum=6
Itar-Tass
January 23, 2004
Mass protests in Riga against ban on education in
Russian
-"Some teachers and school administrations are afraid
to openly protest against the inhuman school reform,"
said Jakov Plinner, Chairman of the parliamentary
opposition bloc " For human rights in United Latvia."
-The amended law erased all the previous concessions
made by the Latvian government to the Russian-
speaking population that account for around 40 percent
of the overall population of Latvia.
RIGA, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- A 4,000-strong picket
was staged by students of nine Russian schools in Riga
on Friday under the slogan" Hands off our schools".
The protesters hurled snow balls at the building of
the Latvian Education Ministry. Today’s protest act
against the ban on secondary education in Russian was
the biggest protest act in Latvia’s modern history.
In one of the schools protesting schoolchildren were
locked inside by the school administration. "Some
teachers and school administrations are afraid to
openly protest against the inhuman school reform,"
said Jakov Plinner, Chairman of the parliamentary
opposition bloc " For human rights in United Latvia."
On Thursday, the Latvian Seim approved at second
reading the amended law on education that tightened
the school reform that is very unpopular in Latvia.
The amended law envisages that the Russian language
should be taught in senior classes as a language
course and used for studies of literature only.
The amended law erased all the previous concessions
made by the Latvian government to the Russian-
speaking population that account for around 40 percent
of the overall population of Latvia.
Dozens of policemen and security personnel were
summoned to maintain order during protest acts in the
Latvian capital. Police did not interfere, but
recorded the pickets on videotape.
“Our resistance to reform is growing stronger from day
to day,” one of the leaders of the organization in
support of Russian schools Yuri Petropavlovsky told
Itar-Tass.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=341132&PageNum=6
Itar-Tass
January 23, 2004
Russian school students march in Riga to protest
school reform
-Dozen of policemen and local security service
officers were mustered to maintain order during the
protest march in the Latvian capital, but they have
not intervened - only videotaped all the protesters.
RIGA, January 23 (Itar-Tass) - Students from eight
Russian schools in Latvia have converged on Riga to
take part in an action of protest against the bank on
teaching secondary school classes in Russian.
Dozen of policemen and local security service officers
were mustered to maintain order during the protest
march in the Latvian capital, but they have not
intervened - only videotaped all the protesters.
Latvian Education and Science Minister Karlis
Sadurskis has already warned that all those who draw
children into politics and encourage them to miss
classes will be taken to legal account.
“Our resistance to reform is growing ever stronger
from day to day,” one of the leaders of organization
for the protection of the Russian schools Yuri
Petropavlovsky said to ITAR-TASS on Friday.
The Latvian Sejm (parliament) on Thursday passed upon
the second of the three readings the amendments to the
Law on Education that make the already largely
unpopular reform procedures even more rigorous.
From now on, teachers at the Russian schools are
allowed to speak Russian only when teaching the
language itself and Russian literature to senior
school students.
The latest amendments abolish all the concessions,
which the government of Latvia earlier made to the
country’s Russian-speaking community that comprises
about 40 percent of the country’s population.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/92/372/10978_Latvia.html
Pravda.ru
September 27, 2004
Latvia Opens SS Veterans Cemetery
The opening ceremony was very solemn
The ceremony to open the common cemetery of Latvian
legionaries - Nazi SS veterans - is taking place in
Latvia today. The solemn ceremony started at midday,
local time, it was broadcast on the national
television and radio. Former legionaries, their
relatives and followers are to take part in the
ceremony together with a lot of Latvian politicians
and leaders of Latvia's largest religious confessions.
Three military orchestras of the Latvian Defense
Ministry will be playing at the ceremony. "The whole
Latvia will see that an old sanctuary has appeared in
the country," chairman of the National Warriors
Association Nikolay Romanovskis said.
It is very hard to be unbiased about the current
events in Latvia. Nevertheless, today's opening of the
cemetery is not the first example to show the Baltic
republic's attitude to WWII. Of course, one may
recollect that SS divisions had not been formed only
in Latvia. Nazis attracted the French, the Dutch, the
Croatians. The motto was common for all - to defend
Europe from the bolshevik danger. However, the
attitude to SS members was the same for all countries
after the war was over - people despised them.
Monuments or memorials in honor of SS members have
never been opened or unveiled in any country of West
Europe. However, it became a very pompous ceremony in
Latvia. At times, SS veterans organize demonstrations
in Germany, although the German government has always
tried to stand aloof from marching elderly men, who
were lucky to avoid a Soviet, an English, a French or
an American bullet. In addition, the German police had
to take a lot of efforts not to let antifascists beat
SS veterans on such demonstrations.
It is impossible to justify the things which take
place in Latvia today. In Latvia, SS veterans are
referred to as the military men, who defended their
fatherland from the Soviet invasion. That is why one
has to honor and respect them. Such a reference is
meant for people, whose minds have been fogged with
chauvinism, or for silly people, who study history on
Latvian text books.
Latvia has recently held the referendum devoted to the
country's membership in the EU. The majority of
Latvians supported the idea - they already imagine
themselves the "residents of the joint European
space." One may only congratulate Brussels: the
European Union will have the country that praises
Nazis' "deeds."
Vasily Bubnov
-----------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.newsday.com/ap/international/ap144.htm
Associated Press
March 3, 2000
Latvian Waffen SS Honors Comrades
By STEVEN C. JOHNSON
RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- About 300 veterans of the Latvian
Waffen SS walked slowly through Riga on Thursday to
honor their fallen comrades in a
ceremony bitterly criticized by Russian and Jewish
groups.
The former soldiers, most in their 70s and 80s, said
they weren't making a political statement but
remembering 50,000 comrades who died in battle.
Many Latvians say the Latvian Waffen SS, also known as
the Latvian Legion, was a conscripted, front-line army
and wasn't the same thing as Germany's
SS -- Adolf Hitler's elite force that carried out the
Holocaust and other atrocities.
''We are not Nazis. But thousands of our comrades lost
their lives fighting,'' said 76-year-old Visvaldis
Lacis, a key organizer. ''Why can't
we remember them?''
The veterans, some in wheelchairs, others carrying
canes, gathered at a church to sing and pray before
filing across cobble-stoned streets and laying wreaths
at an independence monument. Many strained to walk the
short procession route. One collapsed from an apparent
heart attack and was rushed to a hospital, the Baltic
News Service reported.
Russia said the march showed contempt for millions of
Soviet war dead.
''What else must happen in Latvia to make the
international public realize that the ghosts of the
past, who sowed death and suffering for the people
of Europe, march in the towns of that country?'' the
Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Members of Latvia's 11,000-member Jewish community
also said the march was an affront to the memory of
80,000 Latvian Jews killed during the 1941-44
Nazi occupation.
''These men were Hitler's aides and they were fighting
for the Germans, not for a free Latvia.'' said
Alexander Bergman, a 74-year-old Holocaust
survivor. ''Besides, everyone knew what the Nazis were
doing here. It was no secret.''
Many Latvians accept veteran claims that they were
patriots fighting for Latvian independence against
Soviet invasion. Some Latvian onlookers clapped as the
marchers passed and shouted, ''Long live free
Latvia!''
Others, especially members of the million-strong
Russian-speaking minority, jeered or sang Soviet war
songs. One elderly women shook her cane at the
passing veterans.
''This is unforgivable,'' said Nina Noshina, a
78-year-old ethnic Russian. ''Why does Latvia
celebrate fascists when they are condemned everywhere
else?''
The government distanced itself from the event, and
lawmakers earlier this year withdrew recognition of
March 16 as an official day of remembrance to
mark a key 1944 battle against the Soviets.
Lawmaker Inese Birzniece said the controversy stems
from a misunderstanding of Latvia's history during
World War II.
The Soviets occupied Latvia at the start of the war in
1940, Germany ruled from 1941-44, and the Soviets
retook it in 1944. Latvia regained its independence in
1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet
armies, 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting on one side
of the conflict or the other, usually after being
conscripted. Some 150,000 Latvian combatants died.
''These are not Nazis marching through Riga with
swastika armbands. These are old men remembering their
dead. No swastikas, no brown shirts, no Nazi
flags. It's not even a march, it's a shuffle,''
Birzniece said. ''The criticism has been unfair.''
onoreficenze ed a sua volta loda il governo lettone per il suo zelo ad
entrare nella NATO e per la sua politica di apartheid razzista
antirusso; nel frattempo, i neonazisti ed i reduci delle SS celebrano
ufficialmente e tranquillamente le loro ricorrenze...]
Da: Rick Rozoff
Data: Gio 29 Gen 2004 04:20:57 Europe/Rome
A: antinato@...
Oggetto: [yugoslaviainfo] Albright Praises Apartheid, Neo-Nazi Latvia
For 'NATO Readiness'
1) Madeleine Albright Praises Latvia For 'Progress,'
NATO Readiness
2) Mass Protests In Latvia's Capital Against
Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing Laws
3) Latvian Police, State Security Personnel Videotape
All Protesters
4) Latvian Government Formally Celebrates Waffen SS
Veterans, Consecrates Their Cemetery
5) Latvian Waffen SS Honors Its Colleagues (March 3,
2000)
1)
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/3-cee.asp
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
January 28, 2004
FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE LAUDS LATVIA'S PROGRESS
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on
27 January praised Latvia's upcoming accession to NATO
and said she hopes it will help improve regional
stability, BNS reported. At a press conference
following her meeting with President Vaira
Vike-Freiberga, Albright stressed the importance of
NATO having a constructive dialogue with Russia.
Albright's discussions with Vike-Freiberga centered on
the role of the World's Women Leaders Council and the
role of women in politics and the economy. In earlier
talks with Prime Minister Einars Repse, Albright noted
Latvia's progress in EU and NATO integration. As part
of her two-day visit, Albright on 27 January received
an honorary doctor's degree from the University of
Latvia for her achievements in politics and
contribution to Latvia's independence through her
promotion of Latvian-U.S. relations. She also attended
a book signing on 26 January to promote her book,
"Madame Secretary," during which she stressed the need
for Latvia to improve its policies toward minorities.
SG
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=341845&PageNum=6
Itar-Tass
January 23, 2004
Mass protests in Riga against ban on education in
Russian
-"Some teachers and school administrations are afraid
to openly protest against the inhuman school reform,"
said Jakov Plinner, Chairman of the parliamentary
opposition bloc " For human rights in United Latvia."
-The amended law erased all the previous concessions
made by the Latvian government to the Russian-
speaking population that account for around 40 percent
of the overall population of Latvia.
RIGA, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- A 4,000-strong picket
was staged by students of nine Russian schools in Riga
on Friday under the slogan" Hands off our schools".
The protesters hurled snow balls at the building of
the Latvian Education Ministry. Today’s protest act
against the ban on secondary education in Russian was
the biggest protest act in Latvia’s modern history.
In one of the schools protesting schoolchildren were
locked inside by the school administration. "Some
teachers and school administrations are afraid to
openly protest against the inhuman school reform,"
said Jakov Plinner, Chairman of the parliamentary
opposition bloc " For human rights in United Latvia."
On Thursday, the Latvian Seim approved at second
reading the amended law on education that tightened
the school reform that is very unpopular in Latvia.
The amended law envisages that the Russian language
should be taught in senior classes as a language
course and used for studies of literature only.
The amended law erased all the previous concessions
made by the Latvian government to the Russian-
speaking population that account for around 40 percent
of the overall population of Latvia.
Dozens of policemen and security personnel were
summoned to maintain order during protest acts in the
Latvian capital. Police did not interfere, but
recorded the pickets on videotape.
“Our resistance to reform is growing stronger from day
to day,” one of the leaders of the organization in
support of Russian schools Yuri Petropavlovsky told
Itar-Tass.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=341132&PageNum=6
Itar-Tass
January 23, 2004
Russian school students march in Riga to protest
school reform
-Dozen of policemen and local security service
officers were mustered to maintain order during the
protest march in the Latvian capital, but they have
not intervened - only videotaped all the protesters.
RIGA, January 23 (Itar-Tass) - Students from eight
Russian schools in Latvia have converged on Riga to
take part in an action of protest against the bank on
teaching secondary school classes in Russian.
Dozen of policemen and local security service officers
were mustered to maintain order during the protest
march in the Latvian capital, but they have not
intervened - only videotaped all the protesters.
Latvian Education and Science Minister Karlis
Sadurskis has already warned that all those who draw
children into politics and encourage them to miss
classes will be taken to legal account.
“Our resistance to reform is growing ever stronger
from day to day,” one of the leaders of organization
for the protection of the Russian schools Yuri
Petropavlovsky said to ITAR-TASS on Friday.
The Latvian Sejm (parliament) on Thursday passed upon
the second of the three readings the amendments to the
Law on Education that make the already largely
unpopular reform procedures even more rigorous.
From now on, teachers at the Russian schools are
allowed to speak Russian only when teaching the
language itself and Russian literature to senior
school students.
The latest amendments abolish all the concessions,
which the government of Latvia earlier made to the
country’s Russian-speaking community that comprises
about 40 percent of the country’s population.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/92/372/10978_Latvia.html
Pravda.ru
September 27, 2004
Latvia Opens SS Veterans Cemetery
The opening ceremony was very solemn
The ceremony to open the common cemetery of Latvian
legionaries - Nazi SS veterans - is taking place in
Latvia today. The solemn ceremony started at midday,
local time, it was broadcast on the national
television and radio. Former legionaries, their
relatives and followers are to take part in the
ceremony together with a lot of Latvian politicians
and leaders of Latvia's largest religious confessions.
Three military orchestras of the Latvian Defense
Ministry will be playing at the ceremony. "The whole
Latvia will see that an old sanctuary has appeared in
the country," chairman of the National Warriors
Association Nikolay Romanovskis said.
It is very hard to be unbiased about the current
events in Latvia. Nevertheless, today's opening of the
cemetery is not the first example to show the Baltic
republic's attitude to WWII. Of course, one may
recollect that SS divisions had not been formed only
in Latvia. Nazis attracted the French, the Dutch, the
Croatians. The motto was common for all - to defend
Europe from the bolshevik danger. However, the
attitude to SS members was the same for all countries
after the war was over - people despised them.
Monuments or memorials in honor of SS members have
never been opened or unveiled in any country of West
Europe. However, it became a very pompous ceremony in
Latvia. At times, SS veterans organize demonstrations
in Germany, although the German government has always
tried to stand aloof from marching elderly men, who
were lucky to avoid a Soviet, an English, a French or
an American bullet. In addition, the German police had
to take a lot of efforts not to let antifascists beat
SS veterans on such demonstrations.
It is impossible to justify the things which take
place in Latvia today. In Latvia, SS veterans are
referred to as the military men, who defended their
fatherland from the Soviet invasion. That is why one
has to honor and respect them. Such a reference is
meant for people, whose minds have been fogged with
chauvinism, or for silly people, who study history on
Latvian text books.
Latvia has recently held the referendum devoted to the
country's membership in the EU. The majority of
Latvians supported the idea - they already imagine
themselves the "residents of the joint European
space." One may only congratulate Brussels: the
European Union will have the country that praises
Nazis' "deeds."
Vasily Bubnov
-----------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.newsday.com/ap/international/ap144.htm
Associated Press
March 3, 2000
Latvian Waffen SS Honors Comrades
By STEVEN C. JOHNSON
RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- About 300 veterans of the Latvian
Waffen SS walked slowly through Riga on Thursday to
honor their fallen comrades in a
ceremony bitterly criticized by Russian and Jewish
groups.
The former soldiers, most in their 70s and 80s, said
they weren't making a political statement but
remembering 50,000 comrades who died in battle.
Many Latvians say the Latvian Waffen SS, also known as
the Latvian Legion, was a conscripted, front-line army
and wasn't the same thing as Germany's
SS -- Adolf Hitler's elite force that carried out the
Holocaust and other atrocities.
''We are not Nazis. But thousands of our comrades lost
their lives fighting,'' said 76-year-old Visvaldis
Lacis, a key organizer. ''Why can't
we remember them?''
The veterans, some in wheelchairs, others carrying
canes, gathered at a church to sing and pray before
filing across cobble-stoned streets and laying wreaths
at an independence monument. Many strained to walk the
short procession route. One collapsed from an apparent
heart attack and was rushed to a hospital, the Baltic
News Service reported.
Russia said the march showed contempt for millions of
Soviet war dead.
''What else must happen in Latvia to make the
international public realize that the ghosts of the
past, who sowed death and suffering for the people
of Europe, march in the towns of that country?'' the
Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Members of Latvia's 11,000-member Jewish community
also said the march was an affront to the memory of
80,000 Latvian Jews killed during the 1941-44
Nazi occupation.
''These men were Hitler's aides and they were fighting
for the Germans, not for a free Latvia.'' said
Alexander Bergman, a 74-year-old Holocaust
survivor. ''Besides, everyone knew what the Nazis were
doing here. It was no secret.''
Many Latvians accept veteran claims that they were
patriots fighting for Latvian independence against
Soviet invasion. Some Latvian onlookers clapped as the
marchers passed and shouted, ''Long live free
Latvia!''
Others, especially members of the million-strong
Russian-speaking minority, jeered or sang Soviet war
songs. One elderly women shook her cane at the
passing veterans.
''This is unforgivable,'' said Nina Noshina, a
78-year-old ethnic Russian. ''Why does Latvia
celebrate fascists when they are condemned everywhere
else?''
The government distanced itself from the event, and
lawmakers earlier this year withdrew recognition of
March 16 as an official day of remembrance to
mark a key 1944 battle against the Soviets.
Lawmaker Inese Birzniece said the controversy stems
from a misunderstanding of Latvia's history during
World War II.
The Soviets occupied Latvia at the start of the war in
1940, Germany ruled from 1941-44, and the Soviets
retook it in 1944. Latvia regained its independence in
1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet
armies, 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting on one side
of the conflict or the other, usually after being
conscripted. Some 150,000 Latvian combatants died.
''These are not Nazis marching through Riga with
swastika armbands. These are old men remembering their
dead. No swastikas, no brown shirts, no Nazi
flags. It's not even a march, it's a shuffle,''
Birzniece said. ''The criticism has been unfair.''