In 2008, the Latvian government created a web page to mark its 90th anniversary. It contained daily news about events as well as background information, history, interesting stories and, of course, bloggers. As Latvian Institute Director, I was asked to be one of them. I wrote about one blog a week from spring until the celebration itself on November 18th, totaling 34 in all. I wrote them all in English, and they were all dutifully translated by someone into Latvian as well. Many later developed into longer pieces, and continue to get recycled for different contexts. This is all of them, pretty much in the order that they appeared.

#1    Why are we here?

Is the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Latvia important? It is if we think it is. How do we know? One way to find out is to talk to others about it. How do they feel? Does it mean anything to them? Will they be observing it in any special way?

We all know that the government of Latvia will be highlighting, noting, observing and celebrating it throughout 2008, because that’s what governments are supposed to do. The Latvian government of 2008, regardless of who’s leading it, represents the same Republic of Latvia that was founded in the National Theater in Riga on November 18, 2008. That’s continuity, and that is something to celebrate.

So we can expect the Latvian state government, as well the regional municipalities to be holding parades, concerts, exhibitions, festivals and fairs throughout 2008. And all 2.3 million people who live in Latvia will be able to participate in these events in any way they choose. So will others who visit Latvia this year.

We created this webpage so you could know what’s happening in Latvia during this 90th anniversary year. It’s also a place to hear what others are thinking, doing and writing. A birthday celebrates the past and welcomes the future. That’s what we will be doing here in 2008.

#2    What is Latvia?

Has anyone ever asked you ‘What is Latvia’? Ironically, it is probably easier for a non-Latvian to answer this question. Someone looking in from the outside can simply use some handy labels – a country on the Baltic Sea, a place where Latvians live, a member of the EU and NATO.

But if you live in Latvia, it’s a lot harder. Latvia is all around you. It is everywhere you look and includes everything. Where do you start? Is it Riga? Is it the wheat fields of Zemgale? The windswept dunes of Kurzeme? Is it politics, culture and economy? All of the above and then some?

This year we celebrate the 90th birthday of the Latvian State, but Latvia has been a state of mind for much, much longer. For those of us who live here, Latvia is defined by our state of mind. Some see it as a good place to live. Others as a place to do business. Some value it for its culture, and others for its naturalness. Some want to govern it and others want to exploit it. Many see it as a good place to catch a plane to Glasgow.

Latvia has been a lot of things in the past, it is several new things in the present, and will be something slightly different in the future. At the moment, it is a place where 2.3 million people have chosen to live.

#3    Latvia’s colonies

No, the Latvian Republic never had any colonies. But the Duke of Courland did back in the 17th century, and Courland today is a part of Latvia. Duke Jacob bought the Caribbean island of Tobago in 1640 and used Latvian sailors on Latvian-made ships to bring sugar, tobacco, and coffee back to Jelgava. Back then Jelgava was a major distribution point for these precious West Indian goods to Eastern Europe.

In 1651 Duke Jacob added to Jelgava’s riches by buying the Island of Andrew at the mouth of Gambia river in West Africa. From here he used Latvian sailors and ships to bring ivory, pearls and other treasures to Jelgava from the Dark Continent.

Bringing goodies from his colonies wasn’t enough so in 1654 Duke Jacob filled the warship ‘Duchess of Courland’ with 80 Latvian families and settled them in Tobago. They even built a Fort Jacob there in his honor. Today you can still find people and even a bay called ‘Courland’ in Tobago.

The Duke’s hold on Tobago ended in 1664, when the British took it for themselves. Today young Brits seem to prefer the streets of Riga to the beaches of Tobago. It surely can’t be for the climate.

#4    Innate victory

In 1951, the late Latvian diplomat Alfred Bilmanis described Latvia, Lithuana and Estonia as the ‘three natural guardians of the freedom of the Baltic Sea’.  All three were occupied by the USSR then, and the world was entering a bitter Cold War that would bring a political Ice Age to half of Europe. At the end of his book, ‘A History of Latvia’, Bilmanis wrote this:

“And still their selfhood lasted on, and still they thought their national personality and their stubborn determination to own themselves might some day be made to count. Should this ability to drink life from rock-bottom despair survive the immense inhumanity of 20^th century terror, the men of any democracy, large or small, may rightly judge that victory was innate in the very stuff of their material and spiritual society.”

Forty years later, in 1991, the three Baltic countries had not only survived the 20^th century, but transformed it. The Baltic singing revolutions contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Empire, and led to a restoration of independence in all three countries.

In 1939 Bilmanis was Latvia’s representative to the League of Nations. Today, Latvia is a member of the United Nations, European Union and NATO.

#5    The oldest place in town

The Latvian Institute’s new offices are located on the busiest street in Riga. Kaļķu street runs through the heart of Riga’s Old Town, from the Freedom Monument to the Stone Bridge that crosses the Daugava River. It’s lined with stores, restaurants and currency exchanges, and it is always filled with people. A lot more people in June than in January, but even on the most blistery bitter winter nights, Kaļķu iela is always alive with laughter, music and activity.

What’s interesting, is that it has been that way for a thousand years. Just down the street from the LI’s offices is the intersection of Kaļķu and Å ķÅ«nu streets, which is where Riga began some 800 years ago. Å ķÅ«nu street, which means ‘shed’, came first, as a row of buildings facing the Daugava river. Kaļķu street came next, because ‘kaļķu’ means lime, and this street once led to some old limestone pits.

Since the Livs already had a settlement here, long before the Germans founded Riga in 1201, chances are these two streets have been the center of activity here for thousands of years.  So why is the oldest street in town still the busiest, even now in the globalized world of the 21^st century? For Latvians, the answer, is usually hidden somewhere deep below the cobblestones.

#6    There’s something about Riga…..

The Livs created a settlement here. Rumour has it the Celts did too. The Vikings stopped here on their way down to Constantinople. The German Crusaders liked it so much they gave it a name. The Holy Roman Empire claimed it, the Hanseatic League recruited it, and the Russians and Poles attacked it. When the Swedes ruled it, it was bigger than Stockholm. British and French ships once helped liberate it and both Stalin and Hitler invaded and occupied it.

It has survived Czarism, Nazism, Communism, Eurovision and the NATO Summit. John F. Kennedy came here as a Congressman and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush came as Presidents. Mikhail Baryshnikov learned how to dance here, and Catherine Deneuve, Elton John, B.B. King and Sting have all partied here. The world’s best hockey players held their championship here in 2006, and the World’s Ornithological Organizations came to gaze at birds in 2007. Music clubs and discos close around 5am, but the flower market never does.

While Latvia celebrates its 90^th anniversary this year, Riga is celebrating its 807^th. But if you talk to the local Livs (yes, they’re still around) they’ll tell you it’s much, much older.

There’s something about Riga that’s hard to explain. Don’t try. Just enjoy.

#7    Flower people

Latvians are obsessed with flowers. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that anyone with at least one ounce of Latvian blood in his family tree is genetically programmed to give and receive flowers all his life.

It doesn’t matter why, where or to whom. If you are Latvian and you haven’t had a bunch of real flowers in your hands for one reason or another in the last 72 hours, you begin to feel tribal withdrawal pains deep down in the roots of your genetic code. Latvians need a constant flower fix and will use any excuse to satisfy it.

A Latvian gives flowers on birthdays, names days, holidays and anniversaries; openings, and closings, weddings and funerals, concerts and sporting events. Put yourself in the centre of any Latvian occasion and prepare to be beflowered. Ice hockey player get them, opera singers get them, poets get them and politicians get them. Latvians give flowers to men, women, children, cows, even rocks – they don’t discriminate. An event cannot be an event if it is not bedecked in flowers.

After a careful unscientific analysis I have concluded  that in Latvia, someone is giving some kind of flower to someone else, for some very Latvian reason, every 15 minutes. I can’t prove that, but it’s obviously true. Cut that estimate in half on weekends.

#8   Is Latvia old?

Now that Latvia has reached its 90^th birthday, one wonders…is that a lot or not? Believe it or not, by global standards, we are respectable senior citizens. If you go by the official founding dates of the 200 or so sovereign states in the world, the Republic of Latvia is older than 130 of them!

Granted, we have to make a distinction here between nations and states. Nations are a self-defined cultural or social communities that may not always be states. Or the states that represent a nation may change. The United Kingdom is the third oldest state in the world (goes back to ther 10^th century) but it consists of 4 nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Japanese nation goes back thousands of years but its present state was established in 1947. The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949. The Russian Federation showed up on the world scene in 1991.

Seven countries are the same age as Latvia – Estonia, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, Iceland, Poland and Ukraine – all established in 1918. But only 52 countries are older.

Who’s the oldest in the world? Ethiopia. It was established 2,000 years ago. And San Marino ranks second, born in AD 301.

So are we old or not? It all depends on how you look at it.

#9   That old song and dance

We tend to divide time up into the past, present and future, but sometimes they all come together. That’s what makes living traditions so special. They take the best of the past, make it relevant to the present and make you want to do them again in the future.

That’s precisely the reason why the 135-year old Latvian Song and Dance Celebration is still so much alive today. When Latvians talk about their world-famous songfest they tend to stress just how old everything is – the thousand-year old folk songs, the traditional dances and the authentic regional folk costumes. But at the kick-off concert for the XXIV Song and XIV Dance Celebration at the Arena Riga in March this year, everything was new. New musical compositions, new dance choreographies, and new singers, dancers and musicians.

Even older performers, composers, conductors and musicians were doing new things, alongside a new generation of Latvian song and dance enthusiasts. The new choreographies were based on traditional dances, just as the new choir compositions were based on an ancient musical legacy. To a Latvian it all looked and sounded so familiar, and yet it sparkled with dynamism, creativity and freshness of the best contemporary music.

If you want to experience why UNESCO has named the Latvian Song and Dance Celebration a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’, try to be in Rīga from July 5-12 this year. This is one living tradition you will never forget.

#10   A place of our own

The planet Earth is home to over 200 countries, more than 6 billion people, thousands of nationalities, and a remarkably diverse melange of over 6,900 languages.

Latvia is among them. Just 1 out of the 200, and just 2.3 out of the 6 billion. Looking at the numbers helps put it into some kind of perspective, but doesn’t explain why it’s so important to a Latvian that he can speak his language in a country called Latvia.

Latvians today travel all over the world. Low airfares and a wide choice of routes from Riga let Latvians go anywhere on the globe and listen to how the other 6 billion speak their languages in their countries. It’s an enriching experience. Latvians themselves speak many languages, from the ubiquitous English and Russian, to the neighbouring languages of the Germans, French, and Scandinavians.  More and more are learning Japanese and Chinese.

Moving about the world and speaking a lot of languages makes you appreciate what you have at home. Each part of the world we visit has an essence all its own, created by the land, the people and the language they speak. Each can exist and survive independently. A piece of land will remain after its people have gone. A people can be driven from their land and still survive, somewhere else, maintaining their traditions and culture. And the language will travel with them.

But a certain kind of magic occurs when the land, the people and the language are one.  Regardless of who we are, where we live or who our ancestors were, we feel that magic when we are in a country where the three are physically and spiritually united. We breathe it in the air and drink it in the water. We take energy from it, and take memories with us when we return home.

And there is no place like home. That’s why so many of us Latvians like to visit those 200 countries and see some of those 6 and 1/2 billion people, because we know that we have a place of our own we can always come home to.

#11   How Latvians rest

Like a lot of Latvians, I live in the city but spend my free days in the country. My wife and I have a house in the forest near the northern Baltic Sea coast. On a clear day you can see the coast of Estonia’s Saarema Island, just 30 kilometres away. The locals tell us that in the old days when the channel between Mazirbe and Saarema Island froze up, young Estonians would walk across the ice to find work in the Latvian fishing villages that line the coast.

My wife and I now drive a 180 kilometres to this same place get away from work. Or so I thought. Most urban Latvians either have a house in the country, have relatives with a house in the country, or know someone else with a house in the country. We go there to get away from the city, the traffic, the hustle and bustle and the daily drudge of work. We like to be near the sea, a river or lake, and always feel more comfortable when there are a lot of trees around. Since 40% of Latvia is covered by forests, this is not a problem.

Except that once we get away from all the work in the city, we throw ourselves into working around the homestead. We grow grass and then mow it. We create gardens and then weed them, seed them and constantly cultivate them. We clear dead trees, chop wood and then stoke up the fireplace and sauna so that we can relax from all the hard work we did all day.

Sometimes after an invigorating weekend in the country, I find myself returning to the city to get some rest. And I look forward to the next weekend back in the country. For Latvians. working around the house is often the best form of rest.

#12   The Amber (Latvian) Way

Latvia, like the 200 or so other countries in the world today, is seeking to develop a competitive identity that will help it promote tourism, investment, international cooperation and general good will. Recent research has suggested that for Latvia, there are three aspects of our national identity that are distinctive: our achievements in science, our well preserved environment and our rich and multi-faceted culture.

We can find plenty examples of each but is there something that unites them all? Believe it or not, it could be amber.

Thanks to the Baltic Sea, amber has always been plentiful on the shores of Latvia and is one of our most beautiful and coveted natural resources. A thousand years ago traders from as far away as Greece followed the Amber Way north to the River Daugava to acquire precious amber from the Baltic Sea coast.

Naturally, amber plays a prominent role in Latvian culture. It is part of our jewelry, art, folklore and traditions. It is in our songs, our symbols, and our souls.

Now it is at the leading edge of global biomaterials research as well  A major scientific breakthrough in the use of amber has been achieved in Latvia by Dr. Inga Lasenko of Rīga Technical University She has discovered how to make hi tech thread from amber!

That’s right, she’s taken this familiar fossilized resin and turned it into a fine textile for in vitro medical applications in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. She’s discovered that natural amber protects organisms from viruses and bacteria, and in a textile form this unique ‘amber yarn’ has a wide range of potential technical and industrial uses. Top fashion designers have something else in mind and are already contacting Dr. Lasenko to learn more about this new way to adorn yourself with ‘Latvian gold’. Amber scarves, blouses, skirts and pantyhose? Why not?

For Latvians, amber has always been a valued natural resource and a treasured national symbol. We’ve been unlocking its secrets for a thousand years. Now it’s a hi tech textile and a possible a high fashion accessory. Latvians really do know their amber, no matter how you look at it.

#13   The day the sun stands still

Each year, toward the end of June, the sun stands still in Latvia. Actually, it stands still everywhere in the world, because that’s what ‘solstice’ means in Latin – the moment when the sun stops moving in one direction and starts moving in another. In the Northern Hemisphere where Latvia is located, the longest day of the year comes on the Summer Solstice, June 21^st.  The ancient European pagan festivals that accompany this singular astronomical event are called Midsummer’s Day and usually fall a few days after the solstice itself. Shakespeare even wrote a play about it.

In Latvia, the Midsummer celebration is a 2-day affair that starts on Līgo day, June 23^rd and continues on Jāņi, June 24^th.  It is one of the oldest and most popular celebrations of Latvian culture, and the one thing Latvians do not do during these sacred days of ritual and revelry, is stand still!

To celebrate Līgo and Jāņi, Latvians leave their cities and congregate around bonfires in the forests and fields of the countryside. They make special foods and beverages, sing midsummer songs, dance traditional dances and partake in a wide array traditional activities with deep roots in Latvian folklore. With meadow grasses thick and tall, and flowers in full blossom, they are without a doubt the happiest and most mystical days of the year in Latvia.

Latvians also do something else on this day that is extremely important to the rest of the world. They stay up all night, and when the sun sets, they sing special songs to make it rise again. To date, Latvians have been wildly successful at this, because in recorded history the sun has never failed to rise again after hearing the appropriate Latvian folk songs. So the next time you see the sun rise on June 24^th, thank the Latvians.

#14   Waving the flag

Every country has a flag, and every flag has a story. The maroon-white-maroon national flag of Latvia has several stories. Some are very old and legendary, some are fairly recent, and all carry a deep meaning for Latvians.

The Latvian flag is considered to be one of the oldest in the world and dates back to a battle against Estonian tribes near the Latvian town of Cesis in the 13^th century. According to one legend, it originated from a white sheet that was used to carry a mortally wounded Latvian tribal chief from the battlefield. Soaked with his blood on two sides, his soldiers hoisted the warrior’s sheet as a banner as it led them to victory.

Austria has a similar flag (brighter red with different proportions) that dates back to the same period and comes with a similar legend about blood and battles. Since there was no Internet back then, it’s doubtful whether anyone copied from anyone. We can assume that the near simultaneous births of these two eventual national banners was pure coincidence.

During the 1860’s a Latvian student discovered a reference to this flag in old historical chronicles, and in 1917, Latvian artist Ansis Cīrulis used this historical description to design the flag that became the official national flag of Latvia in 1921.

The maroon and white flag of Latvia was banned by the Soviets after the 1940 occupation, and until 1988, anyone who dared raised it usually ended up in jail, or worse.  One June 14, 1988, five young Latvians decided that it was time to raise the flag once more. Konstatins Pupurs, Anta Bergmane, Miervaldis Krims, Roberts Klimkoviās and Jānis Alberts signed their names on the banned flag, and Pupurs defiantly carried it to lead a mass demonstration calling for the restoration of Latvia’s independence. With each ensuing demonstration, the number of flags increased until there was a sea of them at every public rally.

Latvians have been waving their flag with pride for the last 20 years. It goes up on all buildings on public holidays, and has become a familiar symbol at world ice hockey championships. If you ever go to a game between Latvia and Austria, it’s easy to tell the two national flags apart. The Latvian flag is darker, with a narrow white stripe in the middle, and the people waving them tend to sing and cheer a lot louder.

#15   Storks are not tourists

I once made the mistake of saying that storks are Latvia’s most spectacular summer tourists. An ornithologist quickly corrected me. ‘Home’ is where you build your nest and raise your children, and each summer an estimated 8,000 pairs of White Storks make their homes in Latvia. They just spend their winters 7,000 kilometres away in Africa.

Take a ride out into the Latvian countryside and you can’t miss them. Latvia has 5% of the world’s White Stork population. And one of the densest concentrations of stork nests in all of Europe – up to 65 nests per 100 sq. km. Although half are in trees, the other half are very visible on man-made objects – chimneys, telephone and electric poles, and rooftops. The average nest is around 30 years old, and the oldest known nest in Latvia today is a respectable 57. Stork nests are natural architectural wonders – sturdy, heavy and extremely difficult to remove or dismantle.  Just how those storks get those massive nests to balance on thin telephone poles I’ll never know.

White Storks were not always a part of the Latvian landscape. They started arriving around the 16^th century, as forests were cleared for farmland. That revealed that Latvia’s fields and farmlands were full of those tasty frogs and insects that storks love to dine on. You know that we couldn’t have had White Storks in ancient Latvia, because Latvian folk poems – the dainas – never mention them.

But we did have Black Storks. Although they were known by another name in antiquity, Black Storks have made Latvia their home for thousands of years. They are much rarer than the White Storks, and a bit more mysterious, but studies undertaken in Latvia since 1993 have revealed a great deal about these magnificent birds.

Because of its rarity and special place in Latvia’s landscape, the Black Stork was named Bird of the Year for 2008. The Latvian Ornithological Society wanted to call attention to the stork’s diminishing habitat and the need to preserve and protect nesting places.  But I think it was to give our feathered friends another reason to celebrate Latvia’s 90^th anniversary year.

#16   The Latvian Saga

Sometimes books not only tell history, they make it.

In 1959 Uldis ‘ā¢ērmanis wrote a history book about Latvia while he was living in Sweden. He was in Sweden because Latvia was under Soviet occupation, and he wrote ‘The Latvian Saga’ (Latviešu Tautas Piedzīvojumi)  for other Latvian refugees and their children, because the Soviets were trying to erase what they didn’t like about Latvia’s history.

While ‘The Latvian Saga’ became highly popular in the Latvian exile communities in Europe, North and South America, and Australia, it became even more popular in Latvia itself. Of course, the book was banned in Latvia, so having it and reading it was a big risk.  But that didn’t stop Western Latvians from smuggling in  copies.

I first read ‘The Latvian Saga’ in the 1980’s when I was working for the American Latvian Association in Washington, D.C. I love historical novels, and although it wasn’t a novel, it read like one. Through ā¢ērmanis, Latvia’s history came alive in a most captivating way. Almost every Latvian I knew had read it, and as my contacts with pro-independence activists expanded in the late 1980’s, I discovered that it was a ‘best seller’ in occupied Latvia as well. The KGB had failed miserably in keeping it off the shelves and out of the minds of the Latvians they were supposed to be watching.

It will take other historians to evaluate the impact ā¢ērmanis’ book had on Latvians around the world for 40 years. ā¢ērmanis said he wrote it to keep the flame of hope alive for independence. My vote is for those historians who believe ā¢ērmanis succeeded.

ā¢ērmanis’ original book covered Latvian history from the Ice Age until the Occupation. He died in 1997 and was never able to update the book. Last year, the publishing house Atena (www.atena.lv) released the first English translation of the book, and added new chapters, pictures and maps to reflect the continuing story of the Latvian saga. ā¢ērmanis had hoped that his book would someday reach a wider audience. It looks like he’s accomplished that goal as well.

# 17   The land that sings (and dances)

Latvia’s Song and Dance Celebration is upon us, and everyone in Latvia who isn’t singing and dancing on a stage somewhere, is singing along and tapping their feet in the audience.  Over 35,000 people will be performing in a wide variety of events, and hundreds of thousands will be watching.

It’s obvious that Latvians like to sing and dance and will do so on any occasion. Even our national anthem refers to a place where “daughters bloom, sons sing,”  and they all get together to “dance in happiness”.

Our former president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, who has studied Latvia’s ancient dainas, has even released an album where she sings her favourite Latvian folk songs. President Valdis Zatlers and Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis both are former drummers, and two members of Latvia’s parliament, Raimonds Pauls and Imants Kalnins are highly regarded composers and songwriters.

A few years ago the Latvian Tourism Development Agency adopted the slogan ‘The Land That Sings’ for their tourism promotional campaigns. The key word here is ‘land’. You see, in Latvia it isn’t just people who sing and dance. Take a walk in one of our forests and you’ll hear birds chirping, frogs croaking, and elk bellowing, while trees and grasses sway along with the winds that come in from the Baltic Sea.

In Latvia we don’t just hug trees, we sing and dance along with them.

#18   A place where fish learned to walk.

Earlier this year I wrote a blog which asked whether Latvia was old. I discovered that at 90, the Republic of Latvia was older than about 150 other countries in the world. Of course, before there was a Latvian Republic, there was a land inhabited by Latvians, as well as their ancestral tribes known as the Latgallians, Couronians, Semigallians and Selonians. Although the Germans and Vikings started arriving well over 800 years ago, these early Latvians go back even further. Their ancestors, known as the proto-Balts started arriving here about 4,000 years ago. As far as scientists can tell, the first human inhabitants of Latvia – whoever they were – showed up 11,000 years ago, about a thousand years after the end of the last glacial period.

But who was here 365 million years ago? Well, it turns out that the Ventastega made Latvia his home. Who is the Ventastega? A four-legged creature that looked a little like an alligator. Some Swedish scientists recently found the fossilized skull of one on the banks of the river Venta in Western Latvia. What makes it so special? The scientists claim it’s the most primitive four-legged creature in the Earth’s history. Basically it was a fish with legs, perhaps one of the first to crawl up out of the sea and start walking on land.

Could it be that Latvia was a key link in the evolutionary chain? The place where fish grew legs and started to walk? Makes sense to me. You have to learn how to walk before you can dance, and Latvia is as good a place as any to take those first happy steps.

#19   Coming full circle

Geography and politics may change our national identity, but it doesn’t change the essence of who we are.

My parents, Eižens and Matilde Kalninš were Latvians from Latvia. They were also citizens of Latvia. They both left Latvia in 1945 after the war and met in a refugee camp where they married. I was born in 1949, also in a Latvian refugee camp in Munich, which at that time, was West Germany. My birth certificate is written in German, but identifies me as a Latvian. Although I’m not a legal expert, I assume I was born a Latvian citizen, even though Latvia at that time was under Soviet occupation and there was probably no record of my existence there.

When my parents and I moved to the United States in 1951, I received a green card and became a ‘registered alien’. I was a Latvian émigré living in the U.S. When I turned 18, I became a naturalized U.S. citizen. As a result I became what was known as a Latvian-American. My nationality was Latvian, but my citizenship was U.S., and thus I joined the millions of other hyphenated Americans (German-Americans, Polish-Americans, African-Americans). The city of Chicago, where I grew up, was full of ‘hyphenated’ Americans.

In 1985 I moved to Washington D.C. to work for the American Latvian Association, which lifted my ‘Latvian-American’ identity onto a political plane. I wrote, spoke and lobbied the U.S. Government and Congress on behalf of the Latvian-American community.

In 1991 I joined the Latvian Legation in Washington, D.C. as a public affairs liaison. I still had U.S. citizenship but now represented the Republic of Latvia, which was embodied in the Legation. In December of 1991, 3 months after Latvia restored its independence, I gave up my U.S. citizenship and became a fully accredited Latvian diplomat. I was no longer a Latvian-American, and not really an émigré. I was a Latvian citizen working in the U.S. with a diplomatic visa. I served as Latvia’s ambassador to the U.S. from 1993 until 2000.

In December 1999 I moved to Latvia permanently, to begin work as the Director of the Latvian Institute. I was simply a Latvian again. A Latvian who was born in Germany, once lived in the U.S. but was now back in the land my parents were forced to leave. They died in the U.S. and thus never had a chance to come back to an independent Latvia. It means a lot to me that I could do it in their place.

#20   The Next 90

Traditionally when we celebrate a nation’s birthday we look back at all the people who helped create it, protect it and preserve it. For Latvia, that’s a lot of people in the last 90 years.

This anniversary year we will be looking back as we always do, but we’ll be looking ahead as well. We know what the last 90 years were like. What do the next 90 hold in store? Even more important – who will be the people shaping it in the coming years?

One thing I know for sure, they are all younger than I am. The kids who are in high school today could be running companies and managing ministries 10 years from now when Latvia celebrates its 100^th anniversary. Time moves on and the kids of today are tomorrow’s leaders.

That’s why President Zatlers and the State Youth Initiative Centre have joined the Latvian Institute in search of “The Next 90.”  We are asking people around Latvia to nominate the brightest, most outstanding young people they know – kids and young adults from 1^st to 12^th grades, who are already demonstrating leadership qualities in their daily lives. They don’t have to be top students or star athletes, just the kind of kids that naturally give out positive energy. We all know many kids like that.

We expect to get hundreds of nominations and from them will choose a symbolic 90. On November 17^th of this year they will take the stage of the National Theatre in Rīga and re-enact the famous Vilis Ridznieks November 18, 1918 photograph of the founding of our republic. These 90 kids will re-proclaim their commitment to Latvia’s future and the democratic values it holds dear. They will also start looking at the next ten years of their lives in a very different way.

‘The Next 90’ are just the tip of the iceberg. Latvia is full of great young people, and as I celebrate Latvia’s 90^th this year, I’ll be thinking about them.

#21   Mr. Ambassador

In 1937 a 26-year old Latvian diplomat named Anatols Dinbergs went to New York to serve as Vice Consul. When the Soviets occupied Latvia in 1940, Dinbergs, like most Latvian diplomats abroad, refused to return. Since the United States did not recognize the Soviet annexation of Latvia, but did recognize the Republic of Latvia that Anatols Dinbergs represented, he retained his diplomatic status in the U.S.

Dinbergs represented Latvia in the U.S. for the next 51 years. In the 1941 he joined other Latvian diplomats-in-exile at the Latvian Legation in Washington, D.C.  They all enjoyed the same diplomatic privileges and immunity that other Washington diplomats were granted, were invited to White House receptions and met with U.S. presidents. In the next 5 decades Dinbergs would meet with Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

In 1970 Dinbergs became head of the Latvian Legation in Washington. Although he was similar to an ambassador, he was not called ambassador because you needed to have an embassy to have an ambassador. Since Latvia was under Soviet occupation and did not have a legal government, it could not upgrade the Legation to an Embassy. Thus, for 21 years, Dinbergs was called ‘Charges d’affaires of Latvia’ , although in practical terms, he was treated like any other ambassador in Washington.

When Latvia’s new Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis came to Washington D.C. and met with Anatols Dinbergs in July 1990, only Dinbergs represented the legal Republic of Latvia. Godmanis was head of a Soviet Latvian government still under Moscow’s de facto control. They worked together, although diplomatically they had to stand apart. On July 30^th, 1990, I was with Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis and Foreign Minister Janis Jurkans when they met with President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House. Dinbergs could not be present, because he represented one Republic of Latvia, while Godmanis represented another.

Those two republics came together a year later, on August 21, 1991, when the USSR collapsed and Latvia fully restored its independence and sovereignty. On September 2, 1991 I joined Dr. Anatol Dinbergs and crowd of TV and press reporters in his Legation office to watch President George H.W. Bush make an historic announcement from his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush formally recognized Latvia’s independence and restored full diplomatic ties with the new Latvian government in Riga.

Bush’s announcement effectively turned the Latvian Legation into the Latvian Embassy, and made Anatol Dinbergs an Ambassador. After 50 years of dutifully serving his state in exile, Envoy Dinbergs became Ambassador Dinbergs, Latvia’s first Ambassador to the United States.

Although Ambassador Dinbergs died in 1993, he had lived to see Latvia restore its independence, and after a 51 year interruption, was able to serve his government in Riga again. The truth is, regardless of his diplomatic status, Anatol Dinbergs had served Latvia all his life.

#22   The state of being Baltic

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been known as the Baltic States for 90 years. Each of our countries has a language, culture and history of its own, yet in the world at large we are usually grouped together. We have ourselves to blame for that, because we tend to experience major historical events around the same time. We all founded our republics in 1918, we were occupied by the Soviets in 1940, restored our independence in 1991 and joined NATO and the EU in 2004.  In headlines announcing all these events, we were always identified as the Baltic States, and only later as separate countries.

In the United States, where I once lived, many people who knew nothing about Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, knew a little bit about the Baltic States. At least they knew that they existed, somewhere up north by the Baltic Sea. Some knew we were occupied by the USSR, others knew we had singing revolutions to bring about independence.

When I began traveling around Europe after we became independent in 1991, I discovered that most Europeans knew as little about Latvia as Americans did. Europeans, like the Americans, had heard of the Baltic States, but few knew the difference between Latvia and Lithuania.  If they had heard of Riga, the probably thought it was in Estonia.

In the last 17 years since independence, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonian have become better known. We win Eurovision contests and medals in the Olympics, produce internet telephones and high tech microphones, but I suspect that a majority of people in the world still can’t tell us apart. When the Lithuanian football team played in Prague recently, the Latvian national anthem was played to welcome them. Ooops!

Latvians want to be known as Latvians, just as our neighbors want to be known as Lithuanians and Estonians, but like it or not, the world is going to keep on calling us the Baltic States. That’s what you get for making a name for yourself on the Baltic Sea.

#23   Being Latvian

Earlier this summer I was visited by a young Latvian-American man who was about to graduate from West Point. Graduating from West Point is an exclusive and prestigious accomplishment for any American, but it is especially rare for a Latvian.

Technically he’s a Latvian-American because he was born in the US, and his parents are second generation Latvian-Americans whose parents were refugees from the Second World War.  But like many of us who grew up outside of Latvia, his parents taught him the language, traditions and customs, and instilled him with a deep respect for his Latvian identity.

He was visiting me because he was doing a summer research project for the Bank of Latvia about the impact NATO has had on Latvia’s economy and society. Not much has been done on this subject, and the findings of an American-educated, West Point cadet should prove interesting.

When he graduates from West Point he will be a lieutenant in the US Army and during his next 5 years of active duty, will probably spend time in Iraq or Afghanistan. If he goes to Afghanistan he might chance to meet some soldiers in the Latvian army who are also serving in the peacekeeping forces there.  The uniforms may differ and the chain of command may lead to different capitals, but they will all be Latvians and can probably sing the same folk songs.

His interest in and respect for Latvia goes far beyond just politeness to his parents and I got the impression that years from now he would be returning to Latvia in a new role, serving in some new capacity. I hope so, because Latvia needs young men like this.  The place you were born isn’t half as important as the place you hold in your heart. From what I could tell, his heart was in the right place.

#24   Reaching milestones

Although Latvia this year is marking the 90th year of its birth, another anniversary worth noting is 17. This marks the 17^th year since Latvia has restored its independence in 1991. That may not seem like a lot until you realise that Latvia’s first experience with national sovereignty, democracy and self rule lasted for only 22 years, from 1918 until 1940.

To patriotic Latvians, this first brief stab at independence, the ‘Ulmanis era’, takes on almost mythically legendary proportions, and understandably so. Those 22 years have been our only frame of reference for more than half a century. And when you remember that the previous 700 years were always spent under someone else’s rule, then those short 22 begin to loom large in the national consciousness. Latvia’s identity as a nation was shaped during that brief period, and despite the 50 years of destruction, occupation and deportation that followed, another Latvian identity, similar to the first, but different, is emerging.

And we are already 17 years into the job. That’s the part that startles me the most. Those of us who have been alive to witness and participate in Latvia’s second independence have been rebuilding Latvia for 17 years – nearly the same time that our parents and grandparents had to build the first republic back between the World Wars.

They proved you can do a lot in 22 years. How do we compare? Like them, we are rebuilding after a war. Latvia’s first state was built after the devastation of World War I and a war of liberation. Latvia today is rebuilding from an even more devastating World War II, plus 50 years of foreign occupation to boot.

We are doing it in a different world; a globalized, digitalized cyber world where small changes over a short period of time can have a big longterm impact on a vast group of people. As members of NATO and the EU, our place in that world is now known by more people than at any other time in history.

My parents lived through those first 22 years, but sought refuge in the West when Latvia was occupied. They never lived to see Latvia regain its independence. It feels like I’ve returned to Latvia in their place, to pick up where they left off. That’s why I’m looking forward to 2014, when I can say I’ve lived and worked during 23 years of independence. Kids always try to do a little more than their parents did.

#25   When the Prime Minister met the President

Few people realize that the first time a Latvian Prime Minister ever met the President of the United States, Latvia was not yet independent.

Under the Soviets, Moscow called Latvia the ‘Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic’ and our parliamentary body was known as the Supreme Council. In early 1990 the people of Latvia elected a majority of pro-independence deputies to the Supreme Council and on May 4, 1990 the Council voted in favor of restoring the original Republic of Latvia. It was a bold declaration to re-establish full independence. You can imagine how Mikhail Gorbachev felt about that. He didn’t like it and didn’t recognize it. Nevertheless, the Supreme Council chose Ivars Godmanis as Prime Minister and gave him the task of realizing the declaration.

A month later I met with Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis in Riga. I was working for the American Latvian Association in Washington, D.C. and had known Godmanis when he was a leader of the Latvian Popular Front. During that meeting we agreed that the time was ripe to bring Godmanis, and his Foreign Minister Jaņis Jurkans, to Washington. D.C.

Like Moscow, Washington, D.C. in 1990 still did not recognize the restored independence of Latvia.  Unlike Moscow, Washington was very interested in making the Latvian wish come true.

So in July of 1990 Latvia’s Prime Minister Godmanis and Foreign Minister Jurkans arrived in Washington, D.C. Since the U.S. didn’t recognize the legality of Soviet rule in Latvia, Godmanis and Jurkans could not be received as foreign dignitaries. They had no official status in the U.S., no bodyguards, no Secret Service protection. They were just two guys from Soviet-ruled Latvia who wanted to talk to someone about independence.

I greeted them at the airport in a rented car and for a week the three of us went around Washington, D.C., knocking on doors and talking to anyone who would listen. We went to the U.S. Congress, State Department, think tanks and TV stations. The Soviet Embassy in Washington watched all this with understandable annoyance, but took solace in the fact that at least, those upstart Latvians weren’t showing up at the White House.

But Soviet satisfaction didn’t last long. After a week of talking, lobbying and explaining all around town, we met U.S. Senator Robert Byrd. He was convinced that the White House was the exact place Godmanis and Jurkans needed to be. So Byrd called President George H.W. Bush and urged him to meet with the Latvian leaders. Bush agreed. On July 30^th, 1990, Prime Minister Godmanis, Foreign Minister Jurkans and I walked into the Oval Office of the White House to meet with the President of the United States. We were supposed to only meet for 15 minutes – a standard courtesy call – but the discussion went on for 40 minutes.

Thus, the first time a Latvian Prime Minister ever stepped foot in the White House, he still didn’t represent a fully independent country. That happened

14 months later when the world, and the United States (September 2, 1991), formally recognized the restoration of the Republic of Latvia. The next time Prime Minister Godmanis returned to the White House he was escorted by a full complement of Secret Service agents. The Republic of Latvia was back in business.

#26   Rockin’ the Kremlin

Once upon a time electric guitars were illegal in the Soviet Union. That’s because in the late 1950’s rock and roll was illegal in the Soviet Union. Granted, not everyone in the West was crazy about the emergence of rock and roll either. It was energetic, provocative and challenged accepted standards, beliefs and values. It shook people up.

As a college student in the US in 1968 I knew rock was revolutionary because people like Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix were turning the world upside down. My world then was Western, democratic, stable and even a little boring. Many in my generation agreed that society and politics were ripe for change.

It was only recently that I learned that Latvia in the 1960’s was the birthplace of a rock and roll revolution in the Soviet Union. The first ‘illegal’ handmade electric guitar in the USSR was built by Valery Saifudinov (Seisky) in Riga. A sawed-off acoustic guitar was attached to a block of wood, while magnets and wires needed for the pickup were stolen from Riga pay phones. In 1962 Saifudinov created the rock band ‘The Revengers’ which became the USSR’s first rock band.

In 1966 Pete Anderson’s Latvian rock group The Melody Makers organized a rock concert in Riga, the first ever in the USSR. 2,000 tickets were sold out in 10 minutes, but 15 minutes after that the KGB cancelled the concert. Thousands of fans showed up anyway to protest the cancellation. They carried posters that said ‘Free the Guitar!’. It was an unprecedented public protest against Soviet government policy.

Similar rock and roll protests began to emerge throughout the former Soviet bloc – in Prague, Budapest, East Germany and even Moscow.

A documentary film about these and related events, called ‘Rockin’ the Kremlin’ is now being produced by Nick Binkley and Doug Yeager, and will be directed by multi-Emmy award winner Jim Brown. It tells the remarkable story about the global social and political impact of rock and roll. It throws light on a remarkable period in our contemporary history, and helps many begin to understand that rock and roll is not just about sex and drugs, it’s also about the freedom of the human spirit.

In the past we idolized rock and roll heroes because of what they did on the stage. ‘Rockin’ the Kremlin’ tells the story of people who are rock and roll heroes because of what they did in the streets.

#27   From Park Place to Rīga

There was a time when the world’s most popular board game, Monopoly, was banned in Latvia. I don’t know if the Soviets actually had a law that made this classic capitalist game taboo, but you couldn’t buy it in stores. Like rock and roll records, foreign books and TIME magazine, Monopoly was a hot commodity in the black market, and a popular item to be smuggled in by relatives visiting from the decadent West. Really enterprising Latvians made the game themselves out of pieces of cardboard, drew their own board and cards, and gave all the properties Latvian names. On weekends Monopoly ‘dissidents’ would secretly gather in dimly lit apartments and clandestinely engage in the subversive activity of buying and selling American-named properties like New York Ave. and Marvin Gardens..

Now Latvia is free and so is Monopoly. Not only can you buy the classic Monopoly game in any Latvian store, you get it in a slick, colourfully printed Latvian version that’s set in Latvia and even sells Latvian properties.

But this year, Hasbro has a created a World Edition of this classic game, called ‘Monopoly Here and Now’.  To determine which 22 of the world’s top cities would be featured as properties in the new game, Hasbro asked fans around the world to vote on the Internet. After 5 million votes were counted, Montreal took the top position and the honour to be the ‘Boardwalk’ of the new global edition. And who was chosen as Park Place? Riga, Latvia.

Cities like New York, London, Paris, Beijing and Tokyo all made the list, but ranked lower that Riga in voter popularity. How on earth did Riga beat out the world’s most glamorous cities? I think the explanation is obvious. The people who live in those other cities, never had to make their own Monopoly games by hand.

#28   The land that sings about singing

Just as every country has a flag, every country in the world has a national anthem. Citizens usually sing their national anthem on national days, or to begin important events, although many will sing their national songs spontaneously, when seized by a feeling of pride or patriotism. We hear others sing their anthems most often at sporting events.

But what do they sing about?

In Austria they sing about mountains, while in Bangladesh they praise banyan trees and mango groves. Denmark mentions the Vikings in their national anthem, while in the Netherlands they raise their voices for William of Orange. Brazil, Greece and Bolivia express heroic thoughts about freedom, while the United States and Turkey sing about their flags. Many countries stress God’s role in the destiny of their land.

Latvians too ask God to bless their country in Latvia’s national anthem.  The anthem is even called ‘God Bless Latvia’. But in their anthem, Latvians also sing about singing and dancing. One reason for this may be that the song was first performed in Riga in 1873 at the First Latvian Song Celebration. It was written by Karlis Baumanis 45 years before Latvia became independent, in 1918.

Ironically, the first time a Latvian choir sang the song, they had to replace the word ‘Latvia’ in the lyrics with ‘Baltija’. Back in 1873 Latvia was under Czarist Russian rule, and Moscow frowned upon national anthems in their empire. But less then a half century later, the Czarist Empire collapsed, Latvia declared its independence, and on November 18, 1918, the word ‘Latvia’ returned to the lyrics of “God Bless Latvia.” Two years later, in 1920, it became the official national anthem of the Republic of Latvia.

After Latvia was occupied in 1940, the national anthem was totally banned by the Soviets in Latvia. You couldn’t sing the words, you couldn’t even hum it. But hundreds of thousands of Latvian refugees in exile still sang it proudly in other countries around the world. Like the flag, the anthem returned again in 1989, and by 1991, when Latvia restored its independence, the anthem was restored to its place of honor as well.

Although Latvia has changed in 90 years, the words of its anthem have not.  The blessing that Latvians ask God to bestow on their land consists of a simple, and very typically Latvian request – make our daughters bloom and our sons sing, and we know they will dance together in happiness. Not a bad thing to wish for your country.

God, bless Latvia,
Our dearest fatherland,
Do bless Latvia,
Oh, do bless it!

Where Latvian daughters bloom,
Where Latvian sons sing,
Let us dance in happiness there,
In our Latvia!

#29   The returning

Long before there were Latvians, there was a land covered by ice. When the ice melted and the glaciers retreated, life returned to the land. As streams and rivers flowed into the sea, people flowed into the land. Just as the landscape transformed itself through the movement of ice and water, so too the ancient peoples that settled here adapted to these changes. Tribes, languages and cultures evolved, sometimes clashing, but also coalescing.

About a thousand years ago the idea of ‘being Latvian’ started to come together as well, as tribes with similar languages and cultures began to merge into a nation. That nation became a state in 1918, forming the Republic of Latvia. Latvia’s independence was interrupted by invasion and occupation in 1940.

Following a hot war that blazed around the world, a cold war descended upon the land. Hopes, dreams and aspirations were frozen in time by a new glacier that destroyed lives and smothered living cultures. The heavy weight of this crushing totalitarian glacier did not begin retreating until 1991.

For Latvians today, the last 17 years have meant the end of another Ice Age. The ancient symbols of the warming sun and enriching water continue to serve as powerful metaphors for Latvia’s resurgent cultural, economic and political life.

The Baltic Sea too has come alive. Once a forbidding barrier to a free world outside, it is now an inland lake surrounded by the most prosperous countries of the European Union. It is also part of what Latvia seeks to protect by being a member of NATO.

The Latvian poet Rainis has written that ‘He who evolves himself, endures.’ This is something every Latvian understands, for nature teaches that life is constant change, movement, transformation and evolution. Evolution can be a painful process and not all can survive its diverse challenges. Even retreating glaciers continue to claim victims, but they also release the earth to produce new life in their wake.

The State of Latvia has returned and is celebrating its 90^th birthday. The ice has melted. It’s good to be back.

#30   When dreams become reality

I was working at the Latvian Legation in Washington, D.C. when Latvia restored its independence in August 1991. We received a lot of congratulations in the ensuing days, from old and new friends, but there is one I will never forget.

After interviewing me for a radio program, a young American reporter turned off the tape recorder and blurted out a confession. “I really envy you Latvians. You have just won back your independence, thrown off the shackles of an occupation and have been given a chance to rebuild your country! The past is over and everything is ahead of you now. In America we had our revolution and war of independence over 200 years ago. We have nothing to rebuild here, just a lot of things we have to fix. That’s boring. You Latvians have an exciting future ahead of you, and no matter what happens, you now can do something about it.”

I have to admit, I did feel lucky back in 1991. And it was exciting. It seemed almost unbelievable. After 50 years in a Soviet Union everyone thought would last forever, Latvia was independent again. Latvia had changed, the world had changed, and those of us who wanted to live and work in Latvia had our work cut out for us.  But it was work we had always dreamed we could someday do.

In the early 1990’s we reshaped the government, the laws and the way we interacted with the world.  We privatized and made unheard of profits. We established embassies, joined international organizations, rebuilt cities and sent our presidents around the world. Our economy grew, new opportunities opened up and yes, new problems replaced the old ones. Today our economy is struggling, our political parties are bickering, and the euphoria of those early days is a faded memory.

But I think that the American reporter had it right. Life in Latvia has not been boring. For me, it has been a rare stroke of luck to be a Latvian these last 20 years. It’s also been a privilege to participate in so many aspects of Latvia’s rebirth, development and growing pains. I have not only seen a dream come true, but have also had a chance to contribute something to it.

Of course, that dream is not yet fully realized. We are still rebuilding and in some cases, already fixing things we built not that long ago. The restoration of a country and the healthy regeneration of a nation takes time, hard work and toughness. There are always many disappointments along the way.

But when a dream comes true once in your life, you start to believe it can happen again.  When I think about where Latvia has been, where it is now, and where it could be in the future, I still let the dreams fly.