Teens Stage Language Protest in Latvia [Public Schools Must Use Latvian, No Bilingual Education]

OSAC ^ | February 6, 2004 | The Moscow Times

[LurkedLongEnough]

RIGA, Latvia -- About 6,000 Russian teenagers and schoolchildren staged a noisy protest outside Latvia's parliament just before lawmakers passed a law Thursday requiring that all public schools -- including those with all-Russian student bodies -- teach mainly in Latvian.

In what was one of the largest demonstrations in recent Latvian history, hundreds of children waved mostly Russian-language placards, one reading, "Don't twist our arms. Let us speak Latvian voluntarily!"

The crowd also chanted "hands off our school" and "no to the reforms" in Russian.

The new law mandates that at least 60 percent of classes in public schools, even those catering to the large Russian-speaking minority, must be taught in Latvian starting in September.

After several hours of heated debate, with many ethnic-Russian deputies speaking in opposition, the 100-seat Saeima overwhelmingly approved the legislation by a 71-25 vote. Other deputies either weren't present or didn't vote.

Russians call the requirements discriminatory and say they are an attack on their way of life, charges echoed by Moscow.

Latvians counter that they are meant to help integrate minorities, adding that those who don't learn Latvian will find it hard to secure good jobs.

"The reforms will enable more of these students to get more involved in all the affairs of the Latvian state -- to become civil servants, get elected to the parliament, and to participate in all aspects of Latvian political life," argued lawmaker Guntars Krasts.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Say no to binlingual education.

[Loyalist]

I don't blame the Latvians for this one bit.

The Russians deported hundreds of thousands of ethnic Latvians to Siberia after the occupation in 1940 and replaced them with Russians, to the point that ethnic Latvians once barely constituted half the population of Latvia.

[JohnnyZ]

In what was one of the largest demonstrations in recent Latvian history, hundreds of children waved mostly Russian-language placards, one reading, "Don't twist our arms. Let us speak Latvian voluntarily!"

I'm sure that's catchier in Russian.

[Katya]

In the same vein, russians and russian speaking Ukrainians were forcibly moved to Riga by the Soviets. It was an ugly period in history...few had any control over their own destiny.

[Seselj]

Whether or not there is bad blood between Russians and Latvians is irrelevent and should not tbe the determining factor in whether or not Russians can be educated in their language in Latvia.

If the Russians have a problem with learning Latvian, then they should open up a private school where they can teach all the Russian they want. A country does not have any responsibility to offer public schooling in any language other than the official language of that country.