A number of friends and family have asked what the mood is like here regarding the recent annexation of Crimea by Russia. My best answer is, we don't know. Most of our time and effort here is devoted to teaching and choreographing. We are consciously tamping down our tendencies to be political in our classes as we know we are guests here and don't really know the background. None of our Latvian friends have said anything about it. Clearly there are some tensions between the Latvians and Russians (and Gypsies) but our general feeling is that there is a genuine patriotic good feeling about this young state and no evidence to support an overwhelming desire to join with Russia. But, we don't speak or read Latvian or Russian and we are in Riga rather than Daugavpils. The only evidence we have seen of any response is the small "Adolph Putin" sticker we saw near the ATM at the Swedbank near the Freedom Monument. |
Most of what I know is from reading UK's Guardian. The "debate" on the threads are filled with dysphemisms put forward in place of rhetoric. It seems everyone who disagrees with you is a fascist, no matter which side of the situation you tend to support and both Obama and Putin have changed their first names to Adolph. There are few there that agree with me that it is entirely possible, and indeed consistent, to point to both the meddling by US/EU and the actions of Russia as imperialistic adventurism. But no, it is just politics as a football match, rooting for your favorite team with a plastic cup of beer, a banner on a stick and a giant styrofoam finger claiming "We're Number 1!" It appears that nationalistic fervor and historic grudges are just another tool for the kleptocratic elite to use to keep us distracted from who really is number 1(%) and how they are all the same, no matter which country they rule.
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves.
- F.Scott Fitzgerald
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves.
- F.Scott Fitzgerald