Ethnocentrism in Latvia: Persistence Problem of Discrimination towards Russian Minority| A Seminar Paper

This is my Seminar Paper to be presented in our class, talking about the persisting problem of discrimination towards the Russian Minorities in Latvia. This topic is in line with my major subject THE CONTEMPORARY EUROPE since I am a History major student, we are tasked to make our own seminar paper in our selected country in Europe, regarding their ongoing or after World War II contemporary issues since our Subject is about Contemporary Europe.

Situated in the North Eastern Europe with a coastline along the Baltic Sea and boarders of Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia at present is facing with a lot of dilemma and adversity towards discrimination especially on the Russian minority living in Latvia. Racial discrimination is on top of the list as the main problem that challenged the government of contemporary Latvia.
Racial discrimination has been practiced for centuries and had profoundly negative impact on society. The researcher delves on understanding racial discrimination, the identities between Russians and Latvians, its history, its relationship and impact towards the Latvian and Russian citizens.

  Definition

Racial discrimination is the practice or treatment to someone differently or poorly because of its color or race even emphasizing race as social constructs. The general cause of this connects with the terms: Prejudice and Discrimination. Prejudice is an attitude, a symbolic response. It refers to the rigid mindset of a particular group which categorizes them together, Prejudice leads "one to select facts for emphasis, blinding one to other facts. It causes one to look upon all members of a "group" as if they were alike", or making prejudgments, while Discrimination simply means to draw a distinction between two different races. In relation of both terms, if a particular group discriminates against the minorities such as Latvians toward Russian minorities is because of the Prejudice within the Latvians, thinking that their presence would injure their business, and this was resulted to various conflicts and tensions between them. Thus, prejudice and discrimination extracts the affiliation by descend, endogamy, acceptance of status and fixed status hierarchy validated by institutional structure.

Identities

Latvian's identity, referred as homo Latviensis, are those who speak Latvian, possesses 'Latvian'__ cultural values and traits, and being loyal to the Latvian government.__ It was after The Second World War and USSR occupation in Latvia that have made their culture distinct to Russians. Russian minorities in Latvia on the other hand, have assimilated Latvian and Estonian culture but would still prefer to preserve their Russian speaking identity, because for them, it would seem that they are unable to integrate fully into Latvian discourses, feeling that Latvian culture is not their culture. However, Russian speakers would often say that they are different from Russians in Russian Federation in terms of political, historical, cultural, and symbolic entity. Russians have been the largest ethnic minority in Latvia for the last two centuries, about 700,000 of them. It is important to note that the number of Russians in Latvia increased during the Soviet Occupation of Latvia but started to decrease in size after Latvia regained their independence in 1991 falling to 26% in 2014. Most of these Russian minorities and other Eastern Slavs did not have citizenship and were deprived of the possibility to enjoy some basic, social, economic, political and cultural rights.

History

The Eastern front of 1944-1945 thus further affecting the flow of its history. During the Whole Soviet Union, the mass media of Latvia played part of active bearers of the communist ideology, influencing the consciousness between Russians and Latvians. The ideology of Communist Party rejected the tradition of Latvian Republic in which identified the Russian of Latvia as one of its national minorities. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Commission in Central and Eastern Europe on the time frame of 1988-1992 has led to the revival of deep-rooted national antagonism and jeopardize the entire post-communist reconstruction threaten the integrity of states, thus Ethnic tension tragically affected the economy of the nation and the attempt of government on change of language and culture since independence made an impact on entire minorities. The history of growing discrimination showcases many attempts of government in Latvia which changed the language and culture of Latvia since independence and created its impact on ethnic minorities such as Russians, that it may be viewed as an ethnic discrimination. In Russian Context according to the Kremlin, his major concern is the outcome of the Second World War in which it gave a significant political and social psychological issue, influences relations between Latvia and Russia. Russian History, has different historiography in events of World War II and the tragic consequences for Latvia, which has served to be as a constraint to building a constructive relationship between neighbours. Until recently it was clear that "historical"disagreements made it extremely hard to reach accord with Russia because of linkages to highly politicized interpretations of the past. Denial of the very fact of annexation of the Baltic States was clearly the predominant official stance until recently. The Second World War as a holy subject to Russia in which they were an aggressor and thus at fault, will perhaps be rejected permanently. Although some Russian scholars wrote the history of USSR, its content were dominantly composed of Soviet's achievements, covered with bald lies, in the case of Latvian History. Because of this, Russian speakers and the Russian language became a threat to Latvia's core values, language, and integrity; perceived as "remnants of occupation and as disloyal to the Latvian state.

Relationship and Impact

In the Latvian context, they have an unpleasant relationship with Russians due to their experience or sufferings since the time they are under the Soviet Union, following the Nazis, and during the Second World War. According to its statistics, 32% of them claimed to have suffered at the hands of the Soviets, 6% at the hands of the Nazis, 5% from both and 56% from neither. For most Latvians, the Soviet rule was far worse than Nazi rule, an attitude which runs counter to that predominating in contemporary Russia and Western Europe.
Another important thing asked to Latvian and Russian: "Which 20th century events in Latvian history are you most ashamed of?" For the Latvian, the top 3 answers are as follows: the period of awakening (The Baltic Way), the renewal of Latvian state independence and was creation of democratic Latvia in 1918. While most of the Russian struggles to ensure and state that "they are not proud of anything".
In addition to the Russian side they state the struggles of Latvian soldiers in the red Army against Nazi Germany Army.

__"The relations between Latvia and Russia in period 1991-2004 were influenced by the status of Russian minority living on the territory of Latvia. One of the factors, which negatively influenced Latvia-Russia relations, was status of non-citizens where the bulk is made up of Russians. This status has limited certain political and civil rights of some representatives of this minority/of non-citizens. It has been proved by following events: the Withdrawal of Russian forces, Crisis 1998, The Border issue and Educational, Language and Citizenship Legislation. The non-citizens were reason to stop the withdrawal of Russian forces due to different conditions to acquire citizenship compared to the Latvians. Also their disadvantaged position in election or a limited access to certain work positions all that negatively influenced Latvia-Russia relations in monitored time 1991-2004." __

In Aljazeera America 2015 stated that "sentiments are reminders of a legacy that continues to trouble Latvia"that controversial policies introduced in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse and country's re-emergence as independent-coupted with official ambivalence that left many Russian inhabitants living in different cultural and information spaces left in minorities. The report reorients how Latvia did not automatically grant citizenship to anyone who arrived after June 1940, mainly affected ethnic Russian minorities were left as Alien status. With Latvia as a multicultural society, ethnicity and language became one of the grounds of discrimination, or, the cause of the violation of Human Rights. Russophobia, anti-Roma sentiment, Great Russian chauvinism, prejudice against Latvian, anti-Semitism- all those are form of racism that can be covered in Latvia. However, this issue raised some of resolutions such as agreements in conventions, and implemented some of the human rights. However, some of them failed to ratify by Latvia's Legislative body, creating gaps and weaknesses towards eliminating discrimination.

With Racial Discrimination between Latvians and Russian Minorities as one of the issues facing Latvia today, its history justifies the relationship of both, to the side of Latvians, generalized Russian Minorities as aggressive due to the experiences in the Second World War, termed as Russophobia, anti-Roma sentiment, Great Russian chauvinism, prejudice against Latvian, and anti-Semitism. These are one of the psychological outcomes leading to Racial Discrimination. For them, discrimination is not about the skin types, but the drawing of distinctions in ethnicity and languages. This issue is almost impossible to eradicate, especially when the human rights violations did not implement properly by the government. To properly address the situation within Latvia today is a big challenge.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/ SOURCES

BOOKS
Baxter, Ian. Battle in the Baltics 1944-1945: The Fighting for Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, a Photographic History. London: Helion and Company, 2009.
Simpson, G.E. and Yinger, J.M. Racial and cultural minorities: An Analysis of Prejudice and Discrimination. Michigan: Harper and Row, 1985.
Muiznieks, Nils. The Geopolitics of History in Latvian-Russian Relations. Latvia: Academic Press of the University of Latvia, 2011.
Day, R, Mascuilli, J. Globalization and Political Ethics. Boston: Brill Academic Publishing, 2006.

ARTICLES
Cheskin, Ammon. "Exploring Russian-Speaking Identity from Below: The Case of Latvia," Journal of Baltic Studies 44, no.3, (2013): 289-295, doi: 10.1080/01629778.2012.712335.
Handel, Nathalie. "Racism in France: It's Not About Skin Color." Accessed February 21,2018.htt ps://frenchly.us/racism-france-not-skin-color/.
Dabson, John. "Ethnic Discrimination in Latvia", Accessed February 21, 2018. https:/link.spring er.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781403914187_7.
Aljazeera America, "Latvia struggles with restive Russian minority amid regional tensions" Accessed February 21, 2018. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/13/latvia-resists-russian-soft-power.html .
Secretariat of the Special Task Minister for Social Integration, "Cultural Diversity and Tolerance in Latvia", Accessed February 21, 2018. http://www.mfa.gov.lv/data/file/e/Cultur al_Diversity_an d_Tolerance_in_Latvia.pdf.
Vetrák, Lukáš. "Russian minority in Latvia and its influence on Latvia-Russia relations," Katedra mezinárodních vztahů a evropských studií, (Russia: 2014).

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