three (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
threeplusfire) wrote2001-03-11 10:14 am
threeplusfire) wrote2001-03-11 10:14 am
the language
An interesting article about the language and cultural conflict ongoing in Latvia, between Russian and Latvian.
"Latvia's leaders are caught between conflicting impulses: They desperately want to be part of the West, with the security of the NATO alliance and the economic benefits of European Union membership. But they can't quite bring themselves to grant all the freedoms to Russians that international conventions on minority rights and Western traditions of free speech demand. They are fearful that unless the Russians are kept in check, Latvia's language and culture will not recover from Soviet efforts to wipe them out." --Washington Post article, March 10, 2001
"Latvia's leaders are caught between conflicting impulses: They desperately want to be part of the West, with the security of the NATO alliance and the economic benefits of European Union membership. But they can't quite bring themselves to grant all the freedoms to Russians that international conventions on minority rights and Western traditions of free speech demand. They are fearful that unless the Russians are kept in check, Latvia's language and culture will not recover from Soviet efforts to wipe them out." --Washington Post article, March 10, 2001