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THE-NOT-VOTER
29 Latvia Left For Dead

Last Friday evening I took yet another excursion into the Latvian Kingdom of Boredom on the Air Waves.

Not that reaching Boredom was my intent. “100. pants preses klubs” (The Press Club of the 100th Commandment), led by Mareks Gailitis, the news director of LTV1, announced in a pre-show on-air blurb that his guest will be Ainārs Šlesers, the vice-major of Riga, the same who has often been portrayed as the “bulldozer” of Latvian politics.

Granted, the only “bulldozing” Mr. Shlesers ever does is drive his tractor back and forth over a pile of rubbish of nothin’ special, then jump out of the caboose, and goes home reciting rubishy poetry for the ears of the Latvian electorate. Such a precedent does not encourage one to listen to “the buldozer” again.

Even so, this listener and viewer, though not a die-hard optimist, always hopes that there will appear a journalist, an interviewer worth his-her salt, who will sit up from his-her chair (usually of red cloth or plastic in Latvia) and ask a question with a bite. If the bite is deflected by a question arriving from God on an unrelated matter, but inspires the politician interviewed to speak in a babble of tongues immediately, the reporter will be hellish enough to ask the same question again.

The layout of the stage for the “100. pants” interviews is an inverted V, with the host sitting at the point of the V, while on his right hand sit three reporters, but on his left three interviewees. Of the latter, Ainars Shlesers (Šlesers) was the center of attention on Friday night. He was flanked by two partners from the political coalition known as “Par Labu Latviju” (Favoring A Good Latvia). These were Andris Shkhehle (Šķēle), three times former PM, and Maris Riekstinsh, former foreign minister.

The interview began with a hem and a ke-ke-rex from the host Gailitis. It signaled that the nothin’ special drive over the compost pile may commence. It took off immediately. First went Mr. Shlesers. The tractor, located at the bottom of the heap, went straight to the top, executed a dazzling turn toward nowhere, then passed the sticks and levers to Mr. Shkhehle, who did a somersault without the tractor losing its chains. The came Mr. Riekstins turn. The question from the reporters was on a foreign relations matter. As Riekstins made the answer (he fumbled at the levers a bit), it did not sound quite right to Mr. Shlesers, who interrupted him and quite extemporaneously commenced to expound on Latvia’s foreign policy. No reporter pointed out that then and there Shlesers had taken over the role of the Latvian Foreign Minister (now one Mr. Ronis). This vapid nothin’ special conversation went on ad nauseaum. While the news director (Mareks Gailitis) appeared to be in his element, the other three reporters were, for the most part, quiet as mice.

Yes, it occurred to me to wonder just why the viewing public was having all this cotton candy blown its way through their screens.

Here is the answer.

LTV Ziņu dienesta vadītājs ietekmē raidījumu saturu par labu Šleseram un Šķēlem
5.augusts 2010
Latvijā vairs nav brīvu mediju. Iespējams, šāds apgalvojums ir pārspīlējums, bet šajā rakstā mēs piedāvājam pierādījumus, ka pirmsvēlēšanu laikā politiski angažēts ir ne vien privāto mediju saturs, bet arī sabiedrisko mediju, šajā gadījumā – LTV Ziņu dienesta (ZD) raidījumu saturs.

Mūsu rīcībā ir nonākusi kādas vakar no darba atlaistas LTV ZD žurnālistes vēstule, kurā viņa norāda uz ZD vadītāja Mareka Gailīša politisko angažētību. Iespējams, šī vēstule ir tapusi aizvainojumā par atlaišanu, bet ir vērts ņemt vērā vēstulē izklāstītos faktus. Tie, savukārt, liecina, ka Mareks Gailītis jau ilgākā periodā tīši ietekmē LTV ZD žurnālistu darbu, lai pēc iespējas labākā gaismā parādītu politisko apvienību Par labu Latviju. Mūsuprāt, minētie ietekmēšanas gadījumi klaji pārkāpj sabiedrības tiesības uz vārda brīvību un degradē sabiedriskā medija jēgu, padarot to par viegli manipulējamu ieroci oportūnistisku politiķu un viņu līdzskrējēju rokās.

Izvilkums no vēstules:

“izrādās, ka (Mareks) Gailītis ir dedzīgs Par labu Latviju (PLL) atbalstītājs un ietekmē žurnālistus. Lūk, daži gadījumi:

1. kad tika dibināta šī organizācija, tad sestdienas rītā mans kolēģis, kuram bija jāveido par to sižets, saņēma vairākus telefona zvanus no Gailīša, kuru nolūks bija izkontrolēt, vai sižets tiešām tiks taisīts un īpaši piekodināts, ka mēs (LTV ZD) neesam ne par, ne arī pret šo organizāciju. Tas ir īpatnēji, jo, pirmkārt, citu organizāciju dibināšanu viņš nemaz nepiemin, otrkārt, tas bija sestdienā, kad Gailītis vispār neatceras, ka vada Ziņu dienestu, un, treškārt, tik aktīva interese par to, kas bus sižetā, ir neredzēta.

2. Pagājušajā svētdienā vispār bija nedzirdēta nekaunība – viņš lika žurnālistam veidot garu interviju ar (Juri) Savicki, kurš ir (gāzes kompānijas) Itera pārstāvis Latvijā un viens no lielākajiem Par labu Latviju ziedotājiem. Un burtiski – lika, lai gan žurnālists norādīja, ka, pirmkārt, šis bus reklāmsižets par Iteru un, otrkārt, arī par intervējamā politisko piederību. Tomēr Gailītis nelikās to dzirdam un uzdeva izveidot materiālu. Lai gan tikpat labi tagad citas partijas arī var pieprasīt raidlaiku un šādu interviju. Kāpēc gan ne”?

The above a quote from http://revolucija.eu/. Scroll down to the 5th of August entry to read the full text.

Oh, yes. DO NOT FORGET TO GO AND NOT-VOTE! A not vote means a vote for a change of the system; for provoking a crisis that will call forth a Constitutional Assembly to rewrite the Constitution (Satversme); that will most likely institute a four-year long authoritarian government (under the supervision of the EU); etc.

Asterisks & Links of Interest
Compulsory voting in the EU Parliamentary elections
http://www.ceps.eu/files/book/1886.pdf
The abstentionist elephant
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/8783/
Electronic polls
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10102126.stm
On the Meaning of Voting
http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/bylund/bylund1.html
British Government Attempts to Bracket the Constitution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8681624.stml
Ground Zero for Thought
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/146989
Why Forced Positive Thinking Is A Lot Of Crock?
http://www.alternet.org/story/146940/barbara_ehrenreich%3A_why_forced_positive_thinking_is_a_total_crock?page=2
The Trap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAluyt5_kic