three. three. three volunteers to mediocre four year media projects free media john darche dot com. so you're watching r t the headlines for you. hundreds of protesters are arrested in america as authorities suppress fresh occupy wall street demonstrations on the two month anniversary of the movement's founding. singing from the same song sheet the leaders of russia start meeting in moscow to discuss the creation of a new eurasian body modeled on the european union. britain has reportedly been endorsed to lead a campaign against syria's president. though in a diplomatic at this stage russia has sounded the alarm fearing it will anything to

repeat violence in libya. next in r.t. twenty years after the collapse of the soviet union we continue our look at the paths its former states have taken this time we see how life has changed in that sphere much these days as a member of the e.u. . it seems blanched used independence day it's pomp and fanfare druid's much of any other public holiday in the country on this day there are public's top leaders counted salafia hours and the freedom monument in latvia scarcer riga. informal events like the torch for sessions are held in the evening of the same day people who see themselves as the country's true patriots marched through streets

closed to traffic for the occasion the perceptions old onas by the radical nationalist party known as me or from latvia. however many people don't identify themselves with the festivities they are russian speaking residents who make up nearly forty percent of the country's population half of them who know what should receive citizenship rights. let me lindemann is a columnist for several months in newspapers he also investigates cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a laffin passport he is technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. with the passport cover bears

a unique inscription with the little word written in latvian it says your passport of a non-citizen was a reserve was more on the main pier in the english translation it reads aliens pass our problem times we are called just that aliens like we are from another planet or even full of you point of international law we are treated as such just the present there are something like four hundred thousand such people in latvia this. man feel became an independent state in one thousand ninety one after seceding from the soviet union. barely one month later the country's parliament passed a resolution officially dividing the republic's population into citizens and so-called non-citizens. the latter were denied voting rights they could not be elected to bodies of state authority or work in government departments. this applied to not only those who settled down in the country after nine hundred forty

but their descendants to. the truth since i don't want to be a second class person to be a citizen of the country where a live leave. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize that they need to pass exams on the country's history and show their command of the state language and the national anthem. after submitting all the necessary papers applicants then need to wait for about a year before they get a cherished citizens passport. do many people fail to go through that procedure. milliman for one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past five years and i spent three of them outside lot of fear why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights never. even stage a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave it after office

hours when the police force me out. there was a time when victims of a nice to taste and valdis sutcliffe's a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now south loses land he's president of the north is a member of lackeys anti fascist committee. rules who are opposed to religion they can't bear to see the revival naziism unluckier says i can see it with the naked eye. of search me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival not as a group of the crew it was. on march sixteenth nineteen forty three during the second world war the latvian legion was formed. thousands of volunteers in the country signed up to fight for the nazis. off independence every

year on this date legion veterans have been officially committed to hold a parade in central riga. in two thousand and five victims are going off and several other anti fascist clans and prison rape stood in the way of marching legionnaires. the police dispersed all the anti fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom mourning. process the. we believe in a free country fascists and their followers have no right to bring flowers to a symbol of the state if the state doesn't see itself as a nationalist one. whole floor actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s. accorded to prevent your awful service. some fourteen thousand veterans

living in latvia today fort in the soviet army during world war two. if kenichi convinced there was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure that nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one thousand. anti one bans the public display of soviet symbols. but. the attitude to us is just a bowman about. there was even a case where a uniformed veteran riding on a bus on victory day had to leave because the driver stopped the bus and said he wouldn't budge unless the mans that i did. it with. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eighty it was later restored the act had been masterminded by eager siskind he was

sentenced to a brief time in prison. now he's again free to walk about central riga together with his son and opening discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. the following is nothing that should be simply pulled down symbolized we are no longer occupied. in the year wouldn't be good shishkin blew up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet past has done vassili kononov had been brought before a latvian court to face criminal charges face actions and world war two if it it were late this is the order of lenin or they gave it to me for blowing up sixteen german trains when i was a partisan issue krishnaji. in more than latvia he acts parties and was declared an

enemy and spent almost two years behind bars for taking part in the killing of local volunteers they were helping the germans. kononov was acting on a decision taken by a party down tribunals in one nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change their lackeys started a massive campaign against anti-fascists people who had fought in the entire hitler coalition they were all to review the old can of the edition in order to whitewash naziism and fascism really synesthesia. ivers garder is leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. as weekends and during public holidays volunteers hand

out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three deeds they stand for do your cue patient the call in isolation and d. russification. for a long time talk to god or towards the ethics of the academy of culture some of his former students a regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editors guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia. ethnic lot in this make up fifty percent of the population of their own country and the other fifty percent are occupies backs my russian. put you with work it's necessary to create uncomfortable conditions for them but we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the call is asian must say to each of the schools that we give you a deadline to get out of here so it's. cameron north

a british filmmaker decided to make a personal investigation into the into ethnic relations between russians and land fiends. he shows a documentary called latvia in hitler's footsteps way draws uncomfortable parallels between present day latvia and nazi germany. during the second world war and of that. they must go. visit him of me rather than one bought three board and. some things i would like to say is national. the languages of the things they had. the things about and some rights and that if you're not a citizen you can get some of the six of the jobs and the coordination of things

where you are discriminated against because you're in pure. beauty alex sanz mother is latvian but his father is russian he has a perfect command of both languages he received an excellent education both as an engineer and as a journalist his son misha eli is a school people. purpose to tell me what the sentence means. is often at the last when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in that field. the internet translator says it means headline well yes that's a possibility. the country schools were formed in the middle of the past decade. russian textbooks were hastily replaced with latvian ones now more than half of the subjects in russian language schools are supposed to be taught in latvian. for

those who flew whenever the russians aitches with a poor command of the levy languish toward the cage such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry were to russian schoolchildren it brings misery which are both teachers and students with you to meet them within you to new people . in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protest acts had no affect the decisions of life is education ministry will find. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are still taught in russian. math field language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. miller shook off is the first russian mayor of riga since independence twenty years ago he too had to close

schools down including schools for russian speaking students but it didn't lead to any actions of protest in that instance schools were shot solely for economic all rather demographic reasons half of the classrooms in one third of all schools had no people's. morgan freeman. many of the decisions taken by the previous mayor were largely politically motivated that was the basis for decisions about whether schools should be closed down rules and when we merge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building since we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers it was most but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was that divorced for purely from. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprise to many politicians analysts put it down to the economic crisis. those who had felt it. severe impact we're not taking as much notes of the

nationality of a politician as they used to. mr wu if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they had not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of a non-citizen with it was a politicians would have been compelled to talk about the economy social issues and structural reforms instead of harping on the theme of latvians and russians every two or four years we were much and we would have been able to deal with pressing issues much earlier and much more efficiently or to still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things. despite its small size there was schools and major industrial plants in soviet latvia. three of them which employ between ten and fifteen thousand workers each specialized in electronics. another one made minivans which were used as ambulances

throughout the soviet union. today their production line stand idle. factory workers an engine is going to small business. plants vs highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. in . wealthy british style.

markets financed scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines going in to cause a report on r g. under the soviets this factory provided jobs for twelve thousand workers it made radio sets radio cassette players and tape recorders to cater to the needs of people across the soviet union. by the late one nine hundred eighty s. several plans making radio an elec tronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises one of the go in syria times i worked in a similar ordering for about fifteen years before the break up of the soviet union there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was

employed to be of no you can see what's left of its former splendor only one designer working here. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants the new regime expected more than compact and mobile enterprises to replace the old sluggish and largely outdated soviet factories but they were never built in adequate numbers you know with during the first five years of independence many enterprises were turned into scrap metal levy has sold off cheap in lived off the money real estate and land are also soldiering this time which was a somewhat bigger source of funds either with during another five year period he recalled levy relied on lines just before the country joined the european union an avalanche of capital and low interest credit came here when they were not meant to develop production thought instead they were channelled into land in real estate as

a result will wind up in this situation able to predict. similar process is were going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic food stuffs today half are imported. into this below the jeans of from spain and there's a mothers of from the middle and again these are from spain with food the cucumbers from the netherlands to what is good a lot of is that the good be hard to find a mystically produced vegetables here true the danger is in pineapples don't grow here is the list onions were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not exist. after the declaration of independence the latvian government downsized agriculture and betting on individual farms land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their descendants

under restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to get into the difficult business of farming and instead prefer to sell off the new wild land mortgage it. just posting your evil have been abandoned in the farm stands that have already abandoned about sixty percent of them was a young people and it came to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find it shot and killed brought to make them into things that. the village of congolese isn't let's ghalia one of the country's poorest regions and local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with all modern amenities now one in every two flats is vacant. the local boy louse plants doesn't work the few people who still live here have to

heat their homes we thought i would. sometimes i catch firewood once a day sometimes i do it twice a day and then i don't do it for three or four days my grandchildren give me a helping hand when they were little i would bring firewood by cart. and lisa has five children and none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in the west and europe. and faeces spencer pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world that the world we catch this is my daughter to give me a that's. in the field. and here is a good lama and you can't be in nigeria is my granddaughter. and i went to london to work there she left these little things in my care this boy was one year old and that one was in the third grade. their dad's god knows where so i raised them on my

own. people have no jobs in towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties encounter sheds collapsing on the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how each morning began victoria more in a month until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious but where young people are spent on the move they paid back of course. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former owners and their restitution plan. they were quick to realize that managing an apartment house was difficult selling a building itself was easy but dealing with tenants was the main hurdle. as

standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building forced into a state of total disrepair and then its tenants were evicted under a court ruling. today three years later there isn't any electricity in the house where victoria used to live she gave up and rented a small flat in a new building a school and i have to visit my old apartment regularly to see if everything isn't because the landlord has a habit of brittany in and replacing the locks on the door. i also take some of my belongings with me. the tenants of the house have seen the landlord only once since they filed a lawsuit against him in two thousand and six so far their attempts to win the case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a property's

a difficult. the land in central riga is the most expensive in the country. this huge trading center is the private property of a norwegian building company. it buys the most profitable pieces of land in lanphier and builds hotels and supermarkets there. for us now is the best time to invest has been very profitable. for but they also have what they call the grey economy so that's not really showing up on this that this that. often lengthy and join the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintain that there are public nights lose its economic sovereignty. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors the country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. it would look like beach here

today scandinavian capital controls some seventy or eighty percent of the country's banking capital is going to not this means it controls just as much of its financial system with the regrettably the nation has lost its ability to work in manufacture things when that field was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debts the moon gold today the picture is the oldest son about the got a king. in january two thousand and nine mass protests sway the latvian capital. the world economic crises had a huge impact on the country's economy people demanded the resignation of the government when it couldn't stabilize the situation. rosa pensions lookouts as well as salaries and social donations.

he says would you do the crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago people you must believe that's why half of the nation plays no part in the country's life and you will lose it all or otherwise this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through with the working. according to europeans that estates lanphier is the poorest country in the european union today. as local nationalists look to blame russian speaking nonresidents people are leaving the country in large numbers in search of a better life. clashes population has shrunk down more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia's foreign policy institute each year some twelve thousand people leave the country for goods. the u.k. is their most popular destination. the british

filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. i think a lot of things come to the u.k. . firstly one of the things is the economy left. in life and that is much harder plec good living partly because of nationalism in mad about nash is a more than putting economy now the reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia jeeves sovereignty. but still independence day it's most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon alienates the heart of the country's population.