we're just. getting bad out here but not seeing hardly any birds squirrels you know. you know i don't know what's going on here. or keep. six thirty pm in moscow these iraqi headlines a fresh outburst of heavy handed u.s. policing against demonstrators as officers pepper spray students at a california university young people peacefully protesting against social inequality intuition hikes were attacked by riot police after refusing to remove their tents. in syria the deadline set by the arab league for the country's authorities to end the violence expires later today but fresh clashes claimed more than a dozen lives as russia says the bloodshed will only end if both sides lay down their

arms spain in the spotlight as the next possible victim of the spiraling e.u. crisis is its borrowing costs and unemployment rates soar people are skeptical whether the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary election will help bring salvation. next to our latest in our special reports of the fate of former soviet states twenty years on after the union's collapse today latvia. it seems blanched used independence day is pomp and fanfare druids much of any other public holiday in the country on this day the republic's top leaders gathered to lay flowers and the freedom monument in latvia scarcer riga. informal events like the torch for sessions 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 of the first sessions old denies 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 have not yet received citizenship rights. let me lindemann is a columnist for several months in newspapers you also investigate cases of public interest and publishes reports on them but even though vladimir holds a lapse in passports he's technically not a fully fledged citizen of his own country. not because the passport cover bears

a unique inscription of that order written in latvian it says your passport of a non-citizen was a reserve was more on the main page in the english translation it reads daily else business hours are sometimes 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 is. mansfield became an independent state in one nine hundred 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. gain the truth since i don't want to be a second class person i want to be a citizen of the country where i live in this. any known citizen is free to try to naturalize the event 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 the procedure. that the me lindemann for one was not even allowed to see those exams. for the past five years and i spent three of them outside lot of the us why they didn't accept my papers but that excuse was absolutely unlawful. my fight for citizenship rights never is even stage

a sit in in this building i spent the day here and refused to leave it after office hours then the police force me out of. there was a time when victim of an ether taste and valdis samplers a trauma surgeon who worked in the same hospital. now zuck loses latvia's president though to the north is a member of latvia's anti fascist committee. rules were for those of religion they can't bear to see the revival naziism in libya i can see it with the naked eye would upsets me most of all is that so-called democratic europe closes its eyes to the revival naziism group of the word was. on march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred 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 committees to hold a parade in central region. in two thousand and five big to golf and several other handy fascist plants and prison rape stood in the way of marching legion managed. the police dispersed all the anti fascists and let the s.s. veterans put the flowers at the freedom monument. precious to you 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 we. all still our actions were in line with the united nations resolution calling for resistance to all forces that promote the waffen s.s.

prevent your offer with. some fourteen thousand veterans living in latvia today forts in the soviet army during world war two. give kenichi convincing was a paratrooper event. as he moves to the monument commemorating the soviet soldiers who lost their lives in the war to make sure the nobody sees his medals. a law passed back in one nine hundred. anti one bans the public display of soviet symbols . but. the attitude to us is just a bone 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 man's. the monument to soviet soldiers in riga was blown up in one thousand nine hundred eight it was later restored the accident in masterminded by egos. he was

sentenced to a brief term in prison. now he's again free to walk about central riga together with his son and openly discuss the fate of the monument. it's a myth to some people this is a monument to me it's a disgrace to the latvian nation. apologise nothing of it should be simply pulled down to symbolize that we are no longer occupied. in the year when the good fish can blow up the monument another event occurred that course the world's attention. former soviet parses and a silly cordon off had been brought before a laugh in court to face criminal charges face actions and world war two it did it over the years this is the order of lenin only gave it to me for blowing up sixteen

german trains when i was a partisan issue krishna traditional. in more than latvia the x. 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. kannan of was acting on of the situation taken by parties and tribunals in one nine hundred forty three. when radical nationalists came to power after the regime change and their lackeys started a massive campaign against anti-fascists riegel 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 for she is a. ivers garder is leader of a political organization called the national front of latvia the front publishes a newspaper founded by him. better weekends and during public holidays volunteers

hand out free copies to anyone willing to read the paper. its name contains three d's they stand for de occupation the colonized station and the russification. for a long time talk to god are taught ethics at the academy of culture some of his former students are regular contributors to the newspaper. now under their chief editor's guidance they spend no effort in a bid to oppose what they call russian dominance in latvia. ethnic lot of ins make up fifty percent of the population of their own country back to the other fifty percent occupies backs about russian. police it's necessary to create uncountable conditions for them but we need a situation where latvian society rejects occupiers moreover we need a law on the call is asian we must say to each of them 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 matt 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. there must go. there must be about the yeah i bought. some things it would like to say this nationalistic that the languages of the things you had to pick up your speak latvian things about it in some rights and that if you're not

a citizen. some thirty six. accumulation of things where you are discriminated against because you're in pure. theory 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 make aiel is a school people. purpose to tell me what percent means. he is often to last when he tries to figure out his math textbook it's written in latvia. 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 the 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. the oath

grew whenever a russian teaches with a ball commander the levy languish scored teach such difficult subjects mathematics physics and chemistry work to russian schoolchildren it brings misery which are both teachers and students with hidden from within or to new people. in the course of education reform nearly all old textbooks were revised and many russian language schools closed down numerous protests acts had no affect the decisions of life is education ministry were fine. so far inspectors haven't shown up in many russian schools and all subjects are still taught in russian. math fin language textbooks approved by the education ministry can be seen in full view but they are only for show. miller shook off in 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 round the 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 walls and when we emerge schools we make a great deal of effort to accommodate all the children in the new building the city we also do all we can to retain jobs for the teachers who was most but in the old days they just closed schools down and that was that there was a preview for. the fact that the russian was elected mayor of the latvian capital in the summer of two thousand and nine surprised many politicians analysts put it

down into the economic crisis. those who had felt it. severe impact we're not taking as much notice of the nationality of a politician as they used to. miss the move if in the early one nine hundred ninety s. they have not made the mistake of dividing the people into citizens of a non-citizen them were the 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 course still have to contend with economic issues corruption and many other things. despite its small size there was schools of 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 engineer is going to small business. plants vs highly skilled professionals have left the country in search of a job. commission free accreditation three guns for chargers free. range human grief. three stooges free.

download free broadcast quality video for your media projects and free media on down to r t dot com. 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 and electronic equipment had been set up in latvia they were the soviet union's most advanced enterprises. of the times i worked in a similar tree for about fifteen years before the break up of the soviet union where there were close to eight hundred employees in the design bureau where i myself was employed to produce no you can see what's left of its former splendor

the only one design a working email. when lanphier achieved independence the republic's government began closing down its industrial giants the new regime expected margin 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 and lived off the money for real estate and land or also soldiering this time which was the summit biggest source of funds during another five year period. lines just before the country join the european union and avalanche of capital and low interest credit came in. they were not meant to develop production instead they were channeled into land in real estate as a result wind up in the situation.

similar process is going on in agriculture under the soviet government latvian collective farm supplied the republic with basic food stuffs today half are imported. he is the elevations of from spain is a mothers of from the netherlands the cases from spain with the cucumbers from the netherlands. be hard put to find domestically produced vegetables here true pineapples don't grow. were already being grown in latvia when the netherlands did not yet exist. after the declaration of independence the latvian government downsized agriculture and ventured on individual farms the land belonging to collective farms was given back to former owners all their descendants

under a restitution plan. but most of them simply didn't bother to get into the difficult business of farming and instead preferred to sell off their newly acquired land mortgage it. was pursuing your legal have been abandoned the farm stands or the now have already abandoned about sixty percent of them as young people are not keen to go back to the countryside here some get an education others find a job and go grant to make commitments of things that whether it's. the village of can really is in let's go. one of the country's poorest regions local peasants used to regard themselves almost as urban dwellers they lived in flats with almost no i mean it sees now one in every two flats is vacant. the local boy louse plant doesn't work the few people who still live here have to heat their homes with firewood. sometimes i catch fire wood 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 fisa has five children and none of them live in latvia now they are trying to make money in western europe. and faeces spends her pension to feed her grandchildren she likes talking about her big family which is now scattered around the world the people who think this is my daughter to leave me alone that's. in the high yield. and here is a good lama and you can be in nigeria is my granddaughter. when said jan 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 god knows where so i raised them

on my own. people have no jobs towns and villages are becoming deserted pig sties in the county should say collapsing and the fields overgrown with weeds. this is how the morning began in victoria more than a month until two thousand and eight. flats in a nineteenth century building in the old parts of riga was once considered prestigious poor young people are spent on the move they paid back what it worth. after latvia declared independence old houses were given back to their former owners under 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. the

standard solution was that the new owners simply made sure that the building falls 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 had it is a breach really and replacing the locks on the doors i also take some of my doom 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 their case have been unsuccessful the landlord lives in germany he came to latvia for the first time to receive a properties are difficult. thanks. 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 gray economy so that it's not really showing up on the statistics. often memphian join the european union in two thousand and four the economist started to warn of a new threat. they maintained that they were public might lose the second all makes over and see. about seventy percent of its farmland belongs to foreign investors the country's fiscal system depends on foreign banks. you wouldn't like each skid a 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 it i would have to say regrettably the nation has lost its ability to work in manufacturing things that use a lot of latvia was on the point of leaving the soviet union it was one of its most advanced territories with zero debt it's going to win gold today the picture is the oldest of six percent. in january two thousand and nine mass protests where 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. rose up pensions were cuts as well as salaries and social donations.

these were due to the crisis is the result of the country's split into twenty years ago people used to only that's why after the nation plays no part in the country's a lot of political or otherwise and this is one cause of the deep crisis we're going through because we're going to continue working. according to european statistics land that 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 on more than fifteen percent since independence according to latvia as foreign policy institute each year some twelve thousand people leave the country for good. the u.k. is their most popular destination. the british

filmmaker cameron north described the problem in his documentary. a lot of things coming to the u.k. . firstly one of these is the economy left. in life that is much harder for good living partly because the national. right about nash is a modern building economy now the reason is that they get very good social rights in the u.k. . it's now been twenty years since latvia jeev sovereignty. but still independence day it's most celebrated holiday and the freedom monument its main national icon aliens the heart of the country's population.