Minutes from Latvia

With a new Saeima set to be voted in on October 6, LSM editor Mike Collier teams up again with academic Daunis Auers for an account of what has happened in the election campaign and what results we might see afterwards.

After a discussion on the main characteristics of the campaign so far, we give brief overviews of the 16 competing parties and offer some opinions about their likely chances.

We'd remind you that you can read another party-by-party overview of the upcoming election in our series of four special features: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.

Phil scored a huge hit in Latvia with his book Pa stāvu liesmu debesīs: nenotveramā latviešu anarhista Pētera Māldera laiks un dzīve (A Towering Flame – the life and times of Peter the Painter), published by Dienas Grāmata (Riga 2012).

It tells the true tale of a charismatic young Latvian anarchist who for a while might justifiably have claimed to be the world's most wanted man, 'Peter the Painter' a.k.a Janis Zhaklis.

Then in the second half of the podcast we revisit a lecture Phil gave in February 2015 on how we might today be able to learn lessons from the experiences of the Latvian anarchist movement in the context of civil resistance to occupation.

If you would like to see a recording of the lecture in question, it is below.

You can follow Phil on Twitter @RuffPhilip.

We talk in depth about her enigmatic publication Benji Knewman and follow it up with an account of her experimental hosting of a modern-day artistic salon that has proven a big hit among Riga's switched-on artistic set.

We also consider why niche publications from a small corner of the Baltic Sea seem to have found global appeal and where future trends in publishing and cultural discussion might be heading.

You can read more bout Benji Knewman via the link below or bu visiting the official website HERE. We hope you enjoy the podcast.

In the world of pins be a medal ✔️ Our @benjiknewman Vol.6 got silver at the XII festival of creative excellence #Adwards2017 #benjiknewman pic.twitter.com/XNKstPPen3

The first half of the podcast is dedicated to Tom's activities as a successful fiction writer in various genres: science fiction, young adults' fiction and most recently as the author of The Cattle Express, a remarkable tale that takes the reader from Wall Street to the Siberian Deportations.

In the second half of the podcast we consider Latvia's pension system, and specifically Indexo, a new presence in the pensions market with which Tom is involved.   

He also briefly explains how he came to be licensed to operate a nuclear reactor.

You can read more about Tom's literary creations HERE.

The website of Indexo pensions (other pension plans are available) is HERE (in Latvian and Russian).

We hope you enjoy the podcast. 

Therefore we go back to our roots with academic think-tanker Daunis Auers, who joined us for the very first podcast last September.

This time around we talk about Latvia's demographic challenges, comparisons with Ireland's experience, diaspora policy and the likely knock-on effects of 'Brexit' among other topics.

You can read Daunis' research in English for the Certus thinktank HERE and you can follow him on Twitter HERE.

We hope you find the podcast of passing interest.

Joining us in the 'power-pod' is Baiba Rubesa, one of Latvia's top business executives. Baiba has a wealth of experience from various countries around the globe, but her most prominent role at the moment is as chair of RB Rail, the joint venture of the three Baltic states responsible for overseeing the construction of Rail Baltica, a massive and complex infrastructure project.

After considering Baiba's background we delve into the intricacies of Rail Baltica and look forward to the departure of the first train - hopefully in 2026. 

To find out more about Rail Baltica, visit the official website HERE.

Baiba's personal Twitter feed is HERE.

Born in Daugavpils, Latvia's second-largest city, Eugene already has an international reputation and a talent for generating controversy with his thought-provoking compositions, many of them in collaboration with Tallinn-based librettist Scott Diel.

Most famously they collaborated on a 'Twitter opera' based on a confrontation between former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman on social media.

On July 18 from 6 p.m. Eugene will be challenging Latvian residents to come to the Kim? contemporary art center to deliver their own, entirely anonymous verdict on Latvia-Russia relations for his latest musical project. It promises to be another piece of controversial creativity.

The project, titled “Russia: Today,” is part of a wider "Trauma & Revival. Cultural relations between Eastern and Western Europe" residency co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union.  

Participants will retain complete anonymity. Their answers, recorded in private chambers where they will be asked to state their hopes and fears, not to mention their true allegiances, will be turned into an ambitious staged work for the virtuoso London-based ensemble EXAUDI, to premiere in 2019.

“Russia: Today” will create a musical narrative for the un-told experiences and uncensored opinions of the project's participants, and in a larger sense, a forum for the cross-generational nightmares and dreams of Latvians on the nation's 100th anniversary," according to publicity material.

The guest in the capsule-like pod is Amara Graps, a planetary scientist based in Latvia with an enviable list of contacts across the globe and -technically speaking - across the entire cosmos.

Amara is also organizing a major space conference in Riga in September, and we talk about what that involves, plus the way astronomers and other Latvian scientists compete in the international arena, even if this means dedicating their own free time and raising their own money.

Find out more about her project Baltics in Space HERE.

We hope you enjoy the podcast.

All EPSC 2017 Riga 1,000 Abstracts are online now, and you can browse them HERE.

If you would like to help with crowd-funding of ESPC 2017 in Riga you can do so HERE.

For videos at Amara's YouTube channel, see below:

This month Boris was back in Latvia. LSM joined him for a short walk along the banks of the River Amata to find out why, and how his impressions of the country have changed over the intervening months.

This week's guest in the players' pod, which feels suspiciously like penalty box in a hockey game, is sports blogger and podcaster Reinis Lācis.

Reinis is not only more articulate and professional than your host, he is also more experienced when it comes to podcasting, having produced a fascinating archive of interviews with former NBA basketball stars - all from his computer in Latvia.

As always the conversation rambles far and wide, from Porzingis to the state of Latvian sport and the future of sport journalism because after all, it matters not who won or lost, but how you play the game!

Listen to Reinis' podcast HERE and follow him on Twitter using the link below.

You can find "The Handle" podcast on iTunes and Stitcher for podcast episodes with NBA, ABA and NCAA champions https://t.co/M0ncIjc7Xq