Honourable Mr Veismanis and the community of Latvian politically repressed persons,
Honourable Mr Levits,
Honourable Mr Vējonis,
Members of the Saeima and the European Parliament,
Honourable Mr Helmanis,
Dear friends,
A year has passed since we last met here at the Ikšķile open-air theatre. We talked at length about issues that were important then and remain important today: commemorating everyone who perished in exile in Siberia under the repressions of the Soviet occupation regime, to remind society about these pages in the history of our state.
This is a special year, because in March we marked 75 years since the repressions of 1949. Many of those present today were also in Īle, where we commemorated the fighters of the national defence movement who fought their last battle against the chekists and their overpowering forces. We met on 14 June. And today we meet again here to talk about our state and the issues that are crucial to the politically repressed community.
Nothing much has changed over the course of this year. The paramount task and duty for all of us is to safeguard the independence of our state. Over the course of this year, we have done a great deal to strengthen our national security and defence. It is a process that will continue. We have done a great deal to support Ukraine, and we see that despite sceptics and pessimists, Ukraine is not only holding its own, but has now even managed to conduct a strong counterstrike against the Russian empire. We are aware that this work, namely supporting our Ukrainian friends and brothers, as well as reinforcing our own security, is something we will have to keep on doing.
I am genuinely pleased that so much has already been done to strengthen our national defence. The first round of recruits have completed their service in the State Defence Service. They have demonstratively proven wrong all the sceptics who said that the youth is good for nothing. However, that does not mean that we can stop at this. We must continue to motivate them, we must continue to inspire them in any way possible.
There is a lot that is being done together with our allies. We already see that, headed by Canada, our allies are expanding their presence to the level a brigade. The number of our friends here is increasing, but we also have a lot of tasks and homework to do ourselves.
There are also things that we are not proud of or happy with. Our internal security capabilities are insufficient. Unfortunately, our courts are still showing leniency to criminals who ought to be judged more strictly, harshly, especially for crimes against national security and independence. We still have a lot to do in order to strengthen our information space to combat various types of provocations and propaganda.
But there is also praise to be given. Together we have achieved that as of 1 September history will return to the school curriculum as a separate subject. This was something that worried just many last year. Here, I would like to sincerely thank the Ministry of Education and Science for listening. Yet, we cannot stop there, because the study of history is still not at the level we would like it to be. And this is where we still have a lot of work to do. I would like to invite you all to share your memories, actively talk about your experiences and tell your stories, share what you have gone through with the youth and motivate them. Perhaps you can go to schools and universities more often, talk with people and remind them about those horrible times so that they may never be repeated.
All in all, I guess we sometimes are indeed the proverbial typical Latvians in that we often tend to get lost in squabbles, losing sight of the bigger picture. Therefore, I would like to urge us all to keep in mind that not everything we argue about in our daily lives is really all that important. What is important, is our national independence and the tenacity of our people!
There is an episode in “Children of Siberia” where a mother tells her children: “Stay together and everything will be alright!” That is what I wish to you all: stay together and then everything will be alright!
Thank you all for your perseverance! Thank you for being here! May the next year be an equally strong one for Latvia’s community of the politically repressed and the whole of our state and nation.
I look forward to seeing you all again next year!
