President of Latvia opened the discussion by highlighting the attractiveness of Piebalga: ‘I am honoured and delighted to meet with you today and listen to your ideas and understanding of issues that are vital for Piebalga and the whole Latvia. I think Piebalga is a very special place in Latvia and a rich cultural and historical area. Although in terms of territory and population you are probably not the biggest region in Latvia, your contribution to our nation, people and the Latvian State is really impressive. It is important to ensure the same kind of contribution in future. It is a well-known fact that in the 19th century Piebalga was the place where Latvians expanded their self-awareness beyond a family, village or parish level. This is the place where Latvians became aware of themselves as a society. In other words, Hernhuthians gave people the awareness that you need to do something more than take care of your family, homestead or dwelling to make everyone's life better, including your own. For example, there was a temperance movement here. It was the first kind of voluntary social gatherings that Hernhuthians took part in without being forced by their superiors. Basically, this is how democracy is born. Democracy implies that people, the citizens, come together for a cause as a way of self-organising. It was also a way for Latvians to self-organise because back then Latvians were not the main nation living on the territory of Latvia. Thus, it also paved the way for the emancipation of the Latvian nation. In those times Latvians were not aware of the word, but there were already first de facto signs of aspirations articulated by Young Latvia, which later became a legitimate demand of the Latvian nation to emancipate. So, we can legitimately say that this is where conscious efforts to build the Latvian nation began. Right here, in Piebalga, because residents of Piebalga were the ones who started the movement of self- organisation. And that is what sets you apart from the others, to this day. In other words, if we take a look at how Piebalga is developing today, we can see a lot of interesting initiatives and projects, including manufacturing, which contribute to the attractiveness of Piebalga as a place to live. Basically, we see that Piebalga is this special cultural space here in Latvia, which requires special input in its nurturing and development.’
Other panellists included Indriķis Putniņš, Chair of the Vecpiebalga Regional Council, Arnis Pooks, Chairman of the Board, Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, Ingūna Elere, co-owner, H2E Design Studio, Jānis Ronis, founder and owner of Piebalga Porcelain Factory, Vēsma Johansone, Director of Jaunpiebalga Local History Museum, and Normunds Brēmers, owner of Wenden furniture, a company operating in Jaunpiebalga region. All panellists agreed that the heartbeat of Piebalga is its people who live there, nurture traditions, work hard, create a lot of new things. they make sure Piebalga has a bright future ahead.
Explaining the background of discussions with communities living in historical Latvian lands, President Levits underlined that results of these discussions will feed into a historical lands bill: ‘The cultural and historical lands bill that we are currently putting together and will submit to the parliament in September is an extension of the regional reform to me. We need this reform because stronger, bigger local governments will be able to better handle functions delegated to them. However, this reform lacks cultural and environmental dimension. It is purely a technocratic project. That is why I think it is important to add this cultural and historical dimension. In other words, both laws combined would regulate everything that needs to be regulated. Not only the utilitarian side, but all of them. The economic, the transport, the cultural dimension. That is why I am trying to make sure this law brings about a better understanding of what our identity is, and cultural roots are, making sure we are aware of our past as well as able to formulate clear vision of the future. This law also aims to expand and diversify Latvianness to make it more attractive and powerful. During the Soviet era, Latvianness was very flat, formalistic. I believe that 30 years after the restoration of independence we need to start seriously thinking about Latvianness, cultural and historical heritage and identity. As we see, identity is becoming an ever more important element of our quality of life in the age of globalisation. One cannot live all over the world at once. We all need a place where we really belong. That is where we choose to live. We must not only be aware of our surroundings, but also take part in shaping them. It is important to underline that this law will be linked to national level funding programs because, of course, we need funding to be able to preserve and develop this heritage. I have asked the parliament to add this cultural and historical dimension to the regional reform law. I have also asked to add the democratic dimension. In other words, local regions must have their own democratically elected representatives who would solve local problems on the spot. So, they must have access to funding for these purposes. It is important that local people have say in how their community develops because they live there. And I am happy that the parliament has supported my initiative.’
Ingūna Elere, co-owner, H2E Design Studio, added that ‘the legislative proposal of the President is a big step up for cultural and historical regions. It gives an opportunity to appreciate the diversity of these regions which underpins the sustainability of Latvia’. Whereas Vēsma Johansone, Director of Jaunpiebalga Local History Museum, emphasized that ‘this bill will help people of Piebalga maintain their identity’. A lady in the audience thanked President Levits for this legislative initiative and noted that ‘it will mobilize people across cultural and historical regions, and it would also be nice if bill would require local history to be taught at local schools’. Another gentleman acknowledged the merits of the legislative initiative of the President of Latvia both from the identity and democracy point of view.
When discussing what Piebalga needs to develop and preserve its identity in future, Jānis Ronis, founder and owner of Piebalga Porcelain Factory, said that ‘Piebalga needs to formulate its development strategy for the next 5 to 10 years’, and Jānis Rozenbergs, Chair of the Cēsis Regional Council, added that ‘it needs a vibrant, open and dynamic cultural environment, which cannot be closed’. Indriķis Putniņš, Chair of the Vecpiebalga Regional Council, also noted: ‘Like other discussions, this discussion is very important and timely, and it is great that today’s discussion focuses on Piebalga as part of Latvia’s cultural space, on local community of Piebalga and its role in Latvia. If people of Piebalga will be able to refrain from thinking in terms of us and them, and concentrate more on common ideas, Piebalga will continue to play its role and develop in future, as well.’
President Levits concluded the discussion by underlining: ‘Thank you all for the discussion! Thank you for the interesting ideas. I think it is very important to integrate all the concerns and priorities of the local community in this bill. To me one of the key takeaways from today's discussion is that we need to let the local people create and developed their own environment to make sure it is good and fits their needs. We are no longer living in industrial age today. We have already entered post-industrial era, which is all about values. For example, today you no longer need a shirt that keeps you warm, instead you need a shirt that looks good and has personal value. What I mean is that today's economy has this strong cultural dimension. I think Piebalga is aware of these global trends because after surviving several centuries traditional arts and crafts of Piebalga have now entered the post-industrial development phase. I would also like to reiterate that the heritage of Piebalga perfectly combines two essential elements, culture and self-organising ability. If you look at the map of Latvia from a historic perspective, Piebalga is the source of Latvianness. It is the place where culture meets grass roots initiatives, self-organising, self-governance and democracy, which shows how important it is to preserve these clusters of grassroots activism after the regional reform.’
