Lūgšana pie jūras. 1989. Prayer at the Sea

Lūgšana pie jūras - "Prayer at the Sea" organized by Environmental Protection Club of Latvia against pollution of Baltic Sea in September 1989.

In 1987-1989, when the Singing Revolution in the Baltics started, public attention was concentrated on environmental issues. At that time the first Latvian grassroots environmental NGO - the Environmental Protection Club (VAK - Vides Aizsardzibas Klubs) - was founded. Its main activities were large campaigns. These campaigns had a clearly political character, but were based on environmental arguments.

Filmēja Ingvars Leitis un Zigurds Strīķis.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• vides
• klubs
• akcija
• Environmental
• Protection
• Club
• Latvia
• actions
• Lūgšana
• pie
• jūras
• Baltic
• Sea

[pbreikss]

OK - you have to be Latvian to appreciate this - an emotional scene. We Latvians like to sing - and this was a very appropriate time to sing - free again after so many hard years as part of the Soviet Union. The beach is Jurmala, and the song was written by my father, who died in Siberia in 1941, in a communist concentration camp. Why? Because he was a poet and a writer, and loved his Latvia.

Peter Breikss

[extrachrisb]

Lyrics by Leonids Breikss

[immantiat]

With decades of occupation, banned the mother language, sent away and killed the cultural and political elite of a developing country like Latvia (in 1930's), destroyed folkloric background and monuments and deported their families to Siberia by the "government of the people" Baltic States still are an example. Long the distance, never hesitate your roots, never lose the will. So be it. So much to learn from these countries.

[mazhinski]

@pbreikss oh yes and you are such a patriot and now live in the USA...

[mazhinski]

I'm from Latvia, but I can't understand why do latvians sing all the time...

but what do I understand, that latvians are bad politicians, very bad.

And if we compare economical situation then Latvia was in USSR and now, all that we can say - it was better then.

[TyphoonUSSR]

Whose pilots defend their skies, why NATO soldiers defending their land? They wanted new suitable cell or sang about freedom for their land? Why on earth by the CIA to build prisons and torture people? Who is the master of their land?

[TyphoonUSSR]

We all remember well. We remember how the local KGB created the Popular Front. We remember how they came from the Communists in one day become capitalists. We remember how these people made a silent obedient labor. These people thought that their bread and butter has always eats a drunk Russian Ivan. But no Russian of Ivan, who now takes away the bread? Work for bread and keep quiet, that's their right today.

[sebastjans]

ak jel lasu un brīnols cik atri viss aizmirstas..

[torriuke]

you should shut up... ;)

[kalx007]

you shlould leave the singing to estonians... ;)

[alnitis]

Livonian flag! Amazing!

[lvkrystal]

You've got to be latvian to understand this.. that's for sure