Riga Redemption

the first publication

Editorialdear reader,

14 days. 0 hours. 2 minutes and 7 seconds since the apocalypse.

The narrative of our generation has changed forever. Even if you chose to disbelieve it, the seed of inception is spreading its roots into your subconscious. Yes, the common real-ity as we know it might not have shifted a great deal in last two weeks, yet the anticipation before the 21st of December made us think.

If the human is capable of dreaming up a dream of the fundamental End that is greater than him self, then are there any limits at all?

The story of the apocalypse that is linked with the Mayan calendar is, geographically speaking, too far to touch us. So, with the next couple of publications the Media Team has decided to tell the tale of the End (and many ends) that could happen closer to home. Much, much closer.

Here is a quick re-cap of how it happened: there is an age-old tale, that once the good man God himself will come down from his heavenly abode (mind you, the Latvian pagan one, not the Christian one) and walk the streets of Rīga in search of a gullible human. There is a single, mind-bogglingly simple question on his lips – is Rīga complete yet? The only right answer to that, as every Riga-er well knows is ‘no’. Yet someone said ‘yes’…

The original tale states that be it thus, Rīga shall be flooded and destroyed by the river Daugava. However, this year the apocalypse came instead.

Pandora’s box burst open letting out seven sins of the world. And us two – the Editors – who are forever your humble servants and

Reading S•I•N

Content

editorial

the apocalypse is dead

the march of progress

apocalypse = money

seeing the signs

what if?

changes that never came

who do you want to be when you grow up?

be wise, be a leader

dpr of russia?

droi and drugs

downtrodden europe

libe for milk

the apocalypse is dead

The concept of the apocalypse, as the last breath of the world, origi-nates from the last chapter of the New Testament and has been circu-lating around since AD 150. Despite the religious connotations of the term, nowadays it is widely thought of as the inevitable last phase in the Universe’s future, extending beyond the borders of religious communi-ties. But the main question remains – who benefits from keeping this idea in the human mind for so long and why?

by superbia

Undoubtedly, one of the main contributors of strengthening, preserving and further expanding the apocalyptic concept has been the Church. In biblical scriptures the apocalypse is called the Last Judgment – the day when God will judge every nation and decree the final destinies of all men, according to the good and evil in their earthly lives. Therefore, it is nec-essary that the apocalyptic proceedings offer eternal agony to the rebel-lious ones, to ensure obedience, as it is foreseen in the sacred texts.

Despite all this, it is obvious that the idea would have perished a long time ago, if it had been sealed between the walls of certain religious institu-tions. Nowadays, many media outlets are eager to publish articles or have news coverages about themes like the apocalypse, because, in the media world, they are considered as an easy ‘scoop’. You do not have to dig deep for information, and can often use previous pictures or video footage, and it takes up a good amount of screen time on TV. Plus, it boosts the ratings hugely.

Finally, and most importantly, the ones who get the most out of the ‘excit-ing’ process called the ‘total-world-destruction-anticipation’, are cash register owners, i.e., entrepreneurs. They are generous and willing to help you by selling you a luxury underground missile bunker, or by offering you a pricy contract, that guarantees taking care of your pets, as animals are not allowed to enter paradise.

It is in the human DNA to wonder what lays ahead of us, behind the curves of the visible and distant future, but I hope that now you are a bit more gal-vanised into challenging the widespread beliefs and thinking on your own feet. I am sure that we will not encounter a sudden zombie apocalypse or a nightmarish alien invasion in our lifetimes, but at least you can comfort yourself by acknowledging the fact that, if it does happen – we will all be in it together.

the March of Progress

While you and I might not live to wit-ness it, I strongly believe the apoca-lypse is inevitable. The reason I believe this, is because we are, deep down, still monkeys, even though our science is far more advanced than the science monkeys have. We are, simply put, great at systematic murder, but terrible at dealing with that fact.

We have descended from hunter-gath-erers, who in turn, descended from monkeys. For both of these groups it was important to kill your enemy be-fore they killed you. This meant that the humans, who preferred to negoti-ate, rather than kill, quickly died out through natural selection: you do not kill me, so I get to kill you instead. How-ever, this did not lead to the apoca-lypse, as you simply could not kill that amount of people.

In order to make this killing easier, and therefore increase our own influence, we have invented science. Science, to calculate how the missiles should fly, in order to hit the enemy’s cities. Sci-ence, to engineer a virus, that will kill the enemy’s civilians. Science, in order to keep public support for our wars strong through captivating speech-

es. Computers, radio, internet, GPS: almost all of humanity’s (scientific) inventions in the last century were used – no, invented – specifically for military use. The first sign of the apoc-alypse is in your pocket right now; the technology for the telephone was in-vented for the military too. This is not a trend that will be easily reversed. If we do not discover new ways to kill, others certainly will. It is the hunt-er-gatherer situation all over again.Some say, that we are now better off than we were before. We are not kill-ing anyone, just researching how to. And, more importantly, nuclear weap-ons will kill everyone in a war, so there will not be a war between nations with nuclear weapons. This is true, until a smart scientist discovers a way to de-stroy the enemy’s nuclear bombs be-fore they explode. (I would not be sur-prised if every powerful nation on the planet has discovered this already.)

Then, only a few rash political deci-sions are necessary, in order to have another great war. Only two people have to be overconfident, only two politicians need to desire to win the next election, and the earth will be a desert once more.

by ira“Ends are ape-chosen; only the means are man’s.”-Aldous Huxley

apocalypse = money

by avaratia

Money, I love you! People are willing to do anything to get it. And in this domain the human imagination has no limits. Recently false rumors began to spread about the end of the world. They became quite popular and proved to be profitable. Of course, this also meant work for the media that disseminates information and the journalists who work to get paid and make profit for the industry.

Then, of course, part of the society got very scared and started prepar-ing for end of the world, and here profit hit the stores. People bought usual as well as unusual things – canned food, candles, bunkers, fish, guns. For example, one man kept 1,000 fish in his swimming pool so that he would have plenty to eat in the case of the apocalypse. Also there was another couple who lived in a fortress with a stockpile of guns and 25,000 rounds of ammunition (just in case!). The press found out about these strange purchases and decided this was valuable information and shared it with the whole world. Those who had not prepared anything could draw ideas from these stories. And here again all profits went to the press.

These hapenings also involve people, who always have a joke somewhere up their sleeve. I mean comedians, because they can no longer ignore the journalists’ stories. That would be rude. They create videos, comedy shows and, how unexpected, earn money.

And without realising it, we have reached the day when the world ends. Here I would classify people into two groups: those, who are very afraid, and attempt to buy a box-loads of pills to soothe the nerves (here, the earnings go to a pharmacy). Then, due to the fact that the end of the world is approaching, some drink more than they should and get hospi-talised (as if the hospitals were not filled with patients with real illness-es already). There are also those who do not understand the proper use of medication and prefer to indulge fear completely, that is, by being taken to the hospital, because they have fainted in inappropriate places.

Finally, there are people who think that apocalypse has dawned upon us just like another Friday night that needs to be celebrated, so they visit a nearby shop to buy sweets, alcohol, and other useful stuff and go cel-ebrating (here all the money goes to the retailer). Or they just go to a bar. When, to everybody’s disappointment, the morning arrives, and peo-ple are still walking on streets and the sun is bright in the sky, the press set out to create articles about how the world had not ended, how all of it is nonsense and publishes the funniest incidents from the nigth be-fore. And it is just business.

seeing the signsby luxuria

The apocalypse has been predicted countless times. Mostly all that these predictions do is provide a good laugh. However, one might argue that humanity is heading for a development that is apocalyptic. Let us look at two of the factors that might have apocalyptic consequences, while also taking the opportunity to beat a little on ‘the big drum of doom’.

First and foremost, there is the ever present, ever worsening threat of climate change. During 2012, it has become clear that we are already facing the effects of a warmer plan-et. The Arctic Sea ice reached its lowest extent ever, covering only 500000 square kilometres last year. In addition events such as the hurricane Sandy, floods in parts of both western Africa and the Sahel region, as well as droughts in Chi-na, the US and Russia hint that ex-treme weather is becoming the norm.

With a deteriorating climate as a back-drop, we might see refugees fleeing to areas less affected by climate-re-lated disasters. The more pressing ones are the rising food prices that lead to widespread hunger, and con-flicts sparking over resources, such as water and arable land. The effects of a global warming, that is spiral-ling out of all control, are so vast that they border on the unimaginable.

Climate change is not the only calam-ity rearing its ugly head, another one is Peak Oil. The effects, of and the point when this peak in global oil pro-duction will occur, are debatable. Optimists say that we still have some time left: the peak will occur some-time around 2020, maybe even later,

depending on how much the so called ‘unconventional oil resources’, e.g., tar sands, are feasible to exploit. Pes-simists believe that we are on the verge of Peak Oil, have already reached it, or that it will occur shortly.

Doubtless, the effects of Peak Oil could be monumental to our petrole-um based society. It has the possibili-ty to cripple transports, as well as agriculture, just to pick two exam-ples. On the other hand, by adapting lifestyles, as well as by increasing usage of renewable energy, most of the harmful effects may be avoided.

Finally, there are many problems in the world, such as loss of biodiversi-ty, the chronic instability in the econ-omy, and rising rates of poverty and inequality. There are far too many is-sues to address in this article. Even so, these threats are real, and so are their effects; no matter how terri-ble they may be though, they will not cause that cataclysmic collapse we all love to fear. We might, however, see an ‘apocalyptic decline’, a slide down into a darker, poorer world, if situations, such as the warmer climate and Peak Oil, remain unad-dressed. Ultimately, the power to prevent such a development is ours.

what if?by gula

Imagine this. A dark night, the sky full of lustrous stars, silence, deathlike silence, everyone is sleeping or, at least, is trying to fall asleep, when suddenly… BOOOOOM! A huge explosion shakes the world. Fire overtakes everything, it reeks of burning houses and cars, and people are panicking and screaming as loud as they have never screamed. But it lasts only for a few minutes un-til they die or become abhorrent zombies. This is what was supposed to happen on December 21, 2012.

Fortunately, nothing went wrong and we are still alive, but many of us, including me, definitely have had a thought – what if…? What if one day I woke up and the only thing I saw around me were dis-gusting zombies, a lot of them? And what if I was one of them, one of the not so pleasant crea-tures that walk around and emit strange sounds? Or even worse – what if I did not wake up at all, because this was the end of the world, of humanity, of everything? And if the apocalypse did come, had I done anything important in my life?

Indeed, the apocalypse made many people re-think their behavior, actions and, of course, life. But, at the same time, it was a proof how credulous, naive and super-stitious people are - there were thousands of us who believed and were absolutely sure that the end was just right here, simply be-cause someone smart said so. Even smart people make mistakes and we should bear it in our mind. I feel so sorry for those who spent a huge sum of money, buying life-sav-ing packages or going abroad with their families to places where they thought they would be safe. I feel even more sorry for those who committed suicide, because they were so scared of the apoca-lypse that did not come. Unfortu-nately, now they will never know this.

Apocalypse – it is something you cannot predict, you will never know when it will happen. Of course, if it ever will happen, we should not be afraid of it. There is no point in being afraid because if it is supposed to happen, then it will happen and none of will be able to escape.

changes that never cameby acedia

14th of February – Valentine’s day, 31st of October – Halloween, and then, last year, there was the 21st of December – the End of the World. Why have I put all three together? Because every year, when Valentine’s day or Halloween approaches, I get the urge to run, hide or simply travel to the future to avoid all this annoying fuss around these so-called ‘holi-days’. It is not a question of me not liking them, it is just that the ceaseless yak ruins everything. And it was quite similar with the end of the world last year.

“Again something about the apocalypse,” is the first thought that comes to mind after hearing or seeing something about the 21st of December. How-ever, after the third or fifth time you start wondering why that is. Why do people keep debating about the end of the world that, as some were convinced, had to happen a couple weeks ago? Even the ones who do not believe in the theory and consider it absurd constantly keep obsessing over it.

I see it as a cry for help, desperation, fear, and, as odd as it might sound - hope. People had hopes that the magical Friday would bring some chang-es with it. As a matter of fact, fear would have suited the situation bet-ter. Even though the majority were convinced there was no such thing as the End of the World, people still had a little hope their lives would change for the best, because if you look around, what can you see? Of course, you can name many wonderful and bad things, those that sooner or later will finish the world off.

People are staringt to realize how their actions affect the world we live in. They are not that happy about what they see and are afraid. I would say the apocalypse would have been an easy way out. A simple solu-tion for all the damage that has been done. Now, that we have survived the bogus apocalypse, we can start working on preventing a real one happening. Remaining the same is what we should be afraid of, not a little change.

who do you want to be when you grow up?

by acedia

Just as the delegates were getting comfortable at the session’s main venue, I asked them one of the coincidentally easiest and most diffi-cult questions. I asked them what their plans for the future were. Unsurprisingly, most of them were not able to come up with an an-swer. However, Liene from CULT II had no doubts that she was going to be a cook. It appears that there are two types of delegates at the session here, just as there are two types of students at school. One can see their future quite clearly. The others- not so much. But each of these groups has its own way of finding their way in life.

A kid, from a school where the curriculum is emphasized on the arts, will never have the same opinion as a math student does on the same subjects. This proves that students themselves do not perceive the opposition between these subjects as a problem, as long as they are satisfied with what they are doing. When I look around, there are dif-ferent people interested in different things, and almost all of them are happy with the choices they have made. If they are considering a career within the arts, they will not feel the urge to study mathemat-ics more than is necessary.

However, there will be students who are uncertain about their fu-ture, who have not figured out their hidden talents. The best place for these students would be a school that offers diverse subjects, where students can study everything amply and get different per-spectives.

Therefore, it is easier for those students who already know what they want to do to find a suitable place where gain specific educa-tion. In the meantime, others can use the time to explore the possibili-ties of general secondary education until they have to make a choice about their future. Keeping both in mind, I find the system, where different schools are available, most suitable for students, as it provides good general education and presents students with future perspectives.

Be wise, be a leader.by gula

The government wants to change the educational system. Really? Accord-ing to the reforms carried out by the current Minister of Education and Science in Latvia, Roberts īīlis, there needs to be less higher education institutions in Latvia.

Unsurprisingly, this has led to many heated discussions whether this is a reasonable idea. “Why do we need these enormous changes and reforms in education?” This is the question that has recently been voiced by many people. It goes without saying, that there have been different points of view on this issue. However, it is evident that there must be some improve-ments in this field, if our goal is to become leaders in higher education in Europe. But the question remains – how huge and impressive should these changes be? Are the recent reforms a suitable way of solving this prob-lem? We want Latvia to be the one that leads.

So what designates a leader? A leader is someone you can learn from, someone you can rely on and someone you admire for who they are or what they have done. A leader should be almost perfect (we all know it is impossible to be absolutely perfect). It is not easy to be perfect, so it is not easy to become a leader either.

Let us go back to education though. With the realization of how success-ful, powerful and desirable some European universities are, we actually have an example to aspire to. This, however, should not end up as copying the same system; this would mean setting up a new, suitable way for Lat-via to reach its goals. It should take into consideration all the pros and cons of the currently leading schools and universities, not only in Eu-rope, but also in the whole world.

But if it is worth doing something, then it should be done properly. There is no need to tear down the current educational system, as it is much better to improve everything that can be improved. Let us not adopt ap-proaches others have implemented – let us realize our own!

DPR of russia?by superbia

Despite the good intentions of Boris Yeltsin, he might have been the first one to start paving Russia’s way into nowhere by, instead of contin-uing well thought out democratic reforms, choosing a radical change of course: taking the American (libertarian) approach as the base on which to lay the new foundations. This led to resource and company privatisation in an unjust manner – privileging the ones who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

But the first significant signs of democratic diminishment that came from the MPs was seen only recently – after the presidential elections of 2012. These were followed by stricter regulation on the internet that also ensured governmental rights for internet tracking and cen-sorship, with an excuse of protecting the rights of the children. Recent events, e.g., a ban on adoption in Russia for US citizens, have highlighted the shift in foreign affairs between Russia and other Western nations too.

The election fraud lead to the biggest protests Russia had endured since the beginning of the 21st century. Despite this, the government managed to ensure that most of the citizens were kept in the dark about the grandiose manifestations in Moscow. They did this by ensuring that media outlets, associated with certain political forces, were kept si-lent. What are the Russian politicians attempting to do – recommence another Cold War? Looking at the latest passed legislations, it is quite obvious that the Members of Parliament (MP) are quite unreserved in their aims at stealing the power form the citizen’s hands, in order to increase their own authority.

Despite the fact that Russia has always strived for power, and has been the third wheel in many agreements, EU has to aim for improving the civil liberties even outside its borders, not for the sake of the biggest coun-try in the world, but for sake of it’s citizens, who’s rights are being infringed.

DROI and drugsby superbia

Do we have the right to use drugs? Or, more importantly, do we have the right to abuse drugs? While the first question may be easy (at least, from a Dutch point of view), the second question is a tougher one. Is it more important to be free in doing what you want, or to be free from harmful influences? This, while being very relevant to the Committee on Human Rights, is not the only question they have to answer. After all, the committee topic, and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, also talks about health and crime. I am going to examine how these two factors are influenced by the central question of freedom.

Health is most strongly linked to drug policy through (teenage) drug abuse. For example, some underage teens will use marijuana, regardless of whether or not it is legal, but more teens might use it if they have easy access to it. However, these weed-‘friendly’ countries may also be able to better educate their youth, which could decrease adult weed abuse. Keeping this in mind, the freedom question becomes less of a moral issue, and more of an evidence-based moral discussion.

The other thing that is heavily influenced by drug policy is (drug-related) crime. This comes in two forms that differ greatly in their severity: crime by drug dealers here in Europe, and crime by drug cartels in the drug-pro-ducing countries. The first is a relatively unorganised, minor crime, while the second is organised and can (in the case of Mexico) destabilize an entire country. While legalising some drugs will reduce both local and national crime, there’s also the risk that drug cartels might just move to the countries that just legalised ‘their’ drug. Even though the risk of this happening is very small, this has a lot of other consequences, and is therefore something to keep in mind.

In short, while the question of what exactly freedom means might seem simple, its consequences on society are enormous. It affects society through both drug abuse and crime rates. Lastly, I should mention that this article was written by a Dutchman. I therefore have a typically Dutch perspective on things, so my opinion is not absolute truth. And please, don’t ask the obvious question.

Downtrodden Europeby luxuria

T h e Greek Red

Cross is going to go bank-rupt. Firstly, three million Span-

ish citizens receive monthly aid from the Red Cross. Secondly, according to Eu-

rostat, 120 million European citizens live in pov-erty. To make matters even worse, Yves Daccord,

director-general of the International Red Cross Com-mittee warned of bread riots in countries that have been

hit hard by the austerity measures and economic crisis; rio-Wts similar to those in Tunisia that ushered the Arab Spring.

Europe is a troubled continent indeed.

However, on the 12th of September last year in the State of the Un-ion speech, President of the European Commission José Manuel Bar-

roso uttered the words that have since become well known:

‘Let’s not be afraid of the words: we will need to move towards a feder-ation of nation states. This is what we need. This is our political horizon.’

These three sentences are immensely powerful. Barroso himself knows that they can even be terrifying. Do they also bring hope? Can they in-spire and who are they meant for? Do they motivate ordinary people on the

street like you and me to act, and how?

Barroso’s speech was well received by most group leaders in the Euro-pean Parliament. The harshest critic, however, was the president of the Party of United Socialists, Sergei Stanishev. Still, the verdict of the Eu-ropean society might differ from that of the cosmopolite politicians in the European Parliament. The increased support for nationalistic movements in several countries in the EU, Hungaria being the prime example, or the reluctance from countries, such as Germany and Finland, to continue guaranteeing emergency loans to Greece,

tell another story.

To conclude, the scourge of poverty plagues Europe, and solidarity between the Member States deteriorates. Pro-

jects like the federation of nation states might seem as an attempt to construct an ivory tower or it

might be the way back to prosperity.

Milk stratifies. Cream, that is the most concentrated part, separates and rises to the top because of its low density. Just like this cream we have certain regions in the Europe that want to break away. They do not feel that they really belong to the larger mass and have the need to be sepa-rate, independent. But each region decides to split away differently, some of them go in a polite way, choose to go with a discussion, com-promise and mutual consent in any case. Others, however, prefer brute force, which I guess is much more convincing, but does not nec-essarily provide ‘butter’ results.

For example, as one of the reasonable nations I could mention the Basques of Spain. They are a tight-knit and ancient people with a com-pletely isolated and independent European language (Euskara) and a highly distinct culture. They inhabit northern Spain and western France, a land that the Basques insist must be an independent nation called ‘Euskadi’. They are negotiating their situation with Spain in rath-er peaceful manner. They are trying to separate from the milk without shaking it, so as to have a higher quality cream.

Albanians are acting quite on the contrary – they are shaking the milk recklessly without worrying about the end result. The Albanians of Kosovo and the surrounding area sought to gain independence from the Serb Yugoslavs at the same time as the Croats, Bosnians, and Slo-venes were during the Yugoslav Wars. Interpreting it as treason, the ultra-nationalist Serbs under Milosevic responded with intense stran-gulation. The Albanians reacted with terrorism, bombings, massacres, and assassinations primarily during the Yugoslav Wars, but also be-fore the Serbian crackdown. Serbs, Greeks, Macedonians, and other Slavs bitterly hate Albanians and the Albanian immigrants.

It should not be forgotten that each case is specific, that every ac-tion has its consequences. And the European Union should assess each case individually. Syria is a good example for compromise, which is an autonomous region, but is still is a part of Italy. Of course, it can only function that way because of various rules; basically both sides are satisfied, and a compromise is reached. And now I again will explain this with the milk example. Milk is not separated while still containing the cream, because it is the most nutritious part, but if the separation takes place, it is best if this is done correctly, without damaging the cream or the milk, so that the two parts are still useful.

LIBE for milk.by avaritia