Hide and seek.

Last year I had a chance to participate in a project which monitored the party representation and hidden advertisement before the governmental elections. The monitoring was held in all national newspapers as well as in all regional news papers – both Latvian and Russian written. So of course – there were some cases which were clearer in the meaning of understanding that it’s a hidden advertisement or representation but also there were cases where you couldn’t be 100% sure about.

At this point it would be logical – the more hidden advertisement or representation you have the more votes in the election you get. But it was a bit different – as those previously mentioned campaigns, those were the main factor to get the votes from the citizens. At this time already The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has admitted that 7 parties have exceeded the amount of money they could use for the pre-election campaigns. Including those who have used some as parties wanted to believe – 3^rd parties… So, there were no 3^rd parties – only big amount of money used for a reason. And it all just like it is in everyday world – that what you are looking for at most is right before your eyes.

Next time one should hide better. If he really believes that this is the best way how to do such things…

A right to an opinion…

Approximately two weeks ago one of the Latvian politicians, expressing his opinion about the situation in the country said such words: “Those who want that the government resign are the less educated part of the nation.” At the first I felt a bit shocked. But as we all have a right to an opinion… Then I started to think - but there are so many people from the intelligence which are now fighting for a better situation. But as we all have a right to an opinion…

Two years ago we had a lecture course about Public Relation and Communication theories. One of them was the theory about Spiral of Silence. As D.A.Infante has pointed out, this theory shows that people are afraid of social isolation as they don’t want to be perceived differently as the rest¹. An unused right to an opinion…

Before the election every party promises “better times”. Because they know - the citizens, who are more than the people in the parties (and much more than those who get elected and can form the government) won’t hear promises which foresee to live not so good for more than two years till there some will have a chance to fix all the problems which are usual in nowadays countries not looking on their development.

At this time in Latvia it is a usual opinion - the government should resign. As one of my colleagues form the centre for the public policy was rhetorically asking - how much more people should go “on the streets” - meaning the gathering of the nation in the 3^rd on November - so that probably cleverer part of the society would do the right choice.

So I am wondering when the spiral of silence stopped to work? At least in Latvia…
As it seems - there are some people who want to prove that the concrete unpopular opinion has power. Good luck.

¹ D. A. Infante et.al., Communication Theory. 2003:286, Illinois: Waveland press, Inc.

Different point of view

4^th August, year 2007, Stockholm

Saturday.

Starting from the morning it seemed like a usual Saturday - many people on the streets tourist shops full of travelers all around the world. In between that all the crazy panic which appears hand in hand with such numbers like 70% off - the crazy sale season. But the story won’t be about shopping-keen people.

So, on afternoon my road lead to the Djurgarden - a very beautiful island, called also the island of museums. To get to this place I needed to go trough almost all the centre of the city. As it was almost 14 o’clock, actually it shouldn’t be a surprise about much people on the streets. But the thing was - the crowd was gathering and getting bigger and bigger. The people were standing on the edges of the streets. And so approximately 20km in row on both sides of the street. The emotions of the people was quite similar - smiles on their faces, some expectations in their eyes. I didn’t see any unhappy faces. Some were talking; some teenagers to make the waiting process more interesting were playing street games and so on. No aggressiveness, no screaming people. Sun was shining and people were feeling free to celebrate this wonderful day.

3^rd June, year 2007, Riga

Sunday.

Starting from the morning it seemed that something will happen - good or bad - it isn’t so clear. Those who remember as this event happened the last year don’t wait a miracle. But despite that - it is sunny and warm. Actually - people should be happy in such an amazing summer day.

Iron fence in the middle of the city. If you want to get into the confined area you can’t be aggressive, angry and screaming. You should be positively minded. But it seems that there are more people who want to be outside of this fence - they are aggressive, shouting out discriminating words, some even snatch the occasion throwing rocks - not only some harder words but also some compact things. Emotions are clearly expressed.

I think at this point you understand what I am writing about - the “March for Equality”.

Probably, there is no way right or wrong. But there is a truth that we all live together in this world. Our opinions can differ as well as our lives do. I believe that there is a way how we all can communicate in a positive way. I have seen that.

Communication and e-democracy.

Together Internet and democracy makes the yet quite new field called e-democracy.

It can be perceived as the use of Internet when the government, political parties and supportive groups use it to transfer the information, to communicate, to secure services or to help in the participation and in the making of the discussion among citizens¹.

To endeavor these all things, there are 4 important aspects, mentioned by A.H. Trechsel :

1) information in the home pages of the organizations;

2) bilateral interactivity of the home page;

3) friendliness of the home page;

4) multilateral interactivity of the home page.

So - the e-democracy we can perceive as a possibility for the citizens to use the customary communication channels of the everyday used home pages in the home pages of different political institutions.

The pluses of such kind of communication are the fastness and the easiness to get the information. But the major gain is that such kind of communication appeals to participate in the political processes.

Still the issue from now to the future is - how interested in the use of the internet communication channels is the institution, how it understands the term of e-democracy, what kind possibilities the institution can offer and what meaning of work the e-democracy can bring to the institution. As the information of the Latvian Internet Association shows, in this year 54% people uses the Internet.

So probably, e-democracy yet needs a time to become an usual communication model in Latvia.

¹Gronlund, A, Introduction to the Special Issue on e-Democracy in Practice, E-Service Journal, 2002, no National Project „Local e-Democracy” „What Works”, 2005:9

Positive thinking.

From now looking back to the October of the last year it has been a year round now.

A kind of a political year.

It all started with some kind of phenomenon in this country - with some super positive campaigns all around. With the atonement about life, about people, about country because You have the right to know¹. As well as with the thought that In the informational field of Latvia there is only one big minus.²

As it seemed from the beginning - at last there are some people who really think - hey, politicians can be good people too! There were some active advertisers, some active representatives of the intelligence, and, of course, very active politicians, fighting for the power. With an aim - to gain the vote of a person, showing - there are a lot of positive things in the politics. A nice plan, won’t you agree?

But as every fairy tail comes to an end, this one did too. It seems that the positive thoughts have very short timeline. As you can see, there is hardly a person who will say that politicians are those who make the field of information full with pluses. Only after one year of the election. I would say - interesting kind of communication. For some it helped to gain a part of the common power. But as the positive things did go away, the power seems to go hand in hand with them.

Why didn’t the positive advertisement words work before a year? Because politicians believed - we don’t take them positively. They didn’t believe themselves. We trusted them giving the vote. They didn’t change. Why? Because the campaigns were thought for us, not for the politicians. This shows one important thing - to change the rules around you at first you must change yourself. So - is your communication positive, because you are positive, or is it just a positive show?

¹ Slogan for Company of the freedom of the Speech

² Slogan of Organization “Pa Saulei”