RE: ART & WINE #3: AN ART DECO ARTIST you probably haven’t heard of | VLOG 29
This is wonderful. You should do more of these. Educational and enjoyable. I've studied Stalin and it's a fascinating period of history. My favourite composer is Dmitri Shostakovich. Some of his stuff is way out there, and yet somehow he managed to escape the knock at the door.
How do the millennials view that period of your history? Is it taught in schools? Is there still a kind of hangover with the older generations? Big generational divisions? I know that you get that in all countries probably, but when the political idealogy collapses like in the FSU, it must be a lot deeper. When I was in Alamty, it was kind of wild. The poverty gap was huge - babushki with gold teeth hawking sunflower seeds on the street, and new Kazakhs going past in Toyota Land Cruisers with their own drivers.
And in Latvia can you do that taxi thing where you stop any car in the street? That was a way cool way to travel.
Thanks so much for your comment! 😊
Of course, it is taught in schools. Latvian history after regaining independence, I believe, strives to be transparent about the period of Soviet occupation. We cannot be absolutely certain about what is true from the history taught in schools, but, anyway, I feel that after that terrible time of ultimate censorship or, essentially, a life lived in a communist vacuum, Latvian society now wants to be as clear as possible about that period. From the point of history, I think it is a huge progress. Yet no one really talks about the remains of socialist propaganda in people's mindsets.
Oh, yes, the vivid contrast. It was tough for Latvia in the 90s, and I think from that struggle grew the greediness of some people, and there are grave problems of corruption and money laundering ever since.
Hmm, don't know about that. Now we have Taxify, it's like Uber. 😄