From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

From January 1, 2026, Latvia is set to prohibit the teaching of Russian as a second foreign language in schools.

Starting the same date, Russian-language TV and radio broadcasting will be banned in state media. Additionally, the VAT on sales of Russian-language books will increase to 21%.

These measures aim to reduce the presence of the Russian language and strengthen the role of the Latvian language in society.

Russian is the native language for 36% of Latvians.[1]

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language_in_Latvia ↩︎

  • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    181·
    3 months ago

    When their children need to look for work in Russia they’re gonna regret this. I don’t know the culture of Latvia, but I would guess this is more spectacular grandstanding to distract from vast wealth inequality and false scarcity and is probably not a sincere desire of the Latvian working class.

    @RedSturgeon@hexbear.net, could you comment?

    • RedSturgeon [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      8·
      3 months ago

      In 2012 70% voted against including Russian as a 2nd language in the constitution. There’s clearly been some form of dislike towards it within the society, even if it’s not explicitly shown. And the support for Nationalism has only grown since then.

      I think a lot of the population has bought into Nationalism, including the lumpenproletariat. They might be okay with people speaking their own language at home or casually, but that’s about it. It’s hard to tell, people probably have noticed I’m quite the paranoid type and local culture has a lot to do with it, a lot of people are stone cold on the inside with a shiny exterior. It’s difficult to judge by appearance.

      Perhaps it might be interesting to look at the history of other countries with language disputes. See what sort of methods a discriminated group can use to protect itself. Like surely there must have been feuds over french and english languages in Canada, for instance, right?