Pauls' granddaughter living in Latvia caused a scandal with words about the ban on the Russian language

The granddaughter of the legendary Soviet and Latvian composer Raymond Pauls, Annamaria Paula, believes that Latvia is "moving away from freedom" in the language issue. She wrote about this on her page on the social network.

"Latvia should know and respect the Latvian language. It is the language of our country, the basis of our identity and a value that must be protected. But another question bothers me. Is it possible to ban the use of the native language in a democratic country and the European Union?", she wonders.

According to Paula, the language itself does not pose a threat. It is the means by which people think, create, love, grieve and communicate.

"History has repeatedly proved that when the state begins to determine which languages, books, theaters or cultural institutions are acceptable and which are not, we are moving away from freedom, and not closer to it," she believes.

Paula is sure that a strong country is not afraid of languages. This approach inspires people to choose a language with pride, not out of fear.

"I want to live in Latvia, where the Latvian language is strong, not because others are banned, but because we respect, develop and choose it ourselves. In my opinion, this is how a strong democracy works," Annamaria Paula concluded.

A heated debate unfolded in the comments to the post. She herself explained that she works in a municipal shelter in Riga, where more than half of the clients are Russian—speaking. She believes that it is better to communicate with people who find themselves in a difficult life situation in a language they understand.

"In my opinion, the strengthening of the Latvian language and respect for people do not contradict each other. Both principles can coexist," the girl emphasizes.

Many subscribers thanked Paula for her position and wished that the massive haight would not force her to abandon an unpopular opinion.

However, many users were outraged and actively argued with the author of the post.

"I am concerned about the presence of the granddaughter of a popular artist on the dark side," "A very primitive opinion — without facts, evidence. Just a splash of emotions", "Don't be ashamed of your grandfather's name!", "In Latvia no one forbade speaking foreign languages. Communicate with each other in your home in any language", "How are spoken languages prohibited for foreigners? While driving in public transport, I hear different languages, rarely Latvian", "When will you finally understand that we are talking about state, state institutions," subscribers are outraged.

Almost all the participants in the discussion expressed their opinions on Paula's page in Latvian, only two of the almost 500 comments were written in Russian.

As EADaily reported, on June 25, the Minister of Culture of Latvia, Nauris Puntulis, issued an order providing for the exclusion of the Russian language from public communication of institutions subordinate to the Ministry.

According to the order, the Ministry of Culture, its subordinate institutions and capital societies are obliged to comply with the requirements for the use of the state language, preventing the use of Russian in situations related to the performance of state functions. The restrictions apply, in particular, to international events, strategic documents, advertising and Internet sites.

Justifying his decision, Puntulis refers to the conclusions of the Constitutional Court that the state is obliged to strengthen the position of the Latvian language in the public space and contribute to the formation of a unified information space in Latvia.

At the same time, the restrictions established by the Ministry of Culture do not apply to professional artistic activity if the work was created in Russian in the original.

Institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Culture of Latvia must bring their activities in line with the new requirements by July 30.