The intimate bond we call friendship can transcend diversity, national borders and the walls erected by cultural differences, prejudices and stories told about others in different communities. These stories unite us in a better understanding of belonging but also divide us when national or value boundaries cannot be overcome. It happens that we lose a friend when life distances them in time or space. But the greatest distance often occurs between people who are physically close to each other. Each has their own story to tell about the world, history and our place in it, but the origin of the different stories is the same: they are events lived together and a single shared future.
The differences in the world we share are particularly striking when it comes to the collective identities of different ethnic and linguistic groups. The population of Latvia has always been diverse, but it is in the context of the Soviet period, when representatives of various nationalities came to Latvia from the territories occupied by the Soviet Union, as well as from satellite countries and pro-socialist countries not only in Europe, but also in Africa, that one can speak of a particularly rich ethnic diversity that has directly shaped the Latvian society of today and determined its strangely dichotomous structure. In public opinion, ethnic diversity has long been considered a threat rather than an asset or has been altogether dismissed, replaced by a crude distinction between Russian-speaking and Latvian-speaking population groups.
The geopolitical turmoil, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of political repression in Russia and Belarus has marked a new turning point in relations with other ethnic communities whose stories and voices are rarely heard in the public sphere and whose lives run parallel to and often past the prevailing political debate. The abyss between "the stranger" and "the insider" is growing ever deeper and the circle of insiders – ever narrower. Different information spaces and continuous existence in radically different historical narratives have contributed to unprecedented segregation, which has exposed decades of problems in Latvia's fragmented society.
The programme "The Most Distant Friendships Are Right Next Door" will try to bridge these gaps and bring together those who have drifted apart. The market square was once a place to meet, share and listen to stories, argue, debate, persuade and be persuaded, acquiring new like-minded people and strengthening relationships with existing ones. In close collaboration and conversation with community members, the programme will focus on the lived experiences of the Afro-Latvian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian communities in Latvia, addressing issues of importance to the communities themselves. However, "The Most Distant Friendships Are Right Next Door" is open to anyone and any community, offering a place to exchange knowledge and stories both during and beyond the events, visiting the Vidzeme market and the donation tea stand at Survival Kit 14.
To use the analysis of past differences as a springboard for imagining a better future together, three of the upcoming conversations are being co-created together with a group of socially active young people and will invite them to reflect on scenarios for a better co-existence globally, in cooperation with Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian communities and ethnic minority schools.
What, if any, is community self-identity and how can it be reconciled with belonging to a wider society? How to build respectful intercultural relations that give space to mutual differences, without alienating? We are surrounded by stories that, although very different, are about the same thing: being human.
Sofija Kozlova