One day, having a really interesting talk with my mom, we have concluded that life of the generation of my grandparents and my mom's parents in the former Soviet Republics is really a sad story. They were born in 1920s and 1930s, living all the hardships of the post-war time here in the Baltics, ''collectivisation'' and repressions against their relatives in other Soviet Republics, including Russia itself, then they tried to survive all the hardships of war time... The Baltics have been occupied (ok, if we use documents of the international law which were in force that time, we can say that that was a violent annexation of a state) and some people were fighting for the independecne of their homeland till the late 1957, and then again people forced to believe for the bright future to come, when communism is established in the Soviet Union.... And again people had been working and working, some in the labour camps.... Late 1970s - 80s - people have started to observe empty shelves in shops. For example, my mom, while being pregnant, had to stand in a line early in the morning in order to get for herself and others one kg of cottage cheese... "Dry law".... our neighbours in one Udmurtian town came to our flat to change their food coupons for vodka coupons... Collapse of the Soviet Union, collaps of the whole system, factories and other big and small enterprises build on the Soviet model. People were out of jobs, but pensions were too small to survive....
17 years have passed since we regained our independence. Do you think the situation has changed? You are really an idealist flying somewhere in the sky, if you think so. Life in Latvia is getting more and more expensive, prices are getting higher on everything - gas, electricy, water and other tariffs are getting higher year by year.... My grandmother gets maybe a bit more than 200 USD or 130-140 EUR per month, if not her close relatives like us, she barely could survive.... But according to the Latvian official statistics a so-called "survival minimum" in Latvia this January was 148 LVL (300 USD/ 210 EUR), and this is a minimum of minimum to survive in Riga!! So, old people are deprived also from this minimum...
This April the price for the electricity will rise by 37%, reading this news in the internet news portal, people left a lot of angry comments, this is just one of them - "why should we work in Latvia for 20 years and then get 135 LVL pension (around 195 EUR), if we can work for seven years in Ireland and get a minimum pension of 1000 EUR? I do not see the incentive to work and pay taxes in Latvia!" Yeah, that's a problem! We do not see any motivation to stay and work for our country, because the social policy really sucks - 34% of my salary I pay to the state, and actually I get nothing from them! Ok, we have new roads, more or less renovated schools, but the vast majority of these projects were financed by the European Commision.... Maybe I am worng and too harsh in my judgement, but when you see what's happening now in the Riga City Counsil, you will get really mad...
This morning I went to the office through a so-called "green & flee market", where people sold food products from their farms and some stuff from their homes. Some old people were standing there, selling their belongings - a lot of books, maps, pins, paintings, postcards etc... I have stopped near one old woman, she immediately offered me her books and postcards from old times... She told me that today she had to earn at least 5 LVL (10 USD) to cover her table rent. I took some really cute and amazing old postcards for 10 USD, she put them in the ''Lattelecom" envelope (in these envelopes people get bills for their phone conversations) and I went away...
Unhappy, unlucky and miserable generation we have in the post-soviet space ...
All their life they are trying to survive.....
Do you think old people live better in any other post-Soviet country?
No!
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