The journalist who saved the Daugava River and led the Latvian Popular Front
'Standing up for the Daugava meant the same thing as standing up for an independent Latvia. The fight against the Daugavpils HPP was the start of our revolution.'
A Latvian journalist and politician. In 1986, his article in Literatūra un Māksla, co-written with Arturs Snips, sparked public opposition to the Daugavpils hydroelectric dam; the campaign gathered 30,000 signatures and forced the Soviet Council of Ministers to halt construction in 1987. At the founding congress of the Latvian Popular Front in October 1988 he was elected its first chairman, turning a mass movement born of environmental protest toward the political goal of restoring independence. He served as deputy speaker of the Supreme Council after the Front's 1990 electoral victory, resigned in 1992 and returned to journalism, later leading the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party and serving on the Riga City Council.
Career Timeline
- 1979Began journalism, theatre and literary criticism
- 1986Published 'Thinking about the fate of the Daugava,' sparking anti-dam campaign. Named Most Popular Journalist
- 1988–1990Chairman of the Latvian Popular Front
- 1990–1992Deputy Speaker of the Supreme Council of Latvia
- 1992–1998Commentator and culture editor at Neatkarīgā Cīņa and other papers
- 2002–2005Chairman of the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party
- 2001–2009Riga City Council deputy