The Latvian National Independence Movement (Latvian: Latvijas Nacionālās Neatkarības Kustība, LNNK) was a political organization in Latvia from 1988 till mid-1990s.
It formed in 1988, as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement. Unlike the mainstream Latvian Popular Front which originally supported more autonomy for Latvia within Soviet Union, LNNK insisted on independence from Soviet Union from its beginning. The leaders of LNNK included Eduards Berklavs, Aleksandrs Kiršteins, Andrejs Krastiņš, Einars Repše and Juris Dobelis.
After Latvia gaining independence, LNNK became a political party and renamed itself National Conservative Party. It won 15 seats out of 100 in 1993 parliamentary election and was an influential opposition party. In 1993 its candidate for Prime Minister was Joachim Siegerist, who lost by only one vote and ended up second. LNNK won the municipal election in Latvian capital, Riga in 1994 but its popularity quickly faded after that. It lost half of its seats in the parliament in 1995 parliamentary election and eventually merged with Tēvzemei un Brīvībai (Fatherland and Freedom), another right-wing party with similar origins in the Latvian independence movement.
Since entering into a coalition with For Fatherland and Freedom, the party increasingly sought to propagate a particularly 'Latvian' vision for Latvia as highlighted by a series of controversial adverts encouraging the consumption of Latvian goods, and warning of the dangers of non-Latvians
An organization with similar aims and almost identical name - Estonian National Independence Party - existed in Estonia.
Famous quotes containing the words national, independence and/or movement:
“The American, if he has a spark of national feeling, will be humiliated by the very prospect of a foreigner’s visit to Congress—these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches, hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage, these persons are a reflection on the democratic process rather than of it; they expose it in its process rather than of it; they expose it in its underwear.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“We must have constantly present in our minds the difference between independence and liberty. Liberty is a right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would no longer be possessed of liberty.”
—Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755)
“An actor rides in a bus or railroad train; he sees a movement and applies it to a new role. A woman in agony of spirit might turn her head just so; a man in deep humiliation probably would wring his hands in such a way. From straws like these, drawn from completely different sources, the fabric of a character may be built. The whole garment in which the actor hides himself is made of small externals of observation fitted to his conception of a role.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)