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EDITOR'S DESK

Hero in high heels

by Judi McLeod

March 3, 2003

It’s only every once in awhile that they come along, The Lech Walesas', the Vaclav Havels', and most recently, the Vaira Vike-Freibergas'. Problem is, there aren’t enough of them and they never stay long enough.

Poland’s Walesa, of course, dared to hope and led a crusade for freedom against the Kremlin. Havel marked the world as the poet-dissident who led the Velvet Revolution, which brought about the bloodless overthrow of the Czechoslovak Communist regime.

Like a breath of fresh air in a long sealed-up dank room, Vaira Vike-Freiberga blew into the presidency of Latvia after having revoked her Canadian citizenship.

On a recent visit to meet American President George W. Bush, this Toronto educated world leader took on the hopelessly pacifist talking heads who rule the American electronic media.

It couldn’t have been easy. For the talking heads, that is. While most foreign leaders of the day solidly straddle the fence, and pay endless heed to the stratums of the politically correct, Latvia’s president is not afraid of her own opinion.

Vike-Freiberga is living proof that some women do not need the aid and support of the Women’s Liberation Movement, and should be poster girl for the cause. Given that she’s an outspoken supporter of President Bush’s efforts to bring Saddam under control--or go to war--the Latvian President will never embraced by the feminists.

How she got to be President of the country she fled as a child, is a story in itself. When Vike-Freiberga left her home in Montreal for a return visit to her native Latvia in 1998, she left as a housewife and came away a president. On the fateful return trip, she had no idea she would be running for president. "Otherwise I’d have taken more than two suitcases," she quipped.

Mom ran a campaign between visiting relatives, and as things turned out, her husband and two grown children had to close up their Montreal home after the 100-seat Latvian parliament elected her to head the country’s 2.5 million people.

Worlds apart from the sit-on-the-fence variety of politicians elected in North America, politicians such as Wales, Havel and V-F do not have the luxury of hiding under the protective mantle of pacifism.

Vike-Frieberga remembers that she was but seven years of age when her family fled Latvia to escape the Soviets. The course of survival took her first to live in Germany, then Morocco, France and Canada. Somewhere along the way, she picked up fluency in English, French, German and Spanish. In addition to her Latvian language, which she never lost, she also speaks some Portuguese.

V-F may have departed Latvia as a frightened seven-year-old, but she returned to it as an accomplished 64-year-old with a vivid memory of the treachery of the Soviets.

With little patience for the anti-war elements, which she is quick to point out, have never known dictatorship, she remembers well the history of Latvia.

She explains that she comes from a country that has lived under the boot of oppressive dictatorship, and that she knows, first hand that you cannot bargain or give in to people like Saddam.

The style of President Vaira Vike-Freiberga leans more on the strength of action than the empty words of rhetoric. One of her first moves in office was to put the kibosh on language law legislation to make Latvian mandatory for all businesses. "Too intrusive," she shot back in memos to language legislation stakeholders.

When the Russians started getting into the act, perhaps anticipating the vulnerability of the newly-elected president, V-F stood up to them on her trademark high heels.

She reminded friends and foes of the lay of the land, that Russia is "extremely unpredictable…not very stable and its democratic basis questionable. It must come to terms that we are no longer a Soviet republic but a sovereign state."

This prodigal daughter of Latvia was into human rights rather than politics long before her unexpected election to the presidency.

Long live Vaira Vike-Freiberga and may her ilk find their way into public office in other countries of the world.


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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