Conference in Riga, 14-17.10 1998
National Library of Latvia and Library Association of Latvia

On the first day of this international conference, and as a prologue to the discussions to come, an exhibition in the National Library of Latvia was opened, "Censorship in Latvia: testimonies of different eras". On the grey exhibition screens, the humble books and newspaper sides, not so few of them turned yellow, told a frightful story of some of the worst predicaments of freedom of expression, just recently passed on to the archives.

The conference was organised by the National Library of Latvia and the Library Association of Latvia. UNESCO, the Council of Europe and IFLA supported the initiative as co-organisers and both the Soros Foundation, Kulturkapitali fonds (the Culture Capital Foundation) and the Latvian Ministry of Culture made financial contributions. The event gathered some 150 participants from twenty countries, mainly the Baltic countries and Central and Eastern European countries. The huge and complex issue of libraries and censorship was divided into three main themes each of which was the basis of a one day long working group session. The manifold aspects of the issue were covered in the three groups: 1. The Anatomy of Censorship: Historical Aspects; 2. Freedom of Expression and Censorship today; 3. Censorship and Democracy.

One of the introductory speakers was the Assistant-General Director of UNESCO, Henrikas Yuskiavitshus, who gave a paper under the heading Freedom of Expression in the context of development, thereby setting in focus the libraries’ role in the building of democracy societies and the responsibilities of the library profession and its organisations.

The working group sessions contained a wide range of papers illustrating the issue from different angles and of which some are to be found on this IFLA/FAIFE homepage under the heading Papers and Lectures / Riga Conference papers. Many of these gave important information and general points of view on the Internet and intellectual freedom or on the birth of democracy and the building of its institutions. Others were specific reports on the actual situation in specific countries, like Belarus or Croatia, or of the Soviet era and its censorship in Eastern Europe.

The discussions reflected in many ways both the variety of situations and status in the European countries and the various understandings of the concepts of censorship and free access to information by participants from different countries. As the delegates from fairly young democracies were in great majority the span of these discussions were much wider, more concrete and evoked more sentiments than a similar debate would have in a Western European context. It reflected the hopes and the fears of freedom as Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once put it: "Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom". The concept of intellectual freedom needs to be supported not only by law, but also by institutions, organisations and a general public awareness. The realisation of the principles is a very difficult and never ending process.

One of the main purposes of the conference was to produce at statement, The Riga Memorandum, in order "to draw the attention of professionals in particular and society in general to the potentials and problems of information and communication today". The Memorandum reflects the needs of the young democracies in laying strength on the importance of infrastructure effectiveness and resources in building libraries that are able to provide a truly free access to information.