User:Zemenespuu~enwiki/Parties

This article is about the historical Latvian Social Democratic Union, renamed the Latvian Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1913. There is also an article on the current Social Democratic Union, a minor Latvian political party founded in 2002.

The Latvian Social Democratic Union (Latvian: Sociāldemokrātu savienība, sometimes abreviated as SDS) was a socialist political group with roots dating to 1892 in Liepāja. Led by Miķelis Valters and Ernests Rolavs, the group was an outgrowth of the New Current but soon took a more radical and nationalistic position in opposition to the much larger Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Many activists from the New Current were arrested in the late 1890s, and many emigrated to Western Europe and the United States. The branches of Valters' and Rolavs' group issued polemics in exile, including Proletārietis ("The Proletarian," a publication printed in Boston in 1902 and 1903 and in Zurich in 1903 and 1904). They were the first to demand full autonomy for Latvia and proposed the transformation of the Russian Empire into a federation of autonomous republics. They also advocated the expropriation of the Baltic German estates in a radical land reform.

The Light of Latgale (Latgales Gaisma) is a Latgale regionalist political party in Latvia.

The Light of Latgale is based in the city of Daugavpils and is lead by Daugavpils businessman Rihards Eigims. The party won 2001 municipal elections in Daugavpils, with Eigims becoming city's mayor. Eigims was the mayor until 2003 when he lost a confidence vote in the city council, after several city council members defecting from The Light of Latgale. The Light of Latgale is currently the main opposition party in Daugavpils city council.

The party has been less successful outside Daugavpils. It holds one seat on the city council of Krāslava and has failed to win seats in municipal elections elsewhere in Latgale. At the last legislative elections, 5 October 2002, the party won 1.6 % of the popular vote and no seats.

Nacionālā Spēka Savienība (National Power Union, abbreviated NSS; the party translates its name as National Power Unity, sometimes it is also translated as Union of National Force) is a far-right nationalist political party in Latvia, a member of the European National Front.

It was founded in 2003 by Aigars Prusis and Viktors Birze on the base of the human rights group Helsinki-86.

In the 2005 municipal elections to the Liepāja city council, the NSS received 400 votes, or 1.86% of the total, and no seats.

Sēlpils or Sēļpils (Latin: castrum Selonum, "the castle of the Selonians," German: Selburg) was the military and political center of ancient Selonia, a Baltic land that lay in what is now northern Lithuania and in southern Latvia east of the Semigallian lands and mostly on the left bank of the Daugava river.

Archaeological evidence shows that Sēlpils, 17 km northwest of modern Jēkabpils, was a major settlement between the 10th and 13th centuries. Used as a base for raids by the Selonians and their Lithuanian allies into Latgalian and Livonian lands, Sēlpils was first mentioned in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, which describes its capture by the Livonian Order and their christianized ethnic Livonian allies in 1208. Sēlpils was briefly the seat of a Selonian diocese (1218-1226), and then came under the rule of the Livonian Order, which constructed fortifications there for the Advocate (German: Vogt) of the Order. These were destroyed by the Swedes in 1704, during the Great Northern War, and only traces of the foundations are visible at the site today.

• Arveds Švābe, ed.: Latvju enciklopēdija. Stockholm: Trīs Zvaigznes, 1952-1953.

• Edgars Andersons, ed.: Latvju enciklopēdija 1962-1982. Lincoln: American Latvian Association, 1983-1990. Entry "Sēlija" available at historia.lv. Retrieved 26. II. 2006.

• Vytautas Kazakevičius: "Selonian archaeological sites in Lithuania" Retrieved 26. II. 2006.

Selonia (Latvian: Sēlija), also known as Augšzeme (the "Highland"), is a cultural region in Latvia encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia (Latvian: Zemgale). Not an administrative division in modern Latvia, Sēlija currently designates those portions of the Daugavpils, Jēkabpils and Aizkraukle districts (rajoni) that lie on the left bank of the Daugava river. Some of the inhabitants still speak a sub-dialect of the High Latvian spoken in Latgale, derived from the Selonian language.

Prior to the subjugation and baptism of the Selonians in 1208, when Albert of Buxhoeveden captured Sēlpils (Latin: castrum Selonum), Selonia extended into Lithuania. The Selonians were allied with the Lithuanians. In 1218 the region formed a Selonian diocese, but in 1226 part of that diocese was joined to the Riga archbishopric and the Semigallian bishopric was formed.

• Arveds Švābe, ed.: Latvju enciklopēdija. Stockholm: Trīs Zvaigznes, 1952-1953.

• Edgars Andersons, ed.: Latvju enciklopēdija 1962-1982. Lincoln: American Latvian Association, 1983-1990. Entry "Sēlija" available at historia.lv. Retrieved 25. II. 2006.

• Vytautas Kazakevičius: "Selonian archaeological sites in Lithuania" Retrieved 25. II. 2006.

Das im Lettischen als Sēlija (auch Selija), oder volkstümlich: Augšzeme (deutsch: Oberlettland) bezeichnete Gebiet ist ein historisch entstandenes Siedlungsgebiet im heutigen Lettland. Das Gebiet, welches der Baltenstamm der Selen (siehe auch Selonians in der englischen Wikipedia) bewohnte, befindet sich im Süden Lettlands links der Daugava (deutsch: Düna). Der alte Stamm der Selen wurde gemeinsam mit den Kuren, Liven und Semgallern seit 1180 missioniert und im 13. Jahrhundert vom Schwertbrüderorden und deren Nachfolgern, dem Deutschen Orden, unterworfen.

Schon vor dem 13. Jahrhundert siedelten die Selen bis tief in das heutige Litauen. Heute ist Oberlettland ein Teil Semgallens. Unterschiedliche Glaubensrichtungen beeinflussten das Gebiet. Die früher dort tätigen deutschen Pastoren hatten wesentlichen Einfluss auf die Bildung der dortigen Einwohner.

Das Gebiet der Selen wurde über die Jahrhunderte von den verschiedensten Volksstämmen besiedelt, einschließlich der Juden. Während der Zeit der Zugehörigkeit Lettlands zur Sowjetunion wurden die Selen offiziell nicht anerkannt. Die Nachfahren der Selen bemühen sich seit der Erlangung der Unabhängigkeit Lettlands verstärkt um ihre ethnische Identität. Sie halten Konferenzen ab zur Kultur und zu den Grenzen ihres Territoriums.

Jakobstadt (lettisch: Jēkabpils) ist die inoffizielle Hauptstadt von Oberlettland. Die dort lebenden Menschen haben ihre eigene Kultur, ihren eigenen Dialekt und ihre eigene Denkensart.