Disturb societal norms
You can get noticed by interfering with daily routines. However, demonstrations should not be violent or destructive, but rather clever and tasteful.
BEFORE YOU ORGANISE A DEMONSTRATION, KNOW THE LAW
and find out, in time, what is the procedure specified by the local government for organisation of public events. It is also always helpful to critically assess how far you are willing to go for your beliefs and principles.
The Red Army Choir and Orchestra performed a propaganda concert in Toronto. My friends, Albert Vītols and Guntis Brūmelis, and I decided that we would buy tickets to this concert in the front row, right in front. We had those "Nyet, Nyet, Soviet!" shirts made by Pēteris Elferts. We decided to count "One, two, three!", pull off our sweaters, and shout: “Don’t listen. Listen to the history of Soviet Union in Latvia, Lithuania...!” We wanted to name all the countries that were occupied. But, before we could name all the Baltic states, the KGB jumped on top of us and started beating us, dragging us out of the concert hall. Toronto police helped us get out.
One morning, the staff of the Soviet embassy could not understand what was going on? There was a terribly strange noise all around the building. They went out – lots and lots of cats! Cats everywhere! Catnip. Someone had scattered catnip all around the embassy building overnight. And all the cats of the neighbourhood were running to the embassy and crawling everywhere, in all the overhangs, climbing up trees up and jumping down onto the window ledges. In a word, total disaster! They couldn't figure out how to get rid of them all! Well, a couple of days passed…
Hand-made concert programmes in which the names of the works were changed, drawing attention to the illegal action of the Soviet Union by occupying the Baltic states. These ‘fake’ programs were distributed by Latvians at the Red Army Choir concert in London.
Donated to Latvians Abroad Museum and Research Centre by Andris Mellakauls
KHRUSHCHEV'S VISIT TO STOCKHOLM
At the start of 1964, the Swedish government invited Nikita Khrushchev to visit, which we considered to be "beastly" behaviour. We got some friends together, and we thought about how we could show our dislike. It was clear that we would not get any attention with political resolutions. The only thing left to do was something impressive. We had heard that white mice were let loose at a women's communist congress in Canada. It caused quite a fuss; all the ladies screaming on tables. We thought about which animal would be the most suitable? A piglet! It has a resemblance to the guest!
We went to a farmer near Stockholm and asked if we could buy a piglet. We said that one of our friends, a farmer, has a birthday and we want to give them a piglet. Finally, we bought the animal and put it in the trunk and drove off. From time to time we opened the trunk so the poor thing would not suffocate. The animal spent one night in straw in my bathroom.
On June 23, we put the piglet in the car, drove to Stockholm Castle, let it loose on the street, and took off. We had tied a red ribbon around the belly of the piglet, drawn a red face on it, and smeared it with oil.
The poor piglet, of course, was immediately frightened and tried to escape, running up the hill of the royal palace (Lejonbacken). Suddenly someone saw what was happening, and a couple of police officers started running after the piglet. The police tried to catch it, but it slipped out of their hands because it was oily. One of the police officers grumbled: “This is really something else!”