Ilves carries on Berlin Day tradition in Riga

June 4 marked the Isaiah Berlin Day celebrated in Riga, featuring a memorial lecture by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and other events, said  Isaiah Berlin Day 2014 communications officer Krista Vitena, reports LETA.

This year, the theme for the Isaiah Berlin Day was the collision between privacy and national security concerns. The honorary patroness of the Isaiah Berlin Association of Latvia, ex-President Vaira Vike-Freiberga gave the introduction talk before Ilves' lecture.

The events for the Isaiah Berlin Day opened at 1 p.m.with a youth debate, "Privacy is Dead," attended by young debaters from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. An expert discussion "Surveillance and Freedom" followed.

Participating in the discussion was Stuart Armstrong from the Institute for the Future of Humanity, University of Oxford, political editor of "The New Statesman" Rafael Behr, former Constitutional Protection Bureau Chief Janis Kazocins, and Professor of Philosophy at the American Collegeof Thessaloniki Vincent Muller.

A documentary feature film, "Escaping Riga," was screened as part of the festivities, followed by a public talk with the film's screenplay co-writer Uldis Tirons led by David Herman, producer of the BBC documentaries about Isaiah Berlin.

All the Isaiah Berlin Day events took place at the "Splendid Palace" movie theater.

The Isaiah Berlin Day events are organized by Soros Foundation Latvia and the Isaiah Berlin Association of Latvia, and are supported by the European Commission Representation in Latvia.