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In Spite of Everything: Literacy Is the Cultural Foundation of Estonian Independence
| Article
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10434 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1993 |
2,410 Words |
| Author
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Toivo Miljan
Toivo Miljan is professor of political science at Wilfred
Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He also is adjunct
professor in the School of Business and Economics is Helsinki.
He has revisited his Estonian homeland and the other Baltic
States tow dozen times during the past four years, advising
universities and government departments and carrying on
analyses of the national restoration. |
On February 24, 1993, Estonians everywhere celebrate their seventy-fifth Independence Day, commemorating Estonia's declaration of independence from imperial Russia. Yet since that declaration Estonians have enjoyed little more than two decades of political dominance, or the freedom to openly use their own language in their own homeland. Nevertheless, Estonians stubbornly cling to the belief that the period of Soviet darkness (1941-1991) was a mere aberration of history. In their hearts, they have always been free and Estonian.
Although the territorial fatherland is emotionally charged, the cultural idea of Estonia forms the core of Estonian nationalism. Estonia is a self-consciously cultural concept, Consequently, Soviet attempts to erase Estonian culture only served to keep national resistance stubbornly alive.
The prominence accorded to national culture is amply demonstrated by the results of recent elections in post-Soviet Estonia. More than six hundred candidates were fielded, by over two dozen electoral coalitions and fledgling parties, to contest 204 seats on September 24, 1992. Nearly everyone elected had a university degree, and intellectuals--writers, musicians, and assorted professors--form the majority in all parties. In the contest for the presidency, Lennart Meri, an award-winning novelist and filmmaker who had never previously run for public office, handily bear out both the former communist figurehead, President Arnold Ruutel, and the exile Rein Taagepera, a political science professor from California.
Meri's election victory symbolically ended the communist era by sweeping those associated with the communists off the electoral map. Although the Communist Party remained a legal entity in Estonia) it did not even change its name), it did not elect a single member to Parliament.
In contrast, a coalition of eight well-known comedians and actors formed the Royalist Party and were elected to office on the promise that they would disband once Estonia became a monarchy. Estonia has never in its history had a monarchist tradition, nor had anyone ever expressed monarchist sentiments! The Royalists resolved to make fun of the stuffy and self-serving antics of elected politicians everywhere. To date, they have found something to mock almost every week.
A national awakening
Modern Estonian nationalism dates from the period Estonians know
...
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