Estonia: Almost extinguished, successfully reborn

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ESTONIA: Almost extinguished, successfully reborn initiatives. People started to lose their deeply ingrained fear. The August demonstrations were also the first major breakthrough of Baltic aspirations into the international media. Between August 1987 and February 1988, the atmosphere in Estonia changed more than it had done during all the preceding forty years. People woke up to the possibilities of public protests. While on February 2, 1988 in Tartu, a political demonstration commemorating the signing of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty, was violently broken up by riot police, on February 24, (the 70 th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia) thousands in Tallinn spontaneously demonstrated their allegiance to free Estonia, this time without interference. A further public meeting in Tallinn on March 25 th , 1988 marked the anniversary of the 1949 mass deportations. By hesitating, the Soviet authorities started rapidly to lose control over the situation. On the first days of April 1988, a plenary meeting of the Union of Estonian Arts and Letters, bringing together the elite of artists, writers and composers, articulated not only the problems of national identity and culture but severely criticized Communist cultural policies. The message of the cultural leaders, transmitted live on television, provided an electrifying impetus to the nation. This led the way to further new political initiatives. On the Estonian TV program, “Let us think again”, on April 13, 1988, an economist Edgar Savisaar advocated the creation of a Popular Front with the aim of mobilizing ordinary people through this quasi-official organization in support of Gorbachev’s perestroika. 38
ESTONIA: Almost extinguished, successfully reborn By that date, however, the situation in Estonia had already changed fundamentally. One of the tipping points became the all-Estonian meeting of the Heritage Societies on April 14–17, in Tartu. The organizers dared to present the national flag at a public meeting of 10,000, displaying the long-forbidden blue, black and white national colours together, but on separate strips of fabric. Immediately these colours started to spread. Participants returned to their homes all over the country with a new spirit of courage and hope. By the end of May and early June, one could see the tricolour on display at many public meetings all over Estonia. In May, 1988, the national-political ideals started to attract thousands of young people. Leading Estonian rock musicians transformed the patriotic message into language and style that the younger generation eagerly embraced. In a way, Alo Mattiisen and Juri Leesment’s “Five patriotic songs” created a bridge between the 19 th century national awakening and the current one. When in June the authorities attempted to cut off the performance of these songs in Tallinn’s Town Hall Square, the crowds proceeded to the Song Festival grounds at the outskirts of the city. This was the start of the spontaneous “night song festivals” where tens of thousands waved national flags, sang patriotic songs and celebrated one night after the other. The tremendous spirit of togetherness and unity made the people feel stronger and more courageous. It was then that the artist Heinz Valk coined the term “Singing Revolution”. 39
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Estonia: Almost extinguished, successfully reborn

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