Bronze Soldier and Russian Minority in Tallinn: ‘It’s Complicated’
In April 2007 the soviet statue was uprooted from Tallinn’s city centre. It angered the Russian-speaking minority, a third of the population. Have lessons been learnt one and a half years on?
At Molly Malone’s pub in Tallinn’s old town, Ruslana doesn’t want her picture taken. ‘I still have a grey passport because it’s comfortable,’ begins the 24-year-old Russian flamenco dancer, who has a white complexion and pink-varnished nails. 116, 000 people currently have a ‘grey’ passport, meaning they are stateless. They cannot receive a ‘blue’ passport unless they pass a language exam and another testing their knowledge on the constitution. ‘The Schengen zone has been open to stateless people for a year, so I can travel to EU countries and Russia without a visa,’ says Ruslana. With neither bank nor life insurance troubles, she feels ‘good with grey. I’ve spent my whole my life in Estonia, and speak Estonian when I have to.’
Russians, Estonians, and that event
As the waitress brings Grey Ruslana another Smirnoff Ice, she comments that she wouldn’t date an Estonian. ‘I would feel bad if I forgot some vocabulary,’ is her ‘official’ explanation; I am sure she is keeping the truth for herself. Ruslana bears a grudge against her Russian friend and my guide, Olga, a naturalised Estonian with a blue passport. ‘You associate with Estonians instead of us. You speak their language more than your own,’ Ruslana accuses. She apparently doesn’t have Estonian friends.
Andrus, an Estonian, sympathises with the Russians. ‘The statue was a symbol of their dead children.’ But over another beer he shares a more radical point of view. ‘You had a statue of a f***ing soviet liberator in the centre of the capital. I hated it - a soldier won’t ever be a symbol of peace!’ His friend Kristjan, from the social democratic youth of Estonia, is more reserved. ‘People have different memories. We have more serious problems than moving statues.’
'A soldier won’t ever be a symbol of peace!'
Vadim Poleshchuk, a legal advisor from the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights (LICHR), sets emotions aside. ‘The bronze soldier stood in its place for almost fifteen years without any harm. When the extremists raised the issue, politicians started to misuse the topic before parliamentary elections,’ he remarks. Police reports prove there was no direct involvement by the Russian Federation. ‘It is a very complicated problem connected to the so-called political ‘war of monuments’, the second world war, ethnic tensions and immigration policy,’ says Poleshchuk. ‘Under the influence of Russian media propaganda and disinformation, people were pushed out on the street to fight for something they didn’t understand,’ says Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the EU affairs committee in parliament.
Monumental pretext
Analysts studying the background of April events found that a considerable part of the Russian-speaking population complain about job discrimination. Estonians in equal positions seem to get higher salaries, advance easier and have the highest positions in both private companies and public institutions reserved for them. Marko Mihkelson disagrees, calling Estonian law and practice one of the most liberal in Europe. ‘I am sure that there are certain procedures to become a citizen of Poland, Germany or France. I cannot understand people calling it humiliating.’ But with the exception of Germany, which has the 'Einbürgerungstest' since 1 September 2008, none of the other two countries require passing both the language and constitution exams.
Meanwhile, analysts say that Russians suffer from harassment, discrimination and, more commonly, language and citizenship policy. Marianne, a pretty dark-haired Russian waitress at Molly Malone’s, is on a short cigarette break. She speaks perfect Estonian and English, and is also ‘grey’. ‘I have been trying to get the blue passport for four years. I have passed the constitution and language exams several times because officials work so slowly that the certificates expire. Now I just need to wait another year and a half to receive it,’ she says with an ironic glance. ‘Certainly, there are some serious problems with bureaucracy in specific cases like this,’ comments Marko Mihkelson. ‘But please don’t tell me that bureaucracy is only in Estonia.’ He mentions there will be money for an information campaign in 2009, ‘especially on grey passports and why receiving Estonian citizenship would be good,’ he adds.
A September 2005 survey from the LICHR indicates that 53% of non-Estonians find the Estonian Language Act discriminatory. 47% of the minority population regard the Citizenship Act negatively. 42% of naturalised Estonians and 45% of stateless people struggled to get a job, while only 16% of Estonians admit having the same difficulty. Finally, over 63% of Estonians believe that ethnic groups are isolated from each other. More than 59% of non-Estonians have the same feeling. According to the 2000 census, Estonians were only a little more than 50% of Tallinn’s population.
Did the government change anything in immigration' policy to prevent such a situation from re-occuring? 'Not really,' answers Marko Mihkelson. 'But we won't make any major changes in our citizenship law, or offer citizenship to everyone just for nothing,' he adds. Vadim Poleshchuk remarks that after April 2007 there was only one legislation change - Estonian policemen got more rights. ' If they believe it won't repeat, why change the law?' he asks. After the war in Georgia, when Russia claimed the rights to protect 'their' people, Estonians are afraid of another provocation. Mikhelson predicts Estonia will 'reach normality' within fifteen years - 'you cannot really accelerate historical and social changes.' Back at Molly Malone's, the cold evening becomes a deep night through the windows, and it is Olga, the naturalized Russian, who brings the discussion to a remarkable conclusion. 'We are not enemies, but we are also afraid of becoming friends. We speak to each other, but we don't listen. We communicate, but don't understand. That is the essence of Estonia.'
(Filip Jurzyk - Foto by Marco Pighin)
on 04-12-2008 By Giovanni Angioni - Estonia - Russia relations
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Well, i m get so bored of Mr Mikhelson ( i hope i wrote wrong, like Estonian did with Russian name), is always looking outside his country try to escape from the problem. He is always well dress maybe because he is the Head of EU Committe. And there are many rumors concern how the EU money diseapper, especially for the Estonian Language Course and for the Russian "Minorities" Integration. Or actually Minorities in Political Science define a community that represent less then 10% of the population, Russian speakers in Estonia are almost 30%, is still a minorities? Well i would also to say that nowdays the integration problem isn t only for Russian but also for European people and black people. The real problem is that Estonian want to live with the Foreign Money but they don t want Foreigners live here. Okay dear Estonian we will take away all the foreigners investment and then let s see what u can do it. Growth Potatoes and be Hacker! nagemist
Her conclusion is remarkable indeed, this is exactly the feeling I have as a foreigner here.
Well, there is a cultural distance preventing people from making friends. Everything Estonian is just terribly boring for Russians. Personally, I have a lot of good colleagues - ethnic Estonians, but I hate all social events I have to attend.
Hey!
Just a comment:
You say there are no procedures in France,but there are some long procedures and exams to become a french citizen. And the bureaucracy is horrible here too. The only "easy" way is to be born on french soil with one of yours parents who is french.
And it's getting harder lately to come to live in France, there are also exams (language,culture...) if you want to reach someone of your family who's already living here.
I'm French but I've been living in Estonia, and travelling a lot in Baltic and Scandinavian countries, and Russia too.
Gerry's comment seemed to come with passion, seems he'd be Russian?
For me, it seems that Russian people are very proud (cf. getting angry for a mistake on a name), but they don't stand if an another country wants to be or is proud.
When i lived in Estonia, one year ago, i didn't have any problem with integration. People from northern Europe are way colder than from the south and west, but I think it's in the culture, and after some time people accept you.
Yes, there is a complicated history between the 2 countries, and still there is. But i kind of understand Estonian people, cause when you talk with some "grey passport" people about Estonian people, it just seems that they think they are smarter, and as they come from a bigger country it's normal that they do not make any effort of integration,cause they think they are "superior" people.
All Russian people who want to be well integrated in Estonia, accepting the rules of the country, are really well integrated.
But some Russian people just don't want to make the effort, they are just too proud, choosing to speak only their language, and don't want to speak with Estonian people,or Estonian language.
But who can you blame? Only Russian media. Population is blinded by this big machine,who controls everything.
When I was in Russia, although i really loved the country and the people, i saw A LOT of corruption, and A LOT of racism. There is way much more of that in Russia than in Estonia.
If you ask a Russian about how an Estonian would be treated in Russia, he says "badly" but he says "it's normal"! "Cause Estonian don't show respect to Russia". But it seems to me that the contrary isnt done either.
Well it's just from an exterior eye that i say all that.
I reacted seeing the previous comments, wich reminded me so much of the relations in Estonia.
Some Russian people do not feel bored about everything Estonian when they try to understand them.
The thing is that i love Estonian and Russian cultures, differents but really interesting both.
Sometimes people have to be less proud and make efforts to understand and accept each other, without this struggle for power, and i think we ll live in a better world.
Well, it is a typical mistake to assume that understanding makes people less bored or more friendly. Just read the article above, do you understand Mr Mihkelson? I do perfectly well, he's defending the regime's policies on citizenship etc. Should it make me less bored about him or more friendly? I don't think and I don't feel so.
What i wanted to say, is that people should AT LEAST try to understand each other without being prejudiced against a nationality, or a community, putting everybody "in the same place" without knowing them because you know one of them and you dont like him.
Of course it's impossible to like everybody, and it's normal if you take one person or another to don't feel close to him or her, because of his behaviour or ideas.
The typical mistake is to think that everybody is the same and do not make the effort to know them.
I was talking about people in general, and cultures
I'm not talking about politics, which is a totally different subject... It s impossible that an entire nation has the same politic ideas, and there will be always people who don't think the same as the leaders... Even in Russia, where the opposition is not free and all the medias give support to ex-president Poutine and people around him, there is still an opposition.
But I don't even know why you're talking about politics cause it was clearly not what i was talking about.
I talk for example about this part of the article: "‘You associate with Estonians instead of us. You speak their language more than your own,’ Ruslana accuses. She apparently doesn’t have Estonian friends."
This young girl just put every Estonian "in the same bag", the only fact that you are Estonian is for her a barrier - and that is what's a problem for me, not trying to know people, just judging without knowing based on their nationality.
I think she would be happier if she opened her mind and wouldnt be so proud about her country and origins, trying to know and understand the others, even if they are differents.
That part of the article is not clear for me, whom she does accuse, why and what is the 'real situation'. It is much easier for me to discuss public issues like politics than relationships between Ruslana and Olga :-)))
However, I can try to model her situation. Being flamenco dancer she does not speak much at work :-)) and she has no shortage of friends to date any Estonian :-))) Then she may feel, indeed, that her friend speaks too much Estonian language and spends too much time with them :-)) Of course, it is silly to assault her friends that way. I agree, she could make an effort to better understand them. But this is all just a theoretical model :-)))) The whole situation might be provoked by journalist or whatever.. never take place :-))
All the time I spoke about the Soldier Bronze monument with the Estonians I really thought they are missing the main part of the story.
First point
The Bronze monument is a symbol. It ss the symbol of the victory against the Nazi it is not the symbol of the soviet occupation. This was the idea when it was built. Dot.
If the estonians think different they wrong and I can also explane why.
There are similar monuments in Vienna. Red's army monument Wien and in Berlin. In Estonia this monument was transferred in different location with the excuse to avoid problems. In germany and austria no because there they understand the symbol. Even in Germany they respect more this symbol than here.... Personally I think the monument could stay where it was. Otherwise we should remove all the monuments in the world when they can provoke problems between different groups of people.
Second point.
The decision to remove the monument caused more problems than before. It means only one thing: estonian politicians are not smart at all.
Third point.
Usually I support the minority. I was not here in Estonia during the soviet occupation and of course I don't approve at all this time. Now I'm in Estonia and now the minority here are the russians. I don't care if they made bad thing in the past because if we want improve we have to see the future. And the future means: INTEGRATION. Who has the power in this country now should do something more to get this point. Remove the monument is a step behind...
I fully agree on the integration point but I have some more doubts on the first part of your comment.
You say " (...)There are similar monuments in Vienna. Red's army monument Wien and in Berlin. (...)"
True but, in my opinion, it does not mean that, just because of that, everyone should behave as Austrian and German people.
And this not only because of the different impact the soviet occupation had on these different societies but also because -it just happens- different people reacts in different ways even to identical situations.
The point, for me, is still all onto the term "integration". The statue - having been the removal a mistake or not - is past. A past which complicated the situation, true. But it is still past. Let's not stay stuck on that, let's move forward and let's finally talk about the future.
Which are the measures our politicians plan to implement for fostering integration in the nearest future? And what about the long term, what do they have in mind?
This is something I would like people to talk about. But, you know it better then me, it requires efforts. Those efforts most of the people around us is not even just willing to do.
Didn't read the article, read the summary in bold, however. There seems to be an assumption that removing the monument was some sort of mistake hence "lessons should be learnt". This is the assumption that underminds and isolates infamous punaprofessorid and their Russian friends, though the latter barely need help outside help. Efficient policy always has stick in addition to carrot and for stick to be perceived as such it has sometimes to be taken out and displayed. On the other hand whining and complaining of people being moved out of the courtroom after verdict is just a thing to get used with.