Why Russia is so great!

The title of this post is a bit facetious. Anyways, I came across this World War II propaganda film produced by the US Military that explains Russia's role in World War II. The style of filming is quite compelling, and even though the film doesn't mention Estonia once, its worth a look. Amazing stock footage, and its in the public domain now.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=151798573345986466&q=battle+of+russia

Quite a contrast from the ideas presented at the Estonian Occupational museum

Music that stopped time

I live near the Georg Ots Tallinn Music school and I heard a band practicing which sounded so good that I couldn't resist sitting outside for 30 minutes listening, and making a recording.

Here is a sample(Mp3 - 45 secs) of "R-Corp". They will have a show at Von Krahl theatre in Tallinn on October 25,2006.

Should volunteering be mandatory in Estonia?

Estonia continues to grow at an alarming rate, while its countryside continues to be neglected. With little hope of profits, there is no investment in the smaller towns. And as the towns need to modernize to meet tougher EU regulations, some business are forced to close, unable to meet the costs of upgrading.

So what if a lowcost proposal exisited to provide immediate upgrades to the situation, and provide the opporunity for more long term growth by increasing connections with the future business leaders?

Volunteers. Programs such as EstYes are doing just that. They are providing well managed programs that enable youth to contribute the community, experience new cultures and expand their personal network beyond their home town. With programs for teaching, building restoration, building roads, fixing mills - Estyes provides an means for small localities with little funds to grow further.

So why not make this program mandatory? Why shouldn't every citizen be actively involved in the development of their country, learn how small towns grow and have the chance to provide direct hands on experience? One could argue that this is exploitive of young labor. But combined with classroom education, an immersive program like this would enable youth to develop some real world experience and while extending their world view. Why not combine classroom education on photosynthesis with a week working in a farm? Why not combine classroom education on political science with a public works project?

These seem like win-win situations. The minimal cost in marketing to make this programs more accessible and attractive pales in the cost of their return. As long as they continue to be well run and provide the participants with rewarding experiences.

Preserving Culture? Use paper! (Or poets)

The Setu people gained main stream interest in Estonia from their folktales. Jakob Hurt, the man on the 10 kroon note, earned his place there by collecting Estonian folk lore. At least over 5,000 pages if not 10,000. He said the Setu people were a pathway for Estonians to discover their own history, and that the Setu civilization was 200 years behind the Estonians! (Quoted from an unpublished research paper emailed to me) The setu people didn't record much of their folklore. Instead, a performer interpreted common tales to meet the current situations. The response of the audience would influence the performer, and the tales would change over time. There was no "master record" of the fable.

This week in Tallinn was a conference on digital libraries and digital preservation. The attendees were organizers of archives and libraries across Europe. I attended the last session. It ended in a debate about whether their is a difference between an archive and a library. A library needs to store materials that can be looked at. An archive needs to maintain records. Its like the silly Mac vs. PC game for geeks... Anyways, the conference came to the conclusion that no good digital solution is available yet. They are all still waiting for an off the shelf software solution. People have developed XML+database solutions, but then explained the issues with them. They also express the problems of older digital solutions now being out of date. "I can't run my emulator *in* DOS 3.1 anymore." Should the data be migrated to a new version? Should the software be emulated? What about the interface?

My proposal... If your goal is preservation only. Stick with paper. Paper is just as outdated 5-10 years ago as it is now. Technology ages rapidly. Old technology gets more outdated with each year. But paper remains outdated by the same amount each year. I would argue that the cost of building a paper database and maintaining it(rent for storage, clerks to access it) is much cheaper than programming an electronic database and maintaing that.

But thats a bit boring... my hope is that when they migrate the records to the digital age-which will inevitably happen... someday... they should develop a digital poet that will scan the headlines of all the current news items, turn the text into prose with music, and then perform that to the audience.

This page can already "speak" estonian. Its a start.

Trapped In the Middle - Setu People

The Setu people are small population seeking their own nationality within in Estonia. Their population lies on the border between Estonia and Russia. The language is a dialect of Estonian. Their religion is Russian Orthodox which is quite different from the Lutheranism that is(was?) prevalent in Estonia. There culture has been used to explain older Estonia roots that are now destroyed. What would it take for these people to get honorary lifetime visas so they can freely move across the border instead of sneaking through the woods in order to see the cemetery of their ancestors or to go to church?

http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/places/videos/video_Estonia_estonia.html

New Umbilical Cable

News.google.com has just 2 stories about it. Eesti energia the state own company released some good news.

On Aug 30: they purchased Solidus a Scandinavian energy company.

On Aug 31: They began laying an energy cable with Finland.

This came just weeks after Russian and Lithuania started fighting over a closed pipeline.

Ultimately, that pipeline to Lithuania should get rebuilt, but Russian will leverage the situation into something very favorable for them. But with the underwater cable, Estonia removes another large piece of Russian influence without causing any diplomatic trouble. As Russia loses another diplomatic card, it searches for ways to win new ones. Given that the Baltics are the gateway between the EU and Russia, it appears Russia is playing tough on customs with the hopes of winning future negotiating cards as trade increases.

Update to Estonian Occupation Museum

I took issues with the way some matters were portrayed in the occupational museum's films. Wikipedia's account of Klooga is by no means an authority on the subject, but the film's portrayal might need some updating.

This lead me to a commission organized by President Meri. A group of researchers were organized to document what types of crimes were committed during the war. This is a grave account of the travesities that happened in Estonia during World War II and who is responsible-

http://www.historycommission.ee/

"The creation of this commission reflects our hope in Estonia that shining the bright light of truth on some of the tragedies of the past will not only contribute to reconciliation within our society and its further reintegration into the international community of nations but also help to prevent the repetition of such tragedies elsewhere. This commission is committed to setting out in as clear terms as possible what crimes against humanity happened in Estonia. It is committed to overcoming the stereotypes about groups that were the basis of many of these crimes: After all, most of these crimes were possible only because some governments and movements used stereotypes in place of the uniqueness of the human person in their dealings with others. It is committed to eliminating any double standards in the assessment of particular events. Crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity regardless of who commits them. And it is committed to compiling a record sufficiently well-documented and complete that no one will be able to deny what happened or to avoid facing up to the facts. "

--quoted from the Introduction

Soviet Military Bases in Hiiumaa 1 min 33 secs.

Trying to get a better understanding of film

Estonian Blog week in Review

Here are my fav estonian blog posting bookmarked from last week:

Estonia : The Year 2009 and Estonian corporate taxation system
heavy analysis of tax laws in europe

15 Things Estonia has given the world since 1991
vanilla ninja, skype and more

Estonian architecture
slick photos.

Estonian solidarity
Eastern european activists protest in Tallinn.

e-Governance Academy, an initiative from Estonia
continues to promote the new estonian government ideals

Estonian Occupantional Museum

Kudos for the Estonian Occupational Museum located in Tallinn for putting their videos online.

The museum is lined with old suitcases - presumbly used by emigrating Estonians - and filled with handcrafts made by Estonian soldiers. But the two most striking things are - all of the removed public statues now in the basement, and the Russian proganda during the Soviet era (On display in the films)

Its striking the efforts that the Russian(and German) government used in order to try to legitimize their actions apon another people. Staged protests. Staged elections. Coerced diplomatic agreements. It completely dissolved any trust I can present to any goverment from this point forward.

Two biggest economic challenges facing estonia

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) (Wikipedia) published their strategy for Estonia. It lists the two biggest transitional challenges for Estonia as:

+ the privatization of Eesti energy in a economic and environmentally responsible manner

+ to further stimulating enterprise development in the poorer regions of the country

Why would you want to privatize the energy industry and open up the possibility of an irresponsble multinational corporation to move in, to harvest all of the resources of a country with a focus on profits rather than environmental impact. Should it not be the responsibility of the government to look after its people and ensure that the country remains powered while keeping it environmentally sound? Wouldn't we want the country to be able to invest in itself in and its own alternative energy sources?

Secondly, would modernizing the countryside improve the quality of life there? Much of that land has been used for farming for over 700 years. Why rush to change it? One of the charms of Estonian life is the quiet country house. How all types of folks working in Tallinn can go to the countryside and live simply. Sauna. Eat fresh foods. Life without plumbing. These lands are self sufficient and do not need internet access or strip malls. Since the country is so small and its already easy enough to move between country and city- Why not continue to focus development within the major cities and leave the countryside alone?

Come Together

Estonia has a large Russian minority within its borders. Most estimates place it at 25% of the population. The Russians bring their own culture and language, along with a reluctance to learn the Estonian language.

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign affairs developed a plan for integration for minorities into the Estonian culture. Kudos for placing it online.

The largest portion of this plan aims to empower of the citizens of this country can speak the national language. Some points about the program:

+ Extensive result-based subsidisation of language training

+ Estonian as a Second Language teaching in kindergartens, schools, vocational institutions
(for non-Estonian schools -ed)

+ the social harmonisation of society, based on the knowledge of the Estonian language and the possession of Estonian citizenship

"The goal is to offer non-Estonians the possibility to learn to freely communicate in Estonian while preserving their own language and cultural identity." The well funded plan includes:

+ Production of Russian-language and bilingual television and radio programmes, radio broadcasts in minority languages

+ Support for ethnic minority cultural societies', art groups' and Sunday school projects

A look over at Wikipedia on Estonian Language reveals that the language is by about 1.1 million people.

English is the secondary language for Estonian speaking schools. It already serves as a way for ethnic minorities to speak with each other. Living in Tallinn, one can argue that English is enough to navigate the city. As Estonian integration into the EU continues to grow - What language is being used for international buisness? Why would a minority group living in Estonia prefer to learn Estonian as a second language as apposed to English?

Introduction

3 weeks in Tallinn already. Great concerts and conversations have already passed. This page is a place to record some of the sites during my research into Estonian culture.

My primary internal motivation is curiousity.

My goal is to raise awareness for issues in Estonia and spark productive debate.