Travelsmartplanet

The Singing Revolution from 1987 to 1991 was  a series of mass demonstrations featuring spontaneous singing.

Estonia is a singing nation: every town has a choir, and their boys’ choirs are well known. Every 5 years there is a major singing event in all the parks where people dress in native costumes and sing their little hearts out.

On May 14, 1988, the first expression of national feeling occurred during the Tartu Pop Music Festival. Five patriotic songs were first performed here and people linked their hands together, and a tradition began. In June in Tallinn people at the Old Town Festival moved to the Song Festival Grounds and similarly started to spontaneously sing patriotic songs together.

On September 11, 1988, a massive song festival, “Song of Estonia”, was held at the Tallinn Song Festival Arena where 300,000 people came  (more than a quarter of all Estonians); even  political leaders were participating actively, and were for the first time insisting on the restoration of independence. On November 16, 1988, the legislative body of Estonia issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration.

The Singing Revolution lasted over four years, with various protests and acts of defiance. In 1991, as Soviet tanks attempted to stop the progress towards independence, the Estonian Supreme Soviet together with the Congress of Estonia proclaimed the restoration of the independent state of Estonia and repudiated Soviet legislation. People acted as human shields to protect radio and TV stations from the Soviet tanks. Amazingly, through these actions Estonia regained its independence without any bloodshed.

Since Finland is so close to Estonia, it was possible to catch some non-Soviet, free world TV on the northern shores. More truth was learned here than what was permitted on Soviet television.

Perhaps this window on the free world helped set off the “Singing Revolution” where 200,00 Estonians sang patriotic songs and it was broadcast. This eventually led to independence from the Soviet Union.

Estonia was the most prosperous part of the Soviet Union.

Mart Laar Estonian became Estonia’s Prime Minister at the tender age of 32 in Oct 1992 and held the office twice. He is credited with successful major economic reforms transforming Estonia from a Soviet way of life to a free economy.

He abolished subsidies and import duties, created a flat income tax of 26% and started social security. He made it easy to do business there. A new company could be up and running in 2 weeks. Ericsson, Nokia phones are produced here and Skype was invented in Tallinn.

His leadership helped rank Estonia as the least corrupt country in the post-communist region and the Heritage Foundation / Wall Street Journal index qualified Estonia as the most economically free in all of Europe.

Guilds were formed back in the Middle Ages to bring like-minded tradesmen together and to form a teaching method for continuity of the trade. In Riga, Latvia, there are 19th century guild buildings still standing – one for big companies and one for the small merchants.

The guilds set the standards of hours, quality, number of masters, apprentices, etc. Each apprentice had to prove his competence to become a master by creating a “masterpiece” which was judged. Sometimes apprentices faked their credentials by just marrying the widow of their master and continuing his work.

In 1839, composer  Richard Wagner was a conductor at the Court Theatre in Riga, Latvia. His extravagant lifestyle and his wife Minna’s retirement from the stage led him to run up huge debts. He devised a plan to flee his creditors by escaping to Paris (via London) where he could make some money by getting Rienzi performed at the Paris Opéra.

Unfortunately, his plan turned to disaster when his passport was seized by the authorities on behalf of his creditors. Undeterred, he and Minna made a dangerous and illegal crossing over the Prussian border, during which Minna suffered a miscarriage. A ship’s (Thetis) captain agreed to take them without passports. Traveling through storms (the ship at one point took refuge in the Norwegian fjords at Tvedestrand), the 8-day trip plunked them in London 3 weeks after leaving Riga.

In Old Town of Riga, Latvia there are food market pavilions that have been open since the 1930’s. In Soviet times they were important because it was the only place a free economy existed. Farmers were allowed to come here and sell excess vegetables.

Nowadays it is full of butchers, groceries, cheeses, fish, pickled condiments, baked goods and some cooked food. We loved the meat dumplings in the tiny booth just to the left of the main door so much that we bought one and then turned around and came back for more. They were only about $.50 and I wish I could have one right now.

If you like Art Nouveau buildings, Riga, Latvia has over 600 examples. Following the design style laid out by Victor Horta of Belgium, this last decorative style done up here in 1903/1904 is full of garlands, female faces, wrought iron and stained glass.

Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein, who graduated from the Institute of Civic Engineering in St. Petersburg in 1893, was the designer of a number of the Art Nouveau buildings here. His works were characterized by decorative, odd-shaped or asymmetrical windows, often with large female head shapes, bright glazed brick or ceramic plates, glass and metal tiles etc. His son Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a well-known Soviet film director.

Latvian President

Vaira Vike-Freiberga was the 6th President of Latvia, the first female President of Latvia and the first female leader in Eastern Europe. Vike-Freiberga’s family fled the Soviet takeover of Latvia after WWII, moving to Germany and Morocco before settling in Canada in 1954. All of this moving around led to her to being fluent in English, French, Latvian, Spanish and German.

In Canada, Vike-Freiberga  married, had kids and led a regular life after earning degrees in Psychology from the University of Toronto and then in 1965,  a PhD in Psychology from McGill in Montreal. She became a prominent professor of psychology at the Universite de Montreal, teaching psychopharmacology and psycholinguistics and authoring 11 books.

When the Soviets tried to put down a Latvian rebellion in 1998, her son Karlis joined the protests that helped lead Latvia, her former country, to independence. She followed him home to help and took a position leading the Institute of Latvia, an organization that promotes Latvia abroad. In 1999, when the Latvian Parliament failed to elect a President in the first ballot, she was chosen as a compromise candidate, as a highly respected person not affiliated with any of the political parties – and wound up winning the presidency.

As President of the Republic of Latvia 1999-2007, she was instrumental in achieving membership in the European Union and NATO for her country. She is still active in international politics and was official candidate for UN Secretary General in 2006.

When the Soviets took over the Baltic States after WWII, the Lithuanian underground went overground into the forests (50% of the country is forest). They were waiting for help from the West, but none came. Eventually the KGB infiltrated the ranks, and by 1955 none were left.

The last one to turn out the lights managed to hide out until 1973, but had to commit suicide before the KGB captured him.