Sydney Estonian House, Sunday 18 August 2024
Speech by Sulev KALAMÄE, Honorary Consul of Estonia, Sydney
Tere päevast. Elagu Eesti Vabariik! Ma täna esitan oma kõne inglese keeles, kuna meie hulgas on mõned kes ei valda eesti keelt.
Today we are gathered here for a wonderful reason – to celebrate 33 years since Estonia regained it’s independence, after over 50 years of illegal Russian occupation.
Today we will hear patriotic songs from the choir ‘Kooskõlas’ who are accompanied by the renowned Siim Selis who is visiting us from Tallinn. Thank you Siim for talking time from your busy schedule to come here to the other side of the world to guide ‘Kooskõlas’ on their journey to Laulupidu in 2025.
Song is the weapon Estonians have used so effectively to help achieve independence from the yoke of foreign masters. I believe many of you by now have heard of the term ‘Singing Revolution’. The ‘Singing Revolution’ is possibly the best known example in recent history of the power of song to help overthrow a regime, without violence. This revolution of singing took place during the late 1980’s and directly resulted in Estonia achieving independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A tremendous achievement.
What is not as commonly known however, is that the seeds of the Singing Revolution actually germinated in another act of singing rebellion in Tallinn, some 10 years earlier in 1980. I will attempt explain how and why:
Some of you may remember the punk band ‘The Sex Pistols’ in the late 1970’s, and how they challenged the UK establishment with such angry songs as ‘God Save the Queen’. To some people in UK it virtually seemed like anarchy was looming on the horizon.
Well, a couple of years later in September 1980, a similar potential threat to the establishment appeared in Soviet Estonia. A major football match was held at Kadriorg Stadium, in Tallinn. An Estonian band called ‘Propellor’ was invited to perform a set of songs during the half-time break of the football game, and another set of songs after the game
was over. During half-time break the band used the opportunity to belt out a number of songs laced with anti-authority sentiments, much to the delight of the young audience present. But it appears that these songs were not at all appreciated by the Soviet authorities, because at the end of the football game, it was announced over the PA system that the band was forbidden from playing the planned second half of their concert.
Well, this announcement promptly resulted in what can only be described as a riot, and within minutes some 5,000 young people (mostly students) had swept out from the stadium and marched into the Old Town of Tallinn, to continue their protest.
As luck had it, I happened to be visiting Tallinn at this time, and witnessed the masses of young protestors in Raekoja Plats (the Town Hall Square). The whole square was full of people, many of whom were chanting slogans critical of the authorities.
As far as I could see most of the local police were caught completely off-guard by this unprecedented turn of events, and stood well clear of the crowd, confused and not really sure of what exactly to do next.
But I did notice the KGB vans with blacked-out windows slowly circling the town square, with their film cameras recording the faces of the protestors, no doubt for later interrogations. After some time the heat of the moment dissipated, and the protestors gradually dispersed – probably amazed that they had just managed to carry out such a blatant protest, essentially unchallenged by the authorities. This was unprecedented in the history of Soviet Estonia.
The leaders of the Estonian Communist Party were rattled by this event, and thus began a series of interviews and arrests of the young people and others, who had engaged in this clearly anti-Soviet behaviour. All who could be identified were punished or warned in some way. Many had their files marked by the KGB as troublemakers. The band ‘Propellor’, who played at the football stadium, were blamed for being the catalyst that sparked the riots, and they were disbanded, and all their musical recordings destroyed.
During this time I was I was staying as a guest in the apartment of my relative Arvo Valton, one of Estonia’s leading writers. I remember listening in to the discussions Arvo was having in his living room with his fellow writers and poets, all leading figures in Estonian culture at the time. They were not only disturbed by the over-reaction of the authorities to the football stadium riot, but also possessed a long-held resentment of the seemingly never-ending stream of Russian-speaking immigrants that were arriving each year into Estonia from all corners of the Soviet Union, and the creeping discrimination and increasing disrespect shown towards local Estonians and the Estonian language.
I was not all that surprised, when they decided to take the next step from the Propeller band’s protest songs, and stage their very own form of protest. On October 28 th 1980, forty of Estonia’s most prominent writers and poets, including my relative Arvo, issued a public appeal to the Estonian authorities for some serious reform. This is now famously known as the “Letter of the 40 Intellectuals”. In their Letter, the 40 intellectuals argued for stronger protection of the Estonian language and culture, and a halt to the growing Russification of the country.
It was without doubt, the first attempt by anyone in Soviet Estonia to enter into any form of public political dialogue with the Communist Party!
The government-controlled newspapers in Estonia refused to print the ’Letter of the 40’, but nevertheless the letter was secretly distributed and widely read throughout the land.
The impact of the ‘Letter of the 40’ was far-reaching. It raised the morale of Estonians and strengthened the people’s bond with their intellectuals, and motivated everyday Estonians to take action themselves – something they had never previously contemplated.
In my view, these events of September & October 1980 are arguably the seminal moment in the development of the national consciousness movement in Estonia, that would later form the ‘Singing Revolution’. The initial protests of the punk band Propeller and their young fans, followed then by the protests of Estonia’s most prominent writers, helped create the critical mass that eventually led to Estonia’s re-independence.
Sadly, my relative Arvo Valton – one of the original signatories of the ‘Letter of 40 Intellectuals’ – died just last month at the age of 89, a few weeks short of today’s anniversary. I believe that today we owe him and his generation of Estonia’s prominent writers a huge vote of thanks for their courage to step up, and speak up, at the right time.
I hope I have successfully explained to you here today how the songs of a noisy punk band back in September 1980 morphed into the Singing Revolution of the late 1980’s with it’s beautiful patriotic songs – some of which you may hear today in 2024.
Clearly the ‘take-away’ from today’s little ‘history lesson’ is the truly amazing power of song as a powerful catalyst for social and political change!
Thank you.
Elagu Eesti Vabariik!