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Rejoinder.

Article Excerpt
ESTONIAN CIVIL RELIGION AND NATIONAL UNITY

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonia took great pride in becoming a model of progressive social, economic and political reform. Its accomplishments have been commendable given the fact of its enormous diversity challenge. This diversity challenge (that Estonia must effectively manage as a part of its adjustment to democracy) is largely due to the massive population shifts that were a part of the Soviet strategy. The Estonian attempt to successfully shape itself into a model of liberal democracy must contend with the problem of this diversity resulting in what amounts to Estonia's bi-polar culture (60 percent Estonian and 40 percent people relocated from various parts of the former Soviet Union).

The minority population is generally referred to as Russian. Thus, Estonia, like many other Western European secular nations, finds it difficult to establish common shared values that bond people together. Estonia also has found it difficult to establish a national character with which all of its people can identify. To have a clear picture of the intricate dynamics connected with challenges to Estonia's attempt at improved national unity, a couple of key factors must be taken into consideration. First, Estonia enjoyed a brief period of independence during the interwar years. Prior to the interwar period of independence Estonia had been under foreign occupation for something like seven hundred years. In addition to effectively integrating the Russian influence, Estonia is also challenged to integrate significant influences resulting from Swedish and German occupations (along with a mixture of other occupations and minor influences) into a unified national character.

The necessity of establishing a unified national character based on the Estonian cultural heritage is not an easy task given such a history. In other words Estonia is challenged to search its collective ethnic memory to find a source of shared values that can unite a nation that is 40 percent or more composed of the very forces that reflect the disruption of that culture. So, on the one hand, Estonia must be commended for having come so far in democratizing in such a short period of time. On the other hand, Estonia faces a similar difficulty as many other European nations. "It is hard to find a democratic or democratizing society these days that is not the site of some significant controversy over whether and how its public institutions should better recognize the identities of cultural minorities" (Gutman 3).

Estonia's problem, associated with its tendency to be bi-polar, was made evident in the spring of 2007 with violent conflict over sentiments connected with celebrating Victory Day. Russians in Estonia gather on Victory Day at a monument in the center of the capital to celebrate the defeat of Fascism and the end of World War II. Estonians resent this public display because for them Victory Day represents the beginning of Soviet occupation. The Estonian government decided to remove this monument to a remote part of the city. The Russians felt this as an offensive attempt to marginalize their presence in the center of the city (or indeed their presence in Estonia). This resulted in several days of violent clashes with officials.

This outbreak of violent tension between a large portion of the minority population and Estonian authorities captured national attention and strained international relations. The Russian war effort is a source of enormous pride in Russia. "Russia sees itself as the main

Power which helped bring freedom to Europe, defeating the Nazis at an enormous human cost" (BBC News). Russia regarded the removal of the monument as an affront to their pride. The general tension between the two segments of the Estonian population had already prompted rumors of a referenda requesting autonomy, which...

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