Dr. Paul Goble
Archbishop Andres Põder dedicated the brass plaque identifying the Concert Hall as the site of the 10 historic sessions of the Congress. After the invocation, President Arnold Rüütel, Prime Minister Juhan Parts, and MEP Tunne Kelam (Chairman of the Congress from 1990-2) addressed the assembled former Congress delegates, Citizens' Committees members and guests. The speeches were followed by a concert featuring the National Opera's Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jüri Alpertin and the Tartu Academic Men's Choir, directed by Alo Ritsing.
February 2004 marked the fifteenth anniversary of the beginning of a major citizen's initiative of the 20th century - the Citizens' Committees movement of Estonia. From spring 1989 to February 1990, unpaid volunteers registered nearly 800,000 citizens of the Republic of Estonia at home and in the refugee communities abroad in a nation-wide grassroots action. A further 60,000 individuals registered themselves as applicants for Estonian citizenship, pending restoration of independence. In a country with a population of one and one half million, these numbers are nothing short of astounding. The fact that hundreds of thousands of Estonian citizens, whom Moscow considered to be Soviet citizens, openly and individually declared themselves to be citizens of Estonia was a unique referendum for restoring the independence of the Republic of Estonia declared in 1918.
Overcoming the fear created by Soviet terror, this citizens' movement fostered the crumbling of the local Communist party that had monopolized power and carried out Moscow's dictates in Estonia for half a century. It also became a demarcation line between the structures of the Estonian SSR created by the foreign occupying power and, on the other hand, the Republic of Estonia, a genuinely sovereign nation state.
The success of the Citizens' Committees (1989-90) made it possible for the national democratic forces to move to the next stage - the election of a representative body for Estonian citizens. With the welcome presence of international observers, nearly 90% of the registered citizens participated in the elections to the Congress of Estonia held on February 24, 1990. All 31 parties and movements that had by then developed in Estonia took part, nominating 1200 candidates for the 500 seats. Estonian citizens living outside Soviet-occupied Estonia won 35 of the seats. In addition, applicants for citizenship were able to elect their own non-voting representatives.
The Congress of Estonia convened for the first time March 11-12, 1990 in the Estonia Concert Hall. This marked the debut of a democratic, non-Soviet political alternative into the crumbling Estonian SSR reality.
From 1990-92, the Congress of Estonia convened 10 times, serving as a hotbed for fledgling democratic politicians. And, as the representative body of Estonian citizens, it thwarted the attempts of the Soviet Estonian power structure to form a pseudo-state based on the Estonian SSR and led by the Communist party. Instead, the Congress of Estonia created conditions making it possible to restore, in August 1991, the Republic of Estonia as an independent, democratic nation state based upon legal continuity.
In connection with the tenth anniversary of the Congress of Estonia a conference was held the previous day, March 12, at the National Library. The list of speakers included well-known historians, politicians and others: Jüri Adams, Eve Pärnaste, Sergei Zonov, Mart Laar, Kaido Kama, Liia Hänni, Paul-Eerik Rummo, Peeter Luksep, Dr. Paul Goble, Lauri Vahtre, and MEP Gunnar Hökmark. Hökmark was the Swedish Moderate Parliamentarian who established the “Monday Meetings” in Stockholm that formed the framework for demanding freedom for the Baltic Republics.
Tunne Kelam made opening and closing remarks. Several of the speakers pointed out that many of the decisions and resolutions passed by the Congress influenced not only the Estonian Supreme Soviet and the Constitutional Assembly, but also later laws passed by the Estonian Parliament that was elected in 1992. The Congress was commended for its fair and open policies on citizenship, opening the way for naturalization and peaceful integration. Several participants expressed surprise that so far no serious academic studies of the effects of the Congress of Estonia have been undertaken. The significance of what was achieved by the Citizens Committees and the Congress of Estonia becomes more apparent with the passing of time.
