Independence Day in Ottawa - Estonian World Review

Independence Day in Ottawa (3)

Eestlased Kanadas | 05 Mar 2010 | Peeter BushEWR

The Ottawa Estonian Society celebrated Independence Day on Sunday February 28, 2010 at the Latvian church with “pot luck" late afternoon lunch. Attendance was down a bit this year because of the ongoing hockey match between Canada and the United States but still about 30 people showed up.

There were no long winded aktus-style patriotic speeches nor was there a man of the cloth present to say grace. Nobody seemed disappointed by this and all enjoyed themselves in the friendly relaxed atmosphere.

After the singing of the Estonian national anthem everyone settled down at their table with a plate full of very tasty food to watch a movie named Eestlased Kremlis: NSV Liidu lagunemise lugu (Estonians in the Kremlin; a tale about the collapse of the Soviet Union). This 2006 film was interesting in that it gave background information about the role the Baltic States and in particular the role that Estonian former high level "comrades" played in the collapse of what was aptly termed the evil empire. What was particularly interesting was that several of these people such as Rüütel ( both a one-time president of independent Estonia and former Secretary General of Soviet Estonia), Savisaar (currently mayor of Tallinn) and Lauristin (prominent academic) to name just a few seemed to carry on without missing a step. This obviously demonstrates what a tolerant, open-minded society present day Estonia is.

Many thanks to the organizers.

Viimased kommentaarid

Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.

Nitpicker09 Mar 2010 08:18

Peter Bush's statement that Rüütel was "Secretary General of Soviet Estonia" has to be corrected. Such a title didn't exist in the ESSR. In fact Rüütel has always reminded people that he was not the First Secretary of the Estonian Communist Party and therefore innocent of having anything to do with the KGB. In fact Rüütel was chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the ESSR - a quasi head of state. He was a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party (as were many others) and a member of its Politbureau.In 1984 he accused ESTO `84 of being an anti-Soviet initiative. Damn right it was and it was meant to be. But some years later in a news conference in New York, he totally denied he had done that.

Rein Ende07 Mar 2010 22:29

Seda filmi oli linastud Estdocs filmi festivalis aastal 2007. DVD on saada estore poes. Lühike lõige on ka näha juutuubis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Hey, Peeter!05 Mar 2010 17:27

This sounds like an interesting film.
Any chance of doing a review for us?

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