How does Estonia rate among non-Estonians abroad. For years, quite consistently Estonia has been ranked highly as cyber-savvy, with a public service completely digitized and prevalent in hi-tech outfits. It’s also seen as strong in education, honouring press freedom and providing good quality of life.
In reference to history, in Western media today, Estonians still “sang their way to freedom” over 30 years ago. If we take the singing as an image of resilience and tenacity overcoming decades of repression, Estonia’s reputation abroad arouses pride and connectedness in all of us.
While Estonians abroad (as opposed to non-Estos) indicate very similar positive aspects of Estonia’s image, they also identify certain perceived negative characteristics.
In a 2021 study commissioned by the Foreign and Interior Ministries, an opinion poll of 2,250 Estonian ex-pats answered the question: “Please could you name one person or fact related to Estonia which characterizes Estonia for you in a positive or negative way.”
More than one third of the respondents expressly named populist and/or far right politics and specifically right-wing politicians as negative features in Estonia. This by far, out-ranked any other negative aspect identified. EKRE was specifically mentioned, in every instance, when this writer asked poll participants what they considered “far-right populism” to be.
Ranked as the most positively perceived aspect in Estonia was ex-President Kersti Kaljulaid and the presidency as an institution. A noteworthy consistency in this research is immediately apparent – Kersti Kaljulaid was the target of sharp derision from the very far-right, the political group which Estonians abroad see as harming the country’s image.
(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 20. jaanuari 2023 paber- ja digilehest)
