Programm
Freitag 1. Dezember
14.00 Uhr
Begrüssung
Josef Bucher Botschafter der Schweiz in Helsinki (zuständig für Estland)
Katrin Saarsalu Botschafterin der Republik Estlands in Wien
(zuständig für die Schweiz)
Franziska Breuning Gebert Rüf-Stiftung
Kaspar Näf Festival Culturescapes
Monica Rüthers Universität Basel
Zur Einführung: Chancen und Risiken (Moderation: Monica Rüthers)
Rein Ruutsoo (Tallinn/Helsinki)
Does Estonia Can Serve for/as Model of Transition from Communism?
16.00 Uhr
Panel I: Sonderentwicklungen als Ausdruck der estnischen Mentalität
(Moderation: Maie Kiisel/Kaspar Näf)
Linnar Viik (Tallinn)
"To e or not to e" - Challenges of the Information Society
Kristi Lõuk (Tartu)
Die Werte der Esten am Beispiel des Gen-Projekts
Urmas Nõmmik (Tallinn/Tartu)
Zur gegenwärtigen religiösen Situation in Estland – hoffnungslos oder herausfordernd?
Erkki Bahovski (Tallinn)
Foreign Countries in the View of Estonians
Samstag 2. Dezember
10.00 Uhr
Panel II: Estnische Kultur im freien Estland (Moderation: Volker Breidecker)
Tiia Teder (Tallinn)
Radio as the Passageway Between New Estonian Music and the World
Mati Sirkel (Tallinn)
"Kann denn die Sprache dieses Landes.... nicht nach der Ewigkeit suchen." Literatur und Identität.
Johannes Saar (Tallinn)
Resisting the Imagery of Free Market
13.30 Uhr
Panel III: Estlands Chancen im Ausland (Moderation: Nada Boškovska)
Marko Mihkelson (Tallinn)
Estonia's Challenges in World Affairs
14.45 Uhr
Panel IV: Estland und Russland/Minderheitenvölker (Moderation: Jörn Happel)
Kaspar Näf (Basel)
Spannungsgeladen und von Misstrauen begleitet: Die Beziehungen zwischen Estland und Russland
Timofei Agarin (Göttingen/Aberdeen)
Soziokulturelle Perspektiven russischsprachiger Gemeinschaften in Estland
16.45 Uhr
Zusammenfassung / Schlussdiskussion (Moderation: Jürgen v. Ungern-Sternberg)
Estland 22 + 15 Jahre unabhängiger Nationalstaat: Kontinuität und Wandel
Sonntag 3. Dezember
11.00 Uhr
Podiumsgespräch: Estland wohin?
Erkki Bahovski, Leiter der Auslandsredaktion der größten estnischen Tageszeitung Postimees
Helen Ennok, Absolventin des MA-Studiengangs am Europa-Institut der Universität Basel
Urmas Nõmmik, Theologe, Lektor an der Universität Tartu
Katrin Saarsalu, Botschafterin der Republik Estland in Wien (zuständig für die Schweiz)
Siiri Sisask, Musikerin und Mitglied des Riigikogu in der Fraktion der konservativen Partei Res Publica
Diskussionsleitung: Willy Schenk, Journalist und Historiker, Gastautor in verschiedenen estnischen Zeitungen und Zeitschriften
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Symposium "Change and Continuity – 15 years of independence in Estonia"
On the 20th August 2006 Estonia celebrated the 15th anniversary of its recovered independence. On this late summer day in 1991 the principal Soviet of the Soviet Republic of Estonia took advantage of the power vacuum in Moscow during the putsch against Michail Gorbatschov to re-establish the country's independence. The sovereign state of Estonia was founded on the 24th February 1918 and has continued, de jure, to exist to this day without interruption. However, this independence was interrupted several times, de facto. Estonia was occupied for about eight months, just after it was established in 1918, by the troops of the German Empire, and was attacked directly afterwards by Soviet troops who then partially occupied it. At the beginning of the Second World War Estonia once again fell under foreign domination – first the Soviets forced the country to join the Soviet Union, and then the Nazis conquered it. Finally it was re-annexed by Stalin's troops after they had "freed it from the Nazis" and it remained a Soviet Republic, controlled from afar by Moscow, till 1991.
In Estonia the continuity of the sovereign state is always emphasised, but on the other hand they like to boast that the country has transformed more quickly and more completely than any of the other states and has best mastered the change from a controlled to a market economy. The roles of change and constancy or continuity are therefore clearly allocated on a conceptual level, especially as the country is regarded, in many ways, as a role model for the East European transformation states in the west. The neo-liberal organisation of the economy is also praised by many experts as showing the way for the future. Estonia has, for example, become a pioneer in the use of electronic media – a role, which would have been completely unimaginable for this country 15 years ago.
After 15 years it is time to take stock and to ask what has really changed in Estonia and what has really remained as it always was. Does the "official" distribution of roles really reflect reality or should one not differentiate a little more finely? Estonia is populated by more or less the same people as it was 15 years ago. Change is something natural, but for many people it is usually difficult to digest. How deeply anchored in the minds of the people is Soviet thought and its heritage, or perhaps still the reasoning of the period between the wars or even that of the Tsarist period? What is now specifically Estonian and what European?
The symposium "Change and continuity – 15 years of independence in Estonia" is intended to address the subject of this tension in the light of the last 15 years. An attempt will be made to understand and characterise the Estonia of the last 15 years. This will be undertaken on the basis of questions: as to the opportunities offered and risks posed by the latest developments in the country; as to the mentalities represented in the various spheres of literary culture; on the challenges faced by the country on the international stage and in its relations with its enormous eastern neighbour, Russia, which has left extensive, largely non-integrated populations behind in the country.
In the introduction Rein Ruutsoo will critically investigate Estonia's position as "role model" in the process of transformation. Linnar Viik will present the e-stonia-project which he himself manages. Kadri Lõuk will address the question as to the Estonians attitude to one of the biggest genetic technology research projects there is; the study's aim is to research hereditary diseases with an extensive genetic databank. Urmas Nõmmik will present the current religious situation in Estonia and Erkki Bahovski will talk about his work as editor on the foreign correspondence desk of the country's largest newspaper. Tiia Teder, Mati Sirkel and Johannes Saar will throw light the latest developments in music, literature and art. The parliamentarian Marko Mihkelson will report on the country's foreign policies and Kaspar Näf will discuss relations between Estonia and Russia. And finally, Timofei Agarin will deal with the question of the national minorities.
The chairs of the conference will be hold by scientists of Baltic and Eastern European history and culture from Switzerland, Germany and Estonia. At the end of the symposium in a paneldiscussion under the head of Willy Schenk some of the participants of the conference will look at the future of Estonia.
The symposium will take place in the framework of the festival Culturescapes which presents every year one of the cultureregions of Eastern Europe in and around Basel. This year in Culturescapes we will portray Estonia. The festival is under the patronage of Raivo Palmaru, minister of cultural affairs of the Republic of Estonia, Micheline Calmy-Rey, head of the department of foreign affairs of the Swiss Confederation as well as other personalities of the cultural and scientific life from Basel and Estonia.
In the evenings of the symposium there will take place a cultural programm. For further information and entrance fees please contact the homepage of the festival: www.culturescapes.ch .
The entrance to the scientific part of the symposium is free and no pre-registration is needed.