perspectives on youth activism

One of the projects that I have been working on in Estonia examines
youth attitudes towards government, civil society, activism, and
Estonia's experience with post-communism. Over the past week, I
interviewed two extremely bright and accomplished young men from the
youth wing of the Social Democratic political party. My first
interview was with Laur Kiik, the head of membership of the youth
wing. Mr. Kiik, 19, is a student of Asian Studies at Tallinn
University. My second interview was with Gerd Tarand, 21, who is the
Secretary General of the Social Democratic youth wing, the Tallinn
city Executive Branch director for the neighborhood of Mustamae, and a
student of International Affairs at Euro University in Tallinn. Both
men spoke a mile a minute and were very enthusiastic to discuss
Estonia, politics, and youth activism.

Being from the same political party, one that supports social welfare,
equality, justice, and solidarity, the two men had similar opinions on
a number of issues. They both agreed that education was the most
important issue for discussion among the youth political wings. Mr.
Tarand told me that this issue is so important that it creates a
tremendous amount of contention between the different youth wing
groups. The Social Democratic youth, for example, support free public
university education as well as an increase in the student salary
(Estonian students receive 3000 to 4000 EEK [$250 to $330 per month]
from the state to cover living expenses). In contrast, the Reform
party (highly libertarian and right-leaning) calls for easier access
for students to be able to take out loans, while other parties stand
somewhere between the two. Another issue of contention revolves around
the teaching of world religions in high school, a subject the Social
Democratic youth believe should be enlarged to cover culture in
general. When asked what it means to be an Estonian, both men agreed
that being Estonian has nothing to do with language acquisition or
ethnicity, but a desire to be Estonian. Although Mr. Tarand believes
that the Russian minority should be trying harder to learn Estonian,
both agreed that the state should be doing more to accommodate the
Russian-speaking population.

The two men also agreed on the role of the youth wing in relation to
the parent wing. As the Secretary General of the youth wing, Mr.
Tarand is invited to participate in all members of the parent party at
the Parliament buildings and at the party headquarters. Often they
feel as though the youth wing has much more of an influence in
domestic issues, especially issues pertaining to youth, rather than
foreign relations. They both agreed that the youth wing has been much
more radical than their parent party, and this has caused a number of
changes in the parent party. For example, before being called the
Social Democrats, the party was known as the Estonian Moderates (as,
for the obvious reasons, "social"-anything in Estonia is something
that is viewed with skepticism). It was the youth wing that changed
its name to the Social Democrats, and the parent party followed suit.
Both men noted that the youth party was the first to call for gay
rights and support the Tallinn Pride parade 2004. It was not until
after this youth wing initiative that the parent party began
supporting gay rights. Estonia has the least tolerant policies towards
homosexuals in Europe- many Estonian politicians have called
homosexuality a "problem" and have failed to create and administer
initiatives to protect single-sex families. One of the most active
members of the Social Democratic youth wing is Ardi Ravalepik,
president of the Estonian Gay League, and Social Democratic candidate
for Parliament in the upcoming elections. The move of the Social
Democratic parent party to support gay rights would have never
happened if it had not been for the activism and involvement of the
youth wings, according to the two men.

Although Mr. Kiik and Mr. Tarand had similar views on the above
discussed topics, there was one topic about which their opinions were
on complete opposite ends of the spectrum: youth activism, and even
more broadly, activism in Estonia. In our interview, Mr. Kiik
lamented, "there is a lack of political awareness among young people,
and much of what does exist is influenced by the media." He noted that
Estonian youth were the most passive in Europe, extending beyond
political activism to engagement in sports and social events as well.
He said, while youth political organizations may have a large
membership pool, the actual participation levels are small and "there
is really only a small group of young people who are actually doing
something."

"To be an activist in Estonia is not a good word," Mr. Kiik continued.
"It is very much a part of our society to be passive. There are three
major causes of this trend: Estonian self-mythology, our history under
Soviet Occupation, and, of course, the climate."

Mr. Kiik explained that Estonian "self-mythology" is one of a quiet,
passive nature. "We see from the American media that we are not like
the rest of the world, and we are constantly made aware that our norms
of personality are very different. Being passive is a way of asserting
our culture, and but it can also be used as an excuse." He continued
that the Soviet system really stripped Estonians the motivation to
become involved in government parties. "Bad connotations attached to
the state shape Estonians very much," he noted. He believes that the
climate also contributes to the Estonian desire to hide from political
activities, but jokingly predicted "maybe this will end with global
warming."

Mr. Tarand could not disagree with Mr. Kiik on this issue more.
Although he stated that "the word 'politician' carries a very negative
connotation, that youth involvement in Estonian politics has become
very strong in recent years. "Seven years ago, young people did not
have a voice," he began. "Now, on domestic issues, the youth
organizations have a very cooperative and engaged relationship with
the government- we are listened to, we are kept up-to-date and aware
of policies that are being discussed in the Parliament, and we are
allowed to take an active role in issues that pertain to young people,
such as education."

He attributed political activism among young people in Estonia to the
decades the country was forced to follow orders from Moscow.
Describing what he called "rebel feelings," Mr. Tarand explained
"Estonian youth are reluctant to have role models. They want to find
out everything and anything for themselves." He said that although
Estonia often represents a small percentage of participants in
meetings with other European youth, they tend to be more radical and
active in the meetings. He said that it constantly amazes him "how
old" his counterparts in Finland seem. They are much older than him of
course- the average age of the Finnish Social Democratic Youth is 27,
where as this is the average age as one of the parent parties in
Estonia (Res Publica) is- but in general, they are also much more
conservative and "much less relaxed."

Although it is very difficult to quantify youth political and social
activism, from my experience, I imagine that the reality is somewhere
in the center. Although there is a definite presence of Estonian youth
political activism in Tallinn and Tartu, especially, I am also aware
of a disenchantment and distrust of the political system that runs
throughout the entire population. Voter turnout is among the lowest in
Europe, for example. And like anywhere, many young people exhibit
general apathetic behavior. My students, for example, couldn't care
less about Estonian politics. That said, youth in Estonia who choose
to become involved in the political system have much greater
involvement and wider influence than in America or in Western Europe.