The Singing Revolution, a new documentary released last week in New York, tells the incredible story of the tiny Baltic nation of Estonia, which doggedly held on to its centuries-old culture despite being invaded by both the Germans AND the Russians in one horrible four-month period during World War II. Decades of Soviet repression followed until the Estonians literally sang their way to freedom. This production by the Mountain View Group (www.thempi.org) is being released in Los Angeles this week and will come to the D.C. area next month. Believe me, it will put a tear in your eye and a lump in your throat. Estonians deep love for their beautiful, beautiful, beautiful land is infectious; their quiet patriotism gave me goosebumps. It was like watching an Estonian version of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Estonia was an independent republic for 22 years until Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia secretly agreed to divvy up the independent countries of Eastern Europe under the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Followed was what the Estonians now call The Year of Suffering. One of the most poignant moments in the film is an interview with one of the former forest boys, a group of armed resisters who literally lived in the woods for eight years until Russian troops hunted them down, one by one, and either killed them or sent them to labor camps in Siberia. Over the centuries, Estonians who are ethnically related to the Finns – developed their own distinctive culture, literature, theater and language. Their first national song festival, held in 1869, soon became a not-to-be-missed national event. The sight of 25,000 people singing together on an open-air stage is not to be missed either. Film director James Tusty and his wife Maureen brilliantly captured the courage of the Estonians as they outfoxed their Soviet captors, using old folk songs as potent weapons of political resistance. Singing in public en masse an illegal act under the communists emboldened them to push for more and more independence. These gentle, wonderful people literally sang their way to freedom in 1991 in a nonviolent revolution that stunned the Russkies, who were handed their furry hats on the way out. However, after decades of communist rule, Estonians had no idea what to do next. After 50 years of socialism, theirs was an impoverished nation with a GDP just over $2,000 per capita. Thirty percent were unemployed. Having little to lose, the Estonians decided to make the jump to a market economy quickly. They set up their own currency (the kroon), cut subsidies to socialized industries, passed bills protecting private property, established the country as a free-trade zone, and amazingly – adopted a flat tax. Former Heritage Society founder and Estonian prime minister at the age of 32, Mart Laar told me they got hold of an old copy of Milton Friedman s Capitalism and Freedom and decided to use it as a manual for setting up a new capitalist economy in 1992. We were very happy to see [Friedman s] flat tax idea, Laar added, mistakenly thinking that all the Western democracies were also following Friedman s ideas. If only! Since then, Estonia s GDP has tripled and entrepreneurs flock there to take advantage of the opportunities available under its unfettered capitalist system. Estonia now ranks 3rd out of 169 nations for its freedom of the press and has become the very antithesis of a socialist state. Not bad for a former Soviet satellite that struggled under both Nazi occupation and Moscow s heavy boot for more than half a century. Here s to a beautiful, beautiful people who more than deserve their hard-won freedom. And may they remain so forevermore!
