Alo Raun on the fears of Estonians

A debate over new citizenship requirements for minors is causing a stir in Estonia. Alo Raun plays down the fears of the Estonians in the daily Postimees: "Why do almost all Estonians start getting in a flap as soon as the topic of ethnicity comes up? Why are all experts immediately stamped as traitors just for making new suggestions as to what is beneficial to Estonia and the Estonians? Why do we never try to tackle such questions seriously? No doubt it has to do with the Estonians' well-known fear of dying out, and the related continual fight for survival. ... The result is that unlike Western Europeans, we are far more afraid of being outdone by our neighbours. And on an abstract level, we fear that our biggest neighbour [Russia] will come and occupy Estonia, or that the Russians living in Estonia will turn our country into a second Russia. These fears may well have their origin in the Soviet era, because similar patterns can generally also be seen in other post-communist states. But it is no solution just to blame Stalin for all of today's problems in Estonia."

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