Congress of Estonia marks 10th anniversary

TALLINN - Estonia celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Congress of Estonia last weekend with a special concert, speeches and the presentation of a 500-page book explaining this country's modern history and her road to restoring independence.

With two independence day celebrations each year, the more recent one officially called the Day of Restoration of Independence, it is sometimes forgotten that other significant events occurred which also deserve commemoration. The anniversary of the first meeting of the Congress of Estonia is one such event, and significant in that it was started through grassroots action.

The Congress of Estonia held its first session on March 11 and 12, 1990 in the Estonian Concert Hall. As a representative body of Estonian citizens, the congress convened 10 times between 1990 to 1992, working to create conditions that would make it possible to restore Estonia as an independent, democratic nation.

The declarations and decisions passed by the congress constituted the political, legal and moral cornerstones to create a civic, independent society.

The 500-member congress was elected on Feb. 24, 1990, thereby creating a non-Soviet political alternative in which to participate. Nearly 90 percent of registered citizens, or 600,000 people, participated in the election that was monitored by international observers.

Voters were registered during the previous year, both in Soviet-occupied Estonia and in Estonian communities in exile, by the grassroots movement of Estonian Citizens Committees in one of the biggest civic initiatives in Estonia last century. The election was considered a referendum in favor of the restoration of independence.

The Estonian Citizens' Committee movement and the Congress of Estonia provided practical political and organizational schooling for people living in Estonia and created the preconditions for the rebirth of Estonia as a civil society.

This year, members of Parliament, the president, the prime minister and guests gathered at the Estonian Concert Hall again to commemorate the earlier meetings.

Famed Estonian conductor, Neeme Jarvi, directed the National Symphony Orchestra and three former delegates to the congress spoke about the fight for an independent Estonia.

Prime Minister Mart Laar and other politicians also attended a conference at Tallinn Technical College in honor of the congress' anniversary.

The Congress of Estonia was dissolved when the legal Estonian Parliament, the Riigikogu, convened in 1992.