The Others

With all the bluster about integration of late, the debate about what to call Estonia's minorities has reared its ugly head once again. Commonly (although not officially) (and relatively neutrally) (if not altogether flatteringly) referred to as muulased or 'others', a new name is being sought for the nation's more modestly represented residents.

Urve Palo, Minister for Population Affairs, has declared that any word to describe non-Estonians must unite the peoples of the country, and therefore cannot include either negatives or anything in the way of “us and them” (ergo ruling out 'non-Estonians'). It must also be a word that is comprehensible to both the Estonian majority and the country's minorities - of which, the authorities are always quick to boast, there are more than 120.

Let's take a moment then to look at the figures. Estonians make up 68.6% of the national population, with the remaining 31.4% coming from other backgrounds. Of these, the majority are Russians (25.7%), with potentially Russian-speaking Ukrainians and Belarussians accounting for a further 3.3% between them. Finns come in fourth with 0.8%, leaving just 1.6% of the population - approximately 22,400 people - to claim the other 116 or so nationalities, producing an average of 193 people per minority.* And there endeth the lesson.

It's interesting to note, as an aside, that while 68.6% of the population define themselves as Estonians, only 67.2% claim Estonian as their mother tongue. It may be as much for this reason as the fact that not all Russians speak Russian (etc) that most sociologists and other assorted experts are calling for the replacement term to make no reference to nationality or language, although some feel that maintaining a sense of both identities - for example, 'Estonian Lithuanians' - is important in avoiding a sense of forced assimilation.

Others in turn fail to see the neutrality in labelling minorities as 'others'. Jevgenia Haponen from the Russian Cultural Association (herself bearing a Finnish surname) is resolutely against the use of the term from a philological point of view, considering it insulting and claiming that it renders those so labelled “second class and less important”. Former First Lady and folklorist Ingrid Rüütel, meanwhile, feels that 'Estonian national minorities' couldn't possibly insult anyone. “Mind you,” she adds, “the Russians in Ida-Viru county are the vast majority, aren't they.”

It is unlikely to surprise anyone that the Estonian government has taken no position on the matter. The subject has never even been up for discussion... until now, with a solution to the problem needing to be found as part of the development of the 2008-2013 integration programme.

An Eesti Päevaleht poll conducted earlier in the week to elicit suggestions for replacement terms was described by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip as 'praiseworthy' (which indeed it was, once they filtered out all the slander). Bit of an indictment that the initiative had to come from a daily newspaper though. The following is a selection of some of the more amusing alternatives offered by man-in-the-street and experts alike. Bear with me, as translating them is awkward.

•• Hallipassimehed or 'Grey Passporters' (from the fact that approximately 10% of Estonian residents have no citizenship and are issued with grey 'Stateless Citizen' passports)

•• Kasumaalased or 'Stepcitizens'
•• Lisaeestlased or 'Extra Estonians'
•• Mujaltlased/Mujakad or '(From) Elsewherers'

As I myself fall into the category of muulased, I ought to feel more strongly about the issue than I do, and if I had to pick anything I would go for Uuseestlased or 'New Estonians'. Seems to me though that however innocuous the name chosen, you're still pigeonholing people when you're meant to be integrating them.

http://www.epl.ee/uudised/403595

*But if there are 193 Australians in Estonia I'll eat my hat.