Finno-Ugric Congress Delegates Look to Freedom in Face of Challenges (3)

Published: 05.09.2012 15:10

Photo: ERR

See Also

The sixth world congress of Finno-Ugric peoples opens today in Siófok, Hungary.

Represented at the event, which runs until Friday, are nearly all of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic peoples, extending from central Europe clear across Eurasia.

Estonia sent a delegation of 20, including researchers, journalists, cultural figures, heritage protection specialists, and the minister of culture. President Toomas Hendrik Ilves traveled to Hungary today to address the conference. 

In his remarks, President Ilves reflected on the multi-level approach to natural conservation - function-based, evolution-based and ecosystem-based - and argued that cultures should enjoy similar complex protection.

"For cultures, […] mere cultural autonomy may not be enough. The legal right to practice one’s culture is not enough if the surrounding environment, from which the culture has received its strength and in which it has its roots, is quickly or unrecognizably changed. This tragic picture is a familiar one, from the world’s oil and gas fields to illegal logging sites in forests."

Ilves singled out the recent publishing of a Livonian-Estonian-Latvian dictionary, praising the Latvian government for providing co-financing despite its austerity budget.

"Free and democratic societies are the ones that consider it necessary and are brave enough to support projects that are essential for the preservation of cultures," Ilves said.

The mention of free societies was germane considering the context of this year's congress. According to some, political strain has been injected into the proceedings by the increasing crackdown on liberties in Russia. In an article in Postimees, Estonian delegate Jaak Prozes charges that Russia padded the lists of delegates attending the congress with local leaders friendly to the Putin regime.

Another complication is the growing trend in the host country Hungary of considering the nation to be descended from Huns, not First Nation peoples, uudised.err.ee reported.

 

 Kristopher Rikken

 

Comments

For adding comments,enter the ERR website with your user name and password , or use the form below to comment without logging in.


Guidelines for commenting can be found here.

Comments (3)

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    06.09.2012 00:14

    "Free and democratic societies are the ones that consider it necessary and are brave enough to support projects that are essential for the preservation of cultures, (...)" Please. Let's stop such speeches filled with platitudes. Sure, believing in Estonia means support its cultures. But in a free and democractic society, that should also mean that individuals decide what cultural aspects are relevant to them, just He spealike each of us decides what's on their menu today or tomorrow. Ilves never said anything about t

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    06.09.2012 00:19

    Ilves speaks about preservation, not cultural development, where culture develops in time and is subject to changes just like our menu may change the other day and may become partof our cultures. Here, liberals and conservatives have real differences. We should state them.

  • avatar

    knut_albers

    06.09.2012 10:54

    Sorry, my Android seems to start a life of its own, so let's try this again: Ilves stated that in free and democratic societies, it is a necessity to support projects that are essential for the preservation of cultures. But in free and democractic societies, that should also mean that individuals decide what cultural aspects are relevant to them, just like every individual decides on their own, what eatables are on their menu card today. Ilves speaks about preservation, not cultural development. Cultural development means where culture develops in time and is subject to changes just like my or your menu may change the other day, and if it's become popular to many, may become part of our cultures. Here, liberals and conservatives have real differences and we should state them. Conservatives, want to preserve culturual characteristics they consider valuable, meanwhile liberals are for a progressive and continouos development of cultures. We should combine both of them. There is indeed no need to change long term approved cultural norms, but we may want to supplement and enrich them, just like the the salt in the soup. However, cultural development can not be forced, nor prevented, because it is shaped by each individual that participates in the sphere of a cultural sphere of influences, which makes everyone of them a feuilleton. And a good thing, because the best environment for inventions is where individuals are ought to be free.That is why believing in Estonia and its cultures means objecting when politicians claim they preserve our cultures. To them, that means a giant government that pretends to preserve our cultures, causing troubles, and then spending even more to appear to solve those problems. I say “appear” because they never actually do it. Contrary to Ilves constant promises (whenever they are given the opportunity to speak out), Estonian cultures are shrinking, registers and dialects are dissapearing, the rural exodus also means that folkways are on a decline, and nothing has been achieved "for the preservation" of Estonian cultures and to prevent influence of other cultures and the government guided project on developing Estonian language has not stopped our kids from using Anglo-Saxon terms and rather decide themselves how they want to develop their Estonian language, because that's what individuals do all the time. They make their own decisions and we should rather support and assist them to develop its cultures other than advise them to preserve what is not relevant to them anymore. However, we certainly can and should educate them well behaved that allows them to develop cultures in a pleasent way. And we should remind them about erroneous trends that replaced culture that worked better before. Because not all changes are for good, just because they are new, and I agree that modern liberalism put us on an unsustainable course. I would save Estonia and its cultures by restoring limited government that keeps the peace but then leaves free people alone, contrary to Ilves, who wants corporatism, state socialism, crony capitalism, name it how you want it, to tell us what cultures we have to want. Liberalism is about liberty: individual freedom and free markets. That is, what freedom represents. That is, what preserves cultures, coming from and by the people.