Happy Re-Independence Day

Six year ago I had the privilege to travel to Estonia with a group from my church and work alongside the Allika Baptist Church near Tallinn. Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, border the Soviet Union and were under Soviet rule for many years. While there, we saw reminders of that occupation.

Today is the 18th anniversary of their new freedom. Maureen Castle Tusty wrote this about this anniversary.

"18 years ago today, on August 20, 1991, Estonia bravely re-declared her independence. After over 50 years of Soviet occupation, and a four year non-violent revolution (called the Singing Revolution, '87-'91), the Estonian people took the risk of publicly restating to the world their rights as a free and sovereign nation under international law. Unarmed citizens stood before tanks, arms linked, to prevent Soviet access to critical information sources such as the TV tower and radio station.

Estonian leaders, many previously in bitter conflict over how aggressively to fight Moscow, came together and unified their voices to vote unanimously to re-declare the Republic of Estonia as an independent nation. And while this sounds easy, given how things turned out, no one knew at the time the consequences of that action. Those voting for independence were certain targets for imprisonment and worse. But the coup failed, and Estonia quickly rejoined the world community of free nations. Happy Re-Independence Day, Eesti! Elagu Vabadus! (Long live freedom!) "

Maureen and her husband collaborated and produced a film called The Singing Revolution. I would encourage you to visit the site and watch the trailer to the film. It gives you a taste of this people's love of their freedom and its achievement.