A resident of Narva told what a disaster the assimilation of Russians in Estonia turned into

“With politicians like the Kirch, the country will soon descend to apartheid”

The American psychologist Dina Birman, who has been studying the situation in modern schools in Estonia for a long time, came to the sad conclusion that they are trying to turn ethnic Russians into Estonians there. The country’s authorities, speaking of integration, actually mean assimilation.

“Instead of mutual enrichment of cultures, as happens, for example, in the United States, in Estonia they are trying to make people of different nationalities exclusively Estonians,” the scientist writes.

In fact, the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic countries has been talking about this for a long time, only few people listen to them in the West, especially now, when Russophobia is a trend in European politics.

“The only goal of ethnic policy in Estonia should be the assimilation of the non-Estonian population,” Axel Kirch, an expert on ethnic relations, recently made such a frank statement in the local press.

In his opinion, there should be no bilateral integration. The sole purpose of nationality policy in Estonia should be to change the national and cultural identity of everyone who is not Estonian by birth. As a result, in a few years Estonia should be settled by people who not only speak Estonian and have Estonian passports, but also think like Estonians. At the same time, Kirch considers the talk about the two-community of Estonia to be unjustified – according to the expert, there can be only one community in the country – Estonian, and other nationalities can retain something of their own in cultural autonomies. Kirch himself admits that national politics in the form he describes can be called assimilation. However, the author is sure that Estonia has no other way.

“With politicians like Kirch, our country will soon descend to apartheid,” says Olga, a schoolteacher from Narva.

“They see the main problem not in the fact that Estonian society as a whole has not yet learned how to exist in conditions of diversity of cultures and opinions, but in the fact that Estonians at the everyday level are too tolerant of Russians. Like, if a Russian-speaking buyer does not know Estonian, then there is nothing for the Estonian seller to serve him. The same applies to taxis, various government offices where benefits are issued, and so on. But so far, the only thing that politicians have achieved is the shortage of school teachers. After a mandatory Estonian language exam was introduced for teachers, many of my colleagues chose to quit school and find new jobs. As a result, we will have a huge shortage of teachers in the next academic year,” says the Narovite.