Key Insights:
The Estonian social media and web-based media actors during the reporting month predominantly were still focusing on the Estonian/Russian language policy issues, specifically the policy which is introducing Estonian language in all the government funded schools, human rights issues, democracy and trust towards elected officials, war in Ukraine, as well as the international security situation in general. This month the attention towards terrorist crisis in Israel somehow diminished, but in turn, it went more over the economic and financial issues and the context of the European Union in this regard. Accordingly, the main narratives that were spread over the social media were the following:
- That war in Ukraine is a pretext to discriminate Russian language in Estonian schools for Russian speaking children;
- Eventual enlargement of EU is not in the Estonia’s best economic interests;
- Ukraine is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity;
- Estonian state and culture is deeply tied with the Russian state and culture.
Overview of findings:
- A total of 732 social media posts were monitored on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and Telegram channels using Awario media monitoring tool. In addition, 20 Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and Twitter (X) personal and group accounts as well as 10 websites were monitored weekly.
- Language policy: This is a failure of Estonian government successfully implement the transition to the education in Estonian language for the Russian schools and that war in Ukraine is a pretext to discriminate Russian language in Estonian schools for Russian speaking children.
- Economic situation: Current Estonian taxation policies can lead to the same economic effects of 2008 world economic crisis. While Estonia is a member of NATO and EU and until economic ties with Russia are restored, there is no independent Estonian government, that would care about interests of Estonian people.
- Government performance: That Estonian government makes fun of the memory of Soviet soldiers who died in World War II by destroying their memorials, government does not care about family, their priorities are LGBT rights, language policy, military spending and Estonian politics is working against the Estonian people and generating only poverty and economic decline. Estonian government intentionally is destroying production in Estonia and eventual enlargement of EU is not in the Estonia’s best interests.
Story of the month: Kristina Kallas to pupils: “You are allowed to speak your family and friends in your native language”.
This story is presented by rather trustful Estonian website in which attempts to provide a correct reflection of the Estonian adopted policies on the education and the language. The same time the journalists are capitalizing on the certain feelings of the Russian speaking community, in highlighting certain detail of these policies that would speak to the certain circles of the Russian speakers and they try their best catch by the headline. This is not correct narrative, which is suggested in the headline as it is producing negative sentiment, that Russian pupils would think there would be a chance to restrict use of the Russian language in the family and among the friends. In fact, there is nothing in the adopted legislation that would be regarded as the narrative suggests. There are at least two stories this month, that are closely related to the same narratives.
This publication the same month is reflecting to this very similar sentiment, a teacher of a Russian-language school speaks on the strike: “the problem is not only in salaries, but also in the fact that the duties of a teacher are impossible to fulfil due to the national education and language policies”. The sentiment here is, that this is a failure of Estonian government successfully to implement the transition to education in Estonian language for the Russian schools
The national policy of Estonia is discriminating Russian language in the schools, which is also advocated in the quite trustful national media outlet: “I suddenly noticed that my daughter’s amazing teachers are now so humiliated with this C1! I speak Russian at home, Estonian at work. Oksana spreads her hands. She believes that everyone is equal in the state, and in that case, it will be fair if Estonians also submit to C1. They studied, got ready, so that they knew the ideal grammar of their language.”
