Paper invited for the International Conference: Freedom of Expression, , Libraries, Riga, Latvia, October 14-17 1998

Aile Möldre

Tallinn Pedagogical Library,

The era of the freedom of expression started in Estonia about ten years ago. The journals for children were the first to be freed from precensorship in the more liberal publishing policy of perestroika in 1987. After that the whole printed word was gradually freed from prepublication control. This process was not accomplished as an initiative of the organ of censorship, Glavlit, which tried to maintain its powers to the last minute, but the editors of various publications declared that they will not be subjected to the control any more. The Estonian government liquidated the Estonian branch of the all-union Glavlit in October 1990 (Veskimägi 1996 : 303)

Since the proclamation of the Constitution in 1992 the freedom to express and disseminate one’s ideas, opinions, beliefs and other information in printed word or otherwise is legally guaranteed to all people. There is no censorship. The and press can only be restricted in the interests of protecting public order, morals, the rights, freedom, health, honour and good name of other people. The criminal code provides restrictions prohibiting the inciting of national, racial, religious or political hatred, propagating violence and discrimination, also disseminating pornography and works propagating violence among minors (there also exists a special law on that). The criminal law also treats the issues of protecting people from slander and libel and concerning the invasion of their private life.

Although it can be said, that the freedom to publish all kinds of publications has not been "abused" in Estonia by publishing dubious publications there have been some cases, which have brought the issue of the freedom of expression in the centre of the public interest in a negative way.

The most drastic and the most delicate case for example is connected with the publication in 1993 of a brochure "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" , an apocryphal nineteenth-century work detailing a global Zionist conspiracy. The text was a re-edition of the book published in Estonia in 1934. The print-run was 1000 copies. It could be said that the average Estonian people do not know much about this text and were not especially interested in it. The publication was not sold in many book-shops as the booksellers were not willing to sell it. The Estonian Jewish community also tried to stop the dissemination of this falsification, which offended them.

The public prosecutor’s office sued the publishers for issuing a brochure, inciting national hatred. The future events show the court throwing from one extreme to the other. The City Court at first acquitted the publishers in April 1995, pointing out that they found no ill intent in the publishing of the text, which was freely available in the libraries in the 1934 edition and the publishers were interested mainly in profits. This was quite "thin" motivation since the publishers led the public to believe that the text as an authentic document and gave an impression as if the text had been published by the Jews. The Jewish Community presented an appeal to the Tartu District Court , demanding to put a stop to disseminating this publication. This time the court found the brochure inciting hostility towards the Jews and ruled that the almost 600 unsold copies of the protocols be destroyed, except the copies in the libraries ( Ross 1996 :33).

1 of 3 This decision draw the attention of the press and public and gave the publishers of the protocols a possibility to show themselves as "martyrs of the freedom of speech". The tabloids tried to make a sensation out of the whole story. A discussion in the quality papers dealt with the boundaries of the freedom of expression and the question, whether the publication was a stupidity of a couple of ignorant persons, which would not have had any effect on the Estonian society or a much more dangerous undertaking. Everybody agreed, that the publication of the "Protocols" was regrettable On the other hand, it could be said, that people should have access to controversial and even repulsive texts, so they could study and realize the essence of various negative phenomena. Still, if at all, the "Protocols" should have been published with scientific commentaries, explaining their origin and the harm which they have caused.

The democracy and freedom of expression can be realized fully in an educated , mature society, where people would be able to judge different texts for what they are and would not fall under the influence of stupid ideas if such happen to be issued. Hereby the role of the intellectuals is important, who form the attitude of the society towards the texts. In that case the necessity of legal regulation would be minimal.

Coming back to the publication of the "Protocols" in Estonia, it seems unrealistic that they could have disturbed the common sense of the Estonian people since the society has demonstrated no tendency towards Neonazism, racism etc.

The copies of the "Protocols" were in fact destroyed. Instead these could have been collected together, handed over to the Jewish community or smth. There is no unanimous and clear opinion about what to do with the publications , propagating hatred and other banned publications , which have already been issued. Fortunately there has been no practical need for this decision as there have been no further such publications.

The other areas, where regulative initiatives have been more obvious are pornography and violence. A law on regulating the dissemination of pornography and works propagating violence or cruelty which came into effect in May 1998 foresees the founding of a commission of experts by the Ministry of Culture. The task of the commission is to give its opinion on the works, that have been presented to them by applicants (Seaver 1998). The topic of pornography came up in Estonia especially during this summer in connection with the art exhibition "Man and Woman" in Pärnu, specializing on nudes. Some people turned to the police and brought to their notice the alleged obscenity of some pictures. As a result of the scandal the paintings were removed from the Pärnu spa building.

The commission of experts, which was formed in June has received only one application. This was made by a newspaper about the brochure "Kati’s anecdotes", issued by a priest by the way. The commission admitted, that people might find this book to be improper, but it could not be classified to pornography ( "Kati anekdootides" 1998). Although the tolerance among Estonian people to treating sexual topics in art seems to be quite variable , as is variable the "openness" of various artists in exposing it, the case in Pärnu is rather an exception than a rule, proving limiting of the artistic expression and it could be expected that the commission would not be too busy.

As for the freedom of treating political and economic topics in the books and especially in the press, the situation in Estonia is quite good and the authors can express their views without obstacles. The most disturbing cases are some libel suits. For example a well-known journalist was found guilty in libel according to the criminal law for using offending expressions about a politician’s wife in an interview. The decision was motivated with the right for privacy and with a right to protect one’s reputation .The Association of Estonian Newspapers interpreted this as a violation of the freedom of expression , because the public should have a right to know more about the public figures as about ordinary citizen. It could also be pointed out that the offending remarks were actually a quotation of the lady herself. The association stressed that there should be no criminal penalties for libel (Kohtuotsus 1997 : 26). Though the stand of the association could be generally

2 of 3 agreed with, in the concrete case the journalist could have used other words for putting the question. But to classify the case as a criminal offense was not justified. This has been a case with the most clear political flavor in Estonia.

The press gives a good example of self-regulation with the activities of the Press Council, a non-profit organization, formed by media associations and media companies for dealing with the ethical issues and for the protecting of the freedom of the press from attacks. It aims at regulating the media with its own means, without the interference of the state and legal system, so that the media would acknowledge the responsibility which goes with the freedom . The Council has no legal power, it makes all it’s decisions public by issuing them in the newspapers and tries to influence the atmosphere in the media through moral suasion and fostering professional ethics.

One of the cases dealt with in the Council , for instance, was a suit by a writer on another writer, who had placed a poem on his home-page in the Internet, allegedly offending many writers of the Soviet period. (As there are no special laws for Internet in Estonia, this area is treated as part of the media). The petitioner had arranged the web page to be closed for a day. The Council ruled that this could be treated as a limitation of the freedom of expression, but at the same time pointed out that improper language is not part of good journalism or publishing ( Avaliku 1997 : 46-47). This case demonstrates once more how very complicated it is to find clear unambiguous solutions for moral, ethical issues.

Generally, despite the above mentioned cases the situation in Estonia in the field of the freedom of expression could be evaluated as quite satisfactory. People have a possibility to express their ideas and views and on the other hand to protect themselves from libel or insulting their national feelings etc.

It seems that a greater problem is access to certain official materials, the tendency of many institutions, public and municipal bodies to establish a monopoly on certain information. The law on the access to information is being worked out at present, which should define clearly the range of documents and data, which should be available to the public and the ways of informing the public about them.

And further, the content of the media after its commercialization could also be characterized as problematic. Certain popular themes, personalities, scandals, criminal chronicles sometimes leave little room for rational debate, discussing publicly relevant issues, critical analysis of the development of the democratic state. But this is already another aspect of the topic.

References :

Avaliku Sõna Nõukogu otsus 6. Nov.1996. 1997. In : Eesti Ajalehtede Liit. Aastaraamat 1996-1997. - P. 46-47.

"Kati anekdootides" pornograafia puudub. 1998. - Eesti Päevaleht 24.sept.

Kohtuotsus ohustab sõnavabadust.1997. In : Eesti Ajalehtede Liit. Aastaraamat 1996-1997. - P. 26.

Ross, K.1996. ???--Bern 1935—Tartu 1995. - Vikerkaar 3 : 32-33, 36-37,40-41,44-45,48-49.

Seaver, U. 1998. Pornokomisjon on seni tööta. - Sõnumileht 21.juuli.

Veskimägi, K.1996. Nõukogude unelaadne elu..

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