The Singing Revolution (Kei and Chloe)

From 1987 to 1990, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all expressed their frustrations against the Soviet Union simply by singing songs originally banned by the Soviet. On May 14^th of 1988, the people of Estonia gathered together to join hands at the Tartu Pop Music festival and sing “Five Patriotic Songs”. This was the beginning of a series of singing demonstrations. The citizens of all three states joined hands, thus forming the human chain that was known as the Baltic Way, also singing together as one, defending themselves as well as the love for their country in front of armed tanks and readied bullets. Revolutions like the American, French, and Philippine Revolution was all dealt with in different ways, each had their weapon of choice and each had a life or two lost. The American and French revolutions were violent and overthrew their rulers aggressively, like the execution of King Louie and the battles between the red coats and the Americans. However, the Philippine revolution (though had a few lives were lost) overthrew Marcos peacefully, holding masses in front of tanks and selling flowers to the soldiers. The Singing Revolution against the Soviet Union, unlike the American and French revolutions, chose singing as their weapon. Their non-violent demonstrations against the Soviet Regime led to a peaceful change, which ultimately, brought Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania their independence. In year 1990, the struggles to regain their independence had ended after a series of peaceful demonstrations since year 1987. They had finally reclaimed the freedom to their country and independence was now official to the citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The independence was declared to Estonia on a late evening of August 20, after political parties had reached an agreement. The following day, the Latvian Republic had announced their independence, justifying itself as a fully independent nation. The Singing Revolution was justified and successful, the nations regained the right to their country. Their demonstrations were different compared to the methods of other nations but luckily, they succeeded. Other methods might have also worked but singing had brought the people together as one and they had successfully shown the right to their country peacefully, without bloodshed. Because of the non-violence of the Singing Revolution, it doesn’t fit Crane’s anatomy of a revolution wholly. The first stage, Symptoms, fits the bulk of the Singing Revolution. It fit into Symptoms in a sense that the community expressed its dissatisfaction over a failing Soviet Union in several mass singing demonstrations against the Soviet Union. However, it jumped from Symptoms to Convalescence. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were all peacefully granted independence from the USSR, without any violence, loss of popular support, or extreme economic conditions. The Singing Revolution is a perfect example of why peaceful revolutions don’t fit into Crane’s anatomy of a (violent) Revolution. "Freemuse: Estonia: Banned choral singing became a singing revolution." Free Muse: Freedom of musical expression. October 24, 2007. 28 Jan 2008 .