For and against

Recently there have been a number of petitions started in Estonia. The first one was the one to protest against the Independence/Victory monument they want to build in Tallinn. A lot of Estonian intelligentia is against the monument as its design is not so good and it does not suit the surronding area. It was also designed by non-architects.

My personal opinion is that the cross motif is not very well suited for Estonia. Estonians have never appreciated militarism or military insignia. It also alludes to christianity, which is not so popular in the mostly pagan / atheist Estonia. The whole process of building the monument was rushed and as a consequence we are going to have something that for example does not move me at all. Not my monument! So I urge everyone to sign the petition, which currently has 6564 signatures.

A counter-petition was also organised in support of the monument. It has 3914 signatures.

As usual in Estonia, for a long time people do nothing, and then suddenly everone and their mother want to have their own petition. The green party started their own petition against a nuclear power plant, which seems more of a political ploy or scare as noone has seriously discussed a nuclear power plant in Estonia. It currently has 2224 signatures.

And finally, tablodish daily Postimees launched their own crusade against the salaries of the Members of Parliament in Estonia. The problem is that their salaries have always been linked to the average salary. Now that the average salary has risen considerably, the MPs also get exponentially bigger salaries. It is a stupid system and parliament member salaries are a touchy topic. I guess they could be lower but I completely deplore and resent the way Postimees has handled the issue. They also started a public petition against the salaries: but it comes across as crass, populist and unconstructive.

Which petition will be next?