Arvamusfestival (Opinion Festival) in Paide

On 9 and 10 August, representatives of the Association of Ukrainian Organisations in Estonia attended the Opinion Festival Arvamusfestival in Paide.

This annual festival, founded in 2013, attracts tens of thousands of visitors over two days (around 11,000 this year) who come to discuss important topics and take part in debates. The Opinion Festival brings together people from state institutions and NGOs, cultural figures, entrepreneurs, journalists and people of all professions and fields, citizens and guests of Estonia, adults and children.

We thank the Integration Foundation Integratsiooni Sihtasutus (Moskovtsev Dmitri, Katja Sepp, Ave Härsing), at whose invitation we visited the culture area, this year dedicated to Estonia’s cultural diversity – Kultuuririkkuse aasta. Does cultural diversity really bring benefits? What makes Estonians Estonian? How much is Estonia a home for different people? These and other questions were discussed in the debate.
The scale of the festival is impressive – more than 200 discussions took place over two days, on topics including security, disinformation, NATO, mental health, nature and ecology, the transition to Estonian-language education and much more.

It was a great pleasure to see many familiar faces speaking at the Opinion Festival as discussion experts and opinion leaders, including the Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia Maksym Kononenko, US Ambassador to Estonia George Peter Kent, British Ambassador to Estonia Ross Allen, head of the emergency department of the Estonian Red Cross Kirill Badikin, Anne-Ly Reimaa representing Kultuuriministeerium , Mall Hellam representing Avatud Eesti Fond / Open Estonia Foundation , and Mariia Huliaieva representing MTÜ Mondo – Mondo in Ukraine!

Our meeting with friends from Ukrainian Association Spogad in Paide was very valuable! Thank you, ladies, for the meeting and your hospitality!

The festival also featured a Ukrainian panel discussion “Democratic Front: Alliance for Ukraine’s Victory”. The discussion was organised by Carpathian Sea Democracy Week in cooperation with the Association of Ukrainian Organisations in Estonia and the Congress of Ukrainians in Estonia.

The discussion focused on Ukraine’s resilience in wartime and building alliances to consolidate efforts to bring Ukraine’s victory closer. The Carpathian Sea Democracy Week in Ukraine is built on the same values and the same model as Arvamusfestival in Estonia!

Participants included Liliia Honcharevych, head of the Carpathian Sea Democracy Week; Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Riigikogu Foreign Affairs Committee (Riigikogu) and Eduard Odinets – member of the Constitutional Committee;

Dmytro Nikulin, executive director of the Carpathian Sea Democracy Week;

Volodymyr Hordiienko – chairman of the executive committee of the association “Innovation Platform for Community Development”.

Thank you for the experience and inspiration! We look forward to new meetings and events, and we will definitely attend the festival next year!