In recent years, the questions of what exactly constitutes public law mediaand whether and who should perhaps exercise some 'quality control' on the programmes have often been raised in Estonia. In the case of state television and radio, there is occasionally talk about diminishing audiences and suggestions that the financing of television should be revised, as 'there are not quite enough viewers'. However, nobody says a word about radio. No particular need either, as the public law radio station continues to be the most popular of all, with the only serious contender being a station bearing an Estonian man's name - Radio Elmar - that only plays Estonian music. It is easy to understand the popularity of the state-owned Estonian Radio station called Vikerraadio: a conservative choice of music and news and continuing broadcasting of traditional programmes that have in some cases lasted for dozens of years have made sure that no ideological questions are ever put to this station nor are there any complaints about its excessive freedom of expression (which has been alluded to in the case of television).

Radio Ööülikool (Night University) is a programme of Estonian Radio that has been running for a few years, and by all outward signs it shares the station's quietly accepted traditional positions. Each week a pre-recorded 45-minute radio lecture is broadcast, where different scientists and cultural people speak in semi-academic tones about the cosmos, new music, psychological theatre or the existence of God. The speakers, young and old, include theologians, composers, writers, photographers, astronomers and many others. From time to time, seminars lasting a few days are organised in some beautiful location or an institution is found with which to jointly arrange lecture series on a certain topic. It is a tranquil and placid programme, with only one peculiarity: it airs on Saturday night.

It seems, however, that the Night University has outgrown itself and become part of a barely perceptible intellectual resistance, which has gathered force during the last decade or so and which manifests itself by means of non-participation and mild protests. This claim is of course purely speculative, as it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to show the boundaries and, even more, the essence and existence itself of resistance. Certain attitudes directed against any kind of power seem to have become a natural part of the intelligentsia, and claiming that doubts about the ideology offered to us are something new in society is na•ve to the extreme. Thus, on the one hand, it can be stated that in Estonia (and elsewhere) there has always been and will always be a group of intelligent people which despises the consumerist mentality. This claim is true as well as nonsensical. However, if we try to find something singular in the current situation, we can state that a somewhat smaller group has now emerged (it is of course possible that this phenomenon has always existed) where the members know one another by name and even by face, but which lacks any organisational or institutional framework. This group is characterised by (with exceptions!) its left-wing attitudes, an emphasis on nature preservation, and a keen interest in folk culture and its contemporary forms and creative freedom, but also by its criticism of media and consumerism, suspicions of ideological competitive bidding, a touch of sane bohemianism, opposition to the mighty and support for small, contradictory and diverse relations with religions. This is not a group suffering from rejection: as a rule the members are well-known creative people or occupy significant academic positions. They are urban people with a craving for the country - if not to settle there permanently then certainly for the summer. They read the weekly cultural paper and personally know at least one author. Their resistance - should there be any - is manifested in non-participation and also in intellectual addresses, some editorials, in recent years increasingly in closed mailing lists, correspondence and in creative acts. Their attitudes are not militant but they are determined.

Concerning this phenomenon, we could probably successfully employ the Habermas model of the public sphere, fully or partially, but I would like to outline some peculiarities typical of a small culture. One of the most significant, in my opinion, is the modest share of anonymity and the dense intertwining of numerous languages. True, in big cultures people who shape public opinion often know one another as well, but in Estonia you may be certain that once you have entered the invisible and barely perceptible network, you can soon personally communicate with people from diverse areas. For example when I once went with the editor of the Night University to interview an elderly theologian, a musician and a politician with green views had just left him. The politician in turn has consulted a photographer about his successful nature-related panoramas, whose house in the midst of forests has become a certain Treffpunkt, frequented by, among others, the editor of the Night University and the musician...

This kind of loss of anonymity, close personal relations and conspiratorial resistance (in essence still extremely heterogeneous) makes one wonder about various things. First, any kind of group, even if it is barely perceptible, is in danger of turning into an elitist club with undertakings only for the initiated. Their attitudes can be appealing but their members do not include village idiots, shopkeepers or car mechanics (whether they should is another matter). Secondly, there is an allusion to the words of Slavoj Zizek, who has called the Soviet-occupation-era resistance that was hidden in studios and flats a deception, because by denying ideology the same ideology was still recognised. Zizek is also quite ironic about the form of such resistance, which makes do with vague words and never sees any action or real changes.

The Night University does not need to worry about the second, but it needs to worry about the first. Having found its way to the state radio station and received substantial media response, the Night University is able, at least to some extent, to handle the resistance of some kind of voice. A series of programmes with a simple idea that has not, and indeed cannot, develop into a major audience attraction on the media landscape is not 'especially profound' or emphatically 'elitist', but has nevertheless become a virtual Treffpunkt. Perhaps this is a programme where it doesn't matter so much what is being said as long as something is being said. The most significant aspect of the Night University may be the programme itself - knowing that on the coming Saturday certain positions will not yet be conquered by the rest of the world. Until next week.

Eero Epner (1978), art historian, theatre NO99 dramaturge