August 14, 2007
Kremlin Sponsored "Youth Groups" Turn Russian Nationalism Into Religion: The Nashi Generation
The Kremlin (Vladimir V. Putin) has created national youth groups to indoctrinate Russian nationalism into teenagers. Fellas, you gotta watch the video at the New York Times. The organization is called Nashi. We are talking about thousands of teens and young adults from all over Russia. Some of the Nashi summer camp photos looks like it could easily be a Young Life summer camp or something.
The youth groups are anti-American, pro-Lenin, etc.., and seems to have picked up some techniques from evangelical youth camps and conferences. It scary to watch. Watch the video (middle left of the page). You can read about the "Nashi Manifesto" here." From the New York Times:
To Nashi, young people are neither the lost generation of the turbulent 1990s nor the soulless consumerists of Generation P (for Pepsi) imagined by the writer Viktor Pelevin in 2000. They are, as Nashi’s own glossy literature says, “Putin’s Generation.” “Why Putin’s generation?” Nashi’s national spokeswoman, Anastasia Suslova, asked at the group’s headquarters. “It is because Putin has qualitatively changed Russia. He brought stability and the opportunity for modernization and development of the country. Thus we, the young people — myself, for instance, I am 22, and these eight years were the longest part of my conscious life when we were growing up, and the country was changing with us.”Nashi emerged in the wake of youth-led protests that toppled sclerotic governments in other post-Soviet republics, especially in Ukraine in 2004. It was joined by similar groups, like the Youth Guard, which belongs to the pro-Putin party United Russia; Locals, a group created by the Moscow region government that recently launched an anti-immigrant campaign; and the Grigorevtsy, affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Wow. Thoughts? Why is this happening?
Part of the motive has to do with a birth crisis - Russian fertility is awful and they want to encourage reproduction. Those camps have special tent areas where the young adults are encouraged to copulate and eschew birth control. The whole goal is more people.
Posted by: barlow at August 14, 2007 10:09 AMGood point. Check out these stats about Russia from the CIA:
Total fertility rate:
1.39 children born/woman (2007 est.) [in the US it's 2.09 children born/woman (2007 est.)]
Population growth rate:
-0.484% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
10.92 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
16.04 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Compare this to India:
2.81 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.606% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
22.69 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
6.58 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
And Mexico:
Total fertility rate:
2.39 children born/woman (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.153% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
20.36 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
4.76 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
On the video, an Army general speaking to a group of teens and says that every girl should plan on having at least 4 kids.
Posted by: Anthony at August 14, 2007 10:22 AMAnd ironically, by encouraging sex without marriage, they're making the situation even worse for the future of Russia. Somehow that seems poetic; this is what happens when you separate faith from action, or action from faith.
Posted by: Robert Perry at August 14, 2007 11:56 AMAnd of course this is really reminiscent of the communist youth organizations. The names slip my mind...but they started them in elementary school and went all the way through college. They allowed the kids to do all kinds of fun activities. I know a woman in Ukraine that got to fly all over the Soviet Union visiting many different places (for free) because of being active in one of these organizations. It's just another government tool for manipulating people.
Posted by: Jamie at August 14, 2007 12:59 PMYep, my buddy said that Putin wants to return Russia to its pre-Cold War ways. This just might be a big first step towards his goal.
Posted by: Tyler at August 14, 2007 11:08 PMI read that in a recent poll, over 50% of Russian youths believed that Stalin did more good than bad. Stalin!?! I couldn't believe my eyes. This is not good.
Posted by: Wayne at August 15, 2007 01:28 AMWow, Wayne, it makes some sense. It's kind'a like the type of Southerner who believes that southern culture was actually good before 1970 (or whenever your southern town started to treat blacks with dignity). Wayne, this sort of thing has everything to do with who tells the story.
Posted by: Anthony at August 15, 2007 08:27 AMWayne, do you remember where you saw that study? I think it'd be a great example to use in one of my classes.
Posted by: Paul Franks at August 15, 2007 09:15 AMPutin obviously feel more and more safe allowing his KJB background to play and larger and larger part in his "leadership" of Russia.
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