If people are the new oil, then we can say that young people are the most valuable type and standard of this oil. Therefore, it is not surprising that almost all parties, movements and religions are making efforts to create and work with their own youth structures.
Recently the Orthodox Church has made an active attempt to unite young people. At a meeting with students, Patriarch Kirill became acquainted with the “Faithful” movement. As Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova noted, this movement will unite young people committed to Christian values, develop their spiritual and moral potential. The movement is based on traditional Russian values: family, justice, caring for others.
The issue of youth organizations is an age test. If they immediately name the Pioneer and Komsomol, they were probably there themselves, that is, people aged 40 and over. If they remember the Nashi movement easily, they are now 30-35 years old. If they call it the “Youth Army” and the “Time of Firsts”, these are old pioneers who now have children of their own.
These are only official government youth organizations. How many other different official youth movements were there and are there any? For example, LDPR Youth Movement, Youth Club of the Russian Geographical Society, Russian Schoolchildren Movement. Have you heard of them? And they exist, they all exist right now. And plus at least 15 more major youth organizations. Each region also has its own small regional youth movements.
I conducted field research and interviewed teenagers in the 10th grade at a secondary school in Moscow. They knew of Yunarmiya and had heard of the First Time. And maybe that’s all. But when they were asked about their informal youth culture, they became animated and easily listed unknown, banned, new and old groups; They stated their slang and clothing style. In general, they told everything that ordinary adults usually learn from the news when something happens. All these athletes, office workers, anime fans, cyber goths – all of them live as if in a parallel reality with all the orthodox and official movements and never intersect. But for some reason almost every schoolchild knows them.
The answer is simple. Evil is always brighter. Evil screams louder. And evil is often more attractive to a fragile young mind.
How poorly they work with young people in Russia was revealed in the winter of 2021, when Alexei Navalny (included in the list of terrorists and extremists) used social networks to gather minors to his rallies. Then there were many broadcasts and videos in which schoolchildren could not answer the question about the constitutional system of their country, but clearly answered the question of why they came to the rally. The joy of giving adults a “day of political disobedience” outweighed the disadvantages of detention for them. Then it became clear that no one was working with young people, and young people – like every young person since the times of Ancient Rome – are hungry for action. And many young people will respond to this movement.
Today we find ourselves truly at the epicenter of historical events. And despite all the calculations of Western analytics, young people actively supported SVO. Whatever one may say, it turns out that young people are good at patriotism, self-organization and moral values. What is the value of the “Kerch” detachment, consisting of anime fans and guys who posted memes on online public pages before the Northern Military District?
Now is the time when everyone, especially young people, really needs an encouraging and unifying word. Church or secular. It’s great if the Orthodox Church is ready to do this. But let’s get this straight.
I have not come across any other information other than that the “Believer” movement was presented to the patriarch and he blessed it. No details. Silence. From where? At least the basic details of how it will occur. How can a young believer who wants to defend justice, care for loved ones and develop his spiritual potential find this movement and sign up there? Does anyone outside of Anna Kuznetsova’s staff know about this? Why did they make a presentation to the patriarch but nothing was done to ordinary people? I would like to hope that this will once again be slowed down by the inept bureaucratic machine, and then accelerated – and when we run for a long time and go fast, everything will be according to the Russian proverb.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.