Propaganda+and+Russian+Youth+Political+Groups

An article written for the New Statesman by Gavin Knight talks about how Russian leader Vladimir Putin is using propaganda to start a "pro-Putin" youth movement. He says that Russia is turning towards fascism. Because of the fall of the USSR, Russia and Putin are losing their influence in the other Soviet states. This, in turn, leads to conflict with these other nations. The Orange revolution of 2004 made Ukraine part of NATO taking this Soviet state from the CIS satellite states. This lead to Putin using tactics like cutting off energy supplies in order to keep influence in other states. Putin believes that Russia will be less powerful around its borders without these satellite states. Knight writes that Putin also believes that revolutions like the Orange revolution arose because of a youth group in Ukraine called PORA, that opposes Putin's authoritarian leadership. Knight goes on to say that Putin has created his own political youth movement Nashi to combat groups like PORA that might arise in Russia. This movement was supposed to stop fascism in Russia but it is apparent that they are to get rid of his opponents through harassment. For example, in Estonia members of the Nashi attacked the Estonian Embassy. There are 120,000 members of the Nashi who are all completely loyal to Putin and are well organized. This group wears red uniforms and has their own buses and power supply. They are being compared to the Hitler Youth group of the Nazi regime. Soviet style propaganda is being used in the recruiting of Nashi members which is, in Knight's opinion, the worst aspect of the group. During this process, the members are taught xenophobia and anti-american values that mirror those of the Cold War. These youth who are ages 17-25, and who are supposed to have the new views of the people, are being instilled with complete anti-European and anti-American feelings. Nashi receives government privileges, like being able to hold rallies and large corporation funding. Nashi members are trained to fight so they can combat groups like the National Bolshevik Party which is led by the Estonian ambassador. There have been much more violent acts under Putin's rule. Fifteen journalists have been killed, others have been assaulted, and even more have been threatened with death. Putin has a great backing by his people. His popularity stays around 80 percent. He is using the national pride for Russia to reinforce hatred against the US. This popularity does not come with much success in the country. Health problems run rampant and social instability is high. Drugs are a major problem and the youth have much less of a chance to survive to age 65 than in America. Knight says that Russia and Putin should be judged on their quality of life and not just propaganda such as the youth Nashi group.

Source:

Knight, G. (2007). The alarming spread of fascism in putin's russia. //New Statesman//, Retrieved from http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2007/07/putin-russia-nashi-soviet

=
It will be important to explore points of view that do not see the youth groups in such a negative light to be able to see how supporters view them. I'm especially interested in learning more about PORA because it would seem that youth groups can be mobilized for a variety of purposes. Getting materials from native Eastern Europeans is one way to address the "bias" issue. While exploring in the database, Academic Search Premiere, I stumbled across the article, In Search of Heroes: Cultural Politics and Political Mobilization of Youths in Contemporary Russia and Ukraine by Viktoriya Topalova. Check it out! ======