Russia and President Vladimir Putin are preparing the country’s youth to “die for the motherland”, believes the Canadian historian and author Ian Garner, who has written a book about what he calls “Russia’s fascist youth”.
– Russia indoctrinates young people with military games, TikTok videos and influencers. Children and young people who have grown up since 2012, when Putin became president again, are much more ideological and isolated from the world than generations before them, says Garner to Dagbladet on the phone.
BIG APPROACH: A Russian military leader ties a red scarf around the neck of a young Russian, symbolizing that he is an official member of the youth organization. – The young people are brainwashed into thinking that everyone outside Russia hates them and wants to crush them. And then they get weapons training, says Ian Garner. The picture is from May this year. Photo: AFP / NTB Show more
Russians against the rest
This spring, Gartner published the book “Z Generation. Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth”, where he follows several young Russians. Both those who leave the country – and those who stay.
– When we think of young people, we like to think of the hope of the future and of people who want peace and democracy. But those who do not want war in Russia are fleeing or have fled. They will not die because of ideology, says Garner and continues:
– With Putin as president, everything has become much more ideological, right from childhood. Young people are almost forced to join the state’s youth groups, which are becoming more and more militarized. They are constantly told that everything outside Russia is dangerous and will destroy them. It makes me worried – and scared, says Garner.
SCARED: In the mid-2010s, Canadian historian Ian Garner studied in Russia, and he taught English to Russian children and young people. – I am alarmed by the trend towards fascism among the country’s young people, says Garner, who is currently working on books. Photo: Private Show more
The state organizes
Canadian Garner himself lived in St. Petersburg in the 2010s, where he studied music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was also an English teacher for many Russian youth.
– The young people were western-oriented, ready for parties and shopping at Zara and H&M. But since 2012, this dream has disappeared more and more, says Garner.
He often thinks about what is happening to the Russians he got to know. He is still in contact with several of them.
– A queer Russian told me that he suppresses his identity and does everything to become a so-called good Russian. There is no room for being anything else in today’s Russia, says Garner.
Must save Russia
He points out that teachers and schools are receiving new teaching material where violence and ultra-nationalism become part of everyday school life – that young people who want to do something in their spare time must do so under the auspices of the state. The scope for what you can do as a young person in Russia is narrowing.
– If you are young, full of idealism and want to help in society, you must join state-organized youth groups. You can help veterans, get weapons training or clean up your town. There are no other options, says Garner and continues:
– An inhuman assault
– That’s very smart. Children and young people are getting more and more ideological and military input. Like a Wagner officer telling you that you have an obligation to join the military and make sacrifices so that Russia can be saved from the so-called scary and dangerous world out there, says Garner.
– Terrifying
It is especially young people under the age of 19-20 that Garner calls the “Z generation”, who are influenced by what he refers to as “fascist ideology”. Recruitment is done on TikTok and other social media.
– In the youth military, the young people wear uniform, they learn to parade, have a lot of physical training and competitions and practical military training – such as using weapons and grenades, says Garner.
According to Garner, the youth army – which has members aged six to 18 – is the most radical group.
– There were one million of them when the Ukraine war started. Now they are over 1.3 million, and the army is unable to take in all the young people who want to join, says Garner and continues:
– Children and young people want to show their friends that they belong to someone, and want to do something meaningful. Find a 13-year-old who doesn’t want to make friends and be part of something bigger, says Garner, who finds the development frightening.
– Now I meet children who are learning the language of hate and war. It makes me sad and scared. The young people are brainwashed into thinking that everyone outside Russia hates them and wants to crush them, he says.
Dream that disappeared
In the book, Garner talks about some of those who have left Russia: Journalists, homosexuals, activists and opposition figures. But also those who are left.
– I spoke to a young teacher in Moscow, who is worried. Today, the regime goes after homosexuals and opponents of war. Next time it may be the minority to which she belongs that becomes the enemy. So she doesn’t dare say anything anymore. She suppresses herself, says Garner.
The Russian state has, according to Garner, created a world where you are either with us, Russia, or against us. There is no room here for homosexuals, oppositionists, pacifists, Ukrainians – or non-Orthodox Christians, according to Garner.
– A Russian is heterosexual, Orthodox Christian and supports the war. There are no other choices. And most Russians sincerely believe that Russia is under threat from the West, NATO and America, says the author.
Eyes of hope
In connection with the book, Garner has studied social media in Russian, such as VK, which is Russia’s Facebook and is used by 70 million citizens. But also tik tok, telegram and other channels.
– Last week I went through TikTok, where influencers create dances and memes to show how good it is to enlist in the youth military. And if you have seen one such TikTok, you will get hundreds in the same genre, says Garner.
When he contacted Russians, he was surprised by how open they were.
– The opposition is naturally scared, but those who support the state and the war against Ukraine are extremely suspicious of the West and really believe they have to kill Ukrainians for Russia to survive, he says and continues:
– It may sound like I am an extreme pessimist, but I also see a lot of hope here. The state has created this fascist, militarized society in a short time, which again means that it can change quickly again, he says.
Good at propaganda
Garner believes the West must work actively against Russian social media and show alternative realities than what they are told through school, in various types of media and youth organisations.
– When children hear that everyone supports the war, you do the same. And you hear exactly the same thing at school, in social media, on television, in the organizations you join. Putin’s propaganda apparatus is strong – and it works, he says.
He believes that so-called de-radicalisation programs must be put into use. As a number of states have used on former IS prisoners from Syria and Iraq.
– You know his evil
Historian: – Fascist features
Elisabetta Cassina Wolff is a historian at the University of Oslo and has written extensively about nationalism, right-wing radicalism and fascism in Europe.
– One can have reasonable reasons for defining today’s Russia as fascist, or at least totalitarian. Especially after the cruel attack on Ukraine: Using violence to achieve political goals, which in this case is to incorporate Ukraine into Russia, says Wolff to Dagbladet.
She emphasizes that Russia does not share the same history as the rest of Europe, “so it would be more correct to compare Putin with Russian leaders, such as Stalin”.
– But it is worrying and scary to see so many common features with fascism under Mussolini and Hitler, says Wolff and continues:
– I am a purist and fairly conservative, and am careful about using the term fascism. There are nevertheless common features with historical fascism: Use of violence and use of the military to achieve political goals (the attack on Ukraine, journ.anm), censorship at home, opposition to supranational organizations, repression of political opponents, internal and external propaganda , use of fake news, she says.
She refers to Putin’s increasingly authoritarian state, and where the regime also collaborates with the Orthodox Church.
– There is something that I think is a bit similar to the first phase of fascism in Italy, when Mussolini entered into an alliance with the Catholic Church, which was purely instrumental, in order to increase support for fascism. I would like to emphasize that this concerned an early phase of fascism. The Catholic Church distanced itself more and more from the regime in the 1930s, something we do not see in Russia with the Orthodox Church.
sea view
2023-07-07 09:07:04
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