The fresh school year in Belarus began not only with a bell, but besides with a political signal. The Ministry of Education announced that the precedence for schools is to “shape the ideological worldview of young people”. How Gives the Voice from above, the ministry papers urge "intensification of ideological work with students and spreading patriotic values and loyalty to the state".
In schools there were fresh compulsory forms of activity: patriotic-military education classes, historical lectures in accordance with the authoritative government line, as well as mandatory "information minutes" – regular meetings with the educator, during which subjects identified by the state are discussed. Their scope includes, among another things, “the correct perception of history”, “Russian-Belarusian unity” and “the dangers of Western propaganda”.
According to the Voice from Niemno, since September, schools have been obliged to include in the teaching plan topics concerning "traditional household values, the function of the state in past and the size of the USSR as the foundation of modern Belarus". In practice, this means marginalizing the Belarusian language, the past of independent national movements and events uncomfortable for the regime, specified as Stalinist repression and opposition activities.
There is simply a clear message in the ministry paper cited by the portal:
"The fresh generation should not only be educated but besides ideologically formed."
This mention to the classical russian model in which education was closely linked to political education.
Youth loyalty staff: BRSM and fresh version of Komsomol
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) plays a key function in the indoctrination of young people – a state organization operating according to the strategy known from the time of Komsomol. BRSM organizes many events of a historical and patriotic nature, summertime camps, military training and competitions of "patriotic" knowledge. Membership of this organization – formally voluntary – in practice becomes a condition for access to prestigious schools or a career.
According to the German Voice, BRSM is besides tasked with "involveing youth in building a affirmative image of the state and spreading citizenship based on socialist values". 1 of the authoritative communications of the organisation states:
“We rise young people to love their country, its past and the current leader.”
It is worth adding that BRSM operates under the auspices of the President's Administration and is financed straight from the state budget. The government uses it as a tool of influence and control – both towards young people and their families. Failure to join an organisation may be regarded as an act of distrust towards the State.
A akin function is held in schools and universities, the alleged "Memory Circle", in which students learn to interpret past in accordance with the authoritative message. How reads Washington Post, in any regions young people must participate in trips to the fortress Brest, the site-symbol of the heroic opposition of the Red Army – where students participate in reconstructions of battles, vows and appeals to the “heroes of the USSR”. Of course, for years the main enemy has been alongside Nazi Germans, not the poorer “fascist” National Army, whose most of the activity was to torment Belarusians.
Mandatory patriotism and the worship of the past begin to be part of everyday life in schools and boarding schools. Students who show no enthusiasm for these practices can face social exclusion, stigma or even administrative pressure.
Fight for memory and soul: suppressing alternate identity
The government of Alexander Lukashenko besides continues to fight consistently against alternate historical narratives. Places like Kurapaty – symbol of russian panic and place of mass executions – stay outside the state memorial. Their meaning is reduced and access to them is hampered. According to the Washington Post, the area around Kurapat is under the supervision of the services, and protests in their defence are suppressed.
The state communicative glorifies the russian Union and common Belarusian-Russian heritage. The Niemna voice from above informs that the schools received the following instructions:
"Active promotion of the affirmative image of the USSR as creators of peace, order and social justice."
This message is not only intended to establish loyalty to the current authorities, but besides to neutralize the memory of the repression that has affected thousands of Belarusian citizens.
In school textbooks, references to the fight for independence, to the Belarusian language as a key component of identity, to opposition activities and to contemporary civic movements disappear. Their place is in the communicative about the heroism of the Red Army, the fidelity of Russia and the legitimacy of the politics of the current authorities.
Washington Post quotes a teacher from Minsk who, on condition of anonymity, says:
"We teach children not to think critically, but to be loyal. We are to rise not citizens but obedient performers of the will of the state.”
Belarusian language, although formally equivalent to Russian, almost completely disappeared from public education. Teachers who effort to advance it are marginalized or fired. The voice from above notes:
“The government considers Belarusian as an component of national radicalism and its popularisation as opposition activity.”
In this reality, more and more young people are looking for space for themselves beyond the system. For many of them, the net becomes the only place of freedom. The number of channels, blogs and social media profiles that usage Belarusian are growing, promoting independent culture and documenting reality without a state filter. That's where the real conflict for memory, identity and the future is today.
Education in Belarus is now the main field of ideological battle. The authorities are not limited to the introduction of a "state narrative". They build a strategy in which all component of education serves the loyalty of youth. Schools, youth organizations, textbooks, historical tours – everything is subject to 1 goal: to consolidate power and make a generation that will not ask questions.
This model, modeled on the russian and Russian educational scheme, is simply a tool for social control. But at the same time it shows the weakness of a government that fears young people adequate to invest in their systematic indoctrination. In this context, an alternate culture – digital, linguistic, independent – is created, which can take over the function of the generation's voice.
Belarus stands at a crossroads: 1 leads towards full rusification and return to the past, the another – through resistance, self-knowledge and culture – can open the door to a fresh society. But the second way leads through a long, hard fight that is now taking place in the minds and souls of the youngest citizens.
