Belarusian youth caught in the crossfire

On International Youth Day, it is important to talk about how wars and repression affect young people. In Belarus, an entire generation has grown up under the control of propaganda and restrictions, yet young people still have a chance to defend their right to freedom and a future without violence.

We live in a time defined by conflicts — political, military, and societal. They are all deeply interrelated, often leading from one to another. Politicians, eager to satisfy their electorates, increasingly turn to military tools to distract the people from deeper economic and social problems. Leaders such as Putin, Trump, and Netanyahu have been known to dazzle domestic audiences with displays of military power abroad, drawing attention away from more pressing internal issues.

Yauheni Dzenisenka, BKDP

It’s always the youth who suffer most from military conflicts. Young people are sent to the frontlines. They are exploited as a cheap workforce to produce weapons. It’s young minds that are being re-educated by the military propaganda in schools and universities, when states choose a warpath. They are forced to give and lose everything for vague ideas of artificial patriotism and dying for the Fatherland.

Belarus has long been caught in an escalating political crisis. Since the rise to power of its first — and still only — president, Alexander Lukashenko, all state institutions have gradually fallen under his control, as opposition voices have been suppressed. Belarusian youth have always been a central target of this crackdown. The regime seized control of all of the youth organisations and united them under one umbrella –– the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. Once independent and autonomous, it has become a mouthpiece of the new government ideology.

Together with many other youth organisations, it has shaped a new generation of young Belarusians – loyal, militant, and silent. They have been taught to obey those who give orders and to despise anything that challenges those orders. Most importantly, they have been discouraged from thinking critically. Loud slogans such as “the sacred past,” “life for the Homeland,” and “death to the enemies” serve to distract from everyday problems – a war strategy in times of peace. It’s a continuous preparation for conflict, fuelled by another kind of conflict – a fight for minds. A war for youth.

In 2020, after 26 years of unrelenting war for the Belarusian youth, the most apparent outcome seemed to be the unshaken victory of Lukashenko’s system. However, the new generation of Belarusians decided to take another path. They began to question the only status quo they had ever known. Overnight, the old ideology dissolved, and – united by a sense of solidarity – they took to the streets to peacefully win the war. They carried flowers, not weapons. They wore white, not camouflage. They didn’t win...

Since then, Belarus has become the most isolated land in Europe, ruled by one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Those unable to flee were imprisoned. Others were silenced. I don’t know if a war against a cruel regime can be won with flowers when they’re being struck down by real bullets. But I do know this – the fight for the minds of the youth is not yet lost.

As trade unions, we must pick up this fight. Once we succeed, there will be no space for

bloody conflicts in the fair, democratic, and equal society we are striving to build.

Written by Yauheni Dzenisenka, BKDP Belarus

www.ituc-csi.org

Чытаць на бел