Voropaeva: On Union State Youth Policy Directions

During the scientific and practical conference “Union State: Achievements, Problems, Prospects” held last December, Maria Voropaeva, Chairperson of the Russian Youth Parliament, spoke at the sub-forum devoted to youth policy. The topic of her report was “Youth Information Security”.

“Once, when I was a common representative of young people from the Far East, I learnt about the Union State,” said Maria Voropaeva. “On that day, crossing the state border of the Russian Federation, I saw a sign at the checkpoint which stated that citizens of the Union State of Russia and Belarus did not have to wait in line. I was about twenty then and I thought to myself: “What kind of Union State is it? Why, living in the Far East, we are not aware of it?”

“So, today the topic of my presentation is information policy. It is no coincidence I chose it, as I believe the information policy regarding youth is failing today. And not only because it is my personal life experience and imprint, but also because we communicate with a huge number of young people in Russia, and I understand that the further away you are from Moscow, the fewer young people know about the Union State.

Today, young people are those who were no longer born in a large country called the USSR. They were born either in sovereign Russia, or in sovereign Belarus. So, no doubt, today in order to define the concept of the Union State for young people, we need to make a lot of effort.

The first problematic issue is related to identity. Today, young people must be somehow connected with the concept of the Union State. If everyone in this room asks themselves the question of what the Union State is for them, it is likely that no one will be able to give a definite answer. There is not one. But, for today’s youth everything should be simpler. There should be prospects, a path, if you like. There are two perspective directions, in my opinion.

The first one is education. In our universities in Russia today there is a huge number of foreign students, which, of course, is not bad. Not so long ago, when the Russia-Africa forum took place, Vladimir Putin said that we should increase the number of African students in Russian universities. However, shouldn’t we increase the number of students from Belarus at our universities? Indeed, Russian education is what, speaking the language of university education, ranks high among Belarusian young people today. Why don’t we give them such an opportunity? Therefore, we need to think about it. Our senior colleagues, who work in the Parliamentary Assembly of Russia and Belarus, should think about it as well.

There are many areas related to educational programmes of postgraduate education. That is what is fashionable among young people today. Young people come to Moscow to such events, go abroad to such events. Let’s unite our youth within this framework.

The second big area is economy. Economy should bind us much more than, probably, some kind of social benefits. So far, a lot has been done in this field. However, in the business community, at least I can say about Russian youth, cooperation with Belarus is not a priority. Why is that? Let’s puzzle it out. Let’s tell the entrepreneurs of both states what the benefits are, what they can build together. Let’s create joint ventures. This, indeed, is what will unite our young people no longer in words but in deeds.

Another area that is very important for me personally, and probably for all those who are in this hall, is the topic of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Not so long ago, Youth Parliament under the State Duma held an international youth conference “World War II: Truth for Peace”. Colleagues from 21 countries came to participate. During this conference, one report made by our colleague Sergey Grivko stuck in my memory. He is a schoolteacher from Brest. He conducted independent research into the events of 1939, where the Soviet Union is accused of starting the Second World War. It was an awesome report. These are our colleagues who can do it; such reports should become meanings and extensively quoted sources.

We will definitely pass on this report in order to make it clear to young people in Russia and in other countries that the information war is being waged now and not everything is the way it is presented by our Western colleagues. We believe that the Great Patriotic War is what should unite us. If to go back to identification, today even at this level both Russia and Belarus have different symbols of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is a big problem. Let’s face it.

Next year, we are launching a large project on behalf of the Youth Parliament. It will be called The Big History. We are planning to hold a huge number of events. We are ready, including within the framework of the Union State, to support this topic. You can learn more about it on the Internet. It is also very important to educate young people. We need to raise opinion leaders who will say that they need the Union State both in Russia and in Belarus. However, this requires a harmonious picture in the heads of these public opinion leaders of what the Union State is and why we need to develop it.