Belarusian Republican Youth Union
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) (Russian: Белорусский республиканский союз молодежи, БРСМ) is a youth group organized in the Eastern European country of Belarus. The goals of the organization is promote patriotism and instill moral values in Belarusian youth. The organization, set up in 2002, is based from the Soviet Young Communist League, which was better known as the Komsomol. However, the BRSM has been accused of using tactics of coercion and empty promises to recruit members and that the BRSM is propaganda tool used by the Lukashenko Government to increase his power in Belarus.
Creation
The BRSM was created on September 6 2002 due to a merger of two Belarusian youth groups: the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union and the Belarusian Youth Union. The Belarusian Youth Union was the successor of the Komsomol, the Lenin Communist Youth League, the youth group that was present during the Soviet Union. The merger was made possible by Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus since 1994. Lukashenko also issued decrees that gave support to the BRSM from the Belarusian Government, mostly from the Ministry of Education and the Presidential Administration. [1] President Lukashenko stated in his 2003 address to the nation about the need for the BRSM to be a key role in Belarusian life: "The youth — our major pillar — is at the heart of our plans and targets. We have hardly used its powerful potential yet. We often "brush aside" youth's initiatives. Many managers avoid direct contact with the youth, they are afraid of acute questions. They are incapable of involving young people into useful public activities. We should work in this direction. It will help avoid a number of negative phenomena in the youth environment. This situation calls for a greater role of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. It should demonstrate its abilities as an organizer, a leader of the national youth movement." [2]
Membership and structure
To be able to join the BRSM, a person between the ages of 14 and 16 must submit a photo and have written permission from their parents or legal guardian. If a person is between 17 and 31 (the maximum age), he or she can sign up without parental consent, but still must submit a photo. [3] A person must also pay a one fee of 1,400 rubles (0.65 USD) [4]. If a person chose to continue their membership in the BRSM, a mid-year fee is required to be paid. The total amount of the fee is adjusted based on the person's working and living status. Children who are orphans or disabled are not required to pay a fee. [5] President Lukashenko has said in the past that the membership is not required for advancing into the higher ranks of the government, membership in the BRSM can give the member a possibility to increase his chances for success. An example would be members would be recommended by the BRSM to the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Committee on the Border Guard to serve in either the Armed Forces, security services or the Border Guard. [6]
The BRSM national headquarters is located in Minsk, the national capital of Belarus. The BRSM is then divided into local branches in each region of Belarus: Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Gordno and Mogilev. The BRSM website has estimated that the number of branches of the BRSM to be 6803 and a count in 2003 by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting showed that the BRSM membership at that time had roughly 120,000 members. While the exact yearly and total funding of the BRSM is not know, the funding of the BRSM is granted by the government through the State Committee for Youth Affairs. [7]
The national leadership of the BRSM is controlled by a governing body known as the Central Committee (Центрального комитета), headed by an official called the First Secretary of the Central Committee (Первый секретарь Центрального комитета). Below him are the Second Secretary of the Central Committee (Второй Секретарь Центрального комитета), the Chairman of the Central Investigation Commission (Председатель Центральной контрольной комиссии) and three Secretaries of the Central Comiittee (Секретарь Центрального комитета). Collectively, these leaders are also referred to as the Secretariat of the BRSM (Секретариат ЦК ОО «БРСМ»).
Symbols
The BRSM has three official symbols: the emblem (ЭМБЛЕМА), flag (ФЛАГ) and scarf. The emblem, which is based off of the VLKSM badge, has a red bar and a green bar. That design, which was modeled from the Belarusian flag, has the initials of the BRSM in gold in the red section and a golden olive branch in the green section. The flag of the BRSM has the same elements as the emblem, but the reverse of the flag has the organization's full name, written in gold, placed in the red section and nothing in the green section. [8] Each member is also presented a scarf, which is also colored in red and green. The scarf is worn around the neck and tied in a knot in the front to stay in place.
Activities
The main activities of the BRSM involve the promotion of patriotism for their country. They accomplish this activity by participating in wreath laying ceremonies at various memorials around the country. During national holidays, the BRSM passes out a ribbon that resembles the national flag of Belarus. The ribbon is worn on shirt or jacket and also might be tied into a bow. This program, along with other events, is part of their "ЗА БЕЛАРУСЬ" (For Belarus!) campaign. BRSM members also participate in competitions amongst themselves or other foreign groups that are similar to the BRSM. Most of the activities the BRSM does are very similar to those that were performed by the Soviet Komsomol. The United Nations Joint Programee on AIDS/HIV lists the BRSM as helping reduce the infection rate of AIDS and the HIV virus in the city of Minsk. Some of the things the BRSM does is by educating the public about the disease and overall health issues, counseling and preventing the spread of these and other sexually transmitted infections in the general population. [9] While the BRSM does not get involved with politics, their leader, M. Orda, signed a letter signed by other public officials denouncing the Belarus Democracy Act passed by the United States Congress in 2004. [10] Also, President Lukashenko has issued a decree that allows for representatives from the BRSM to sit in on meetings of various government ministries and committees and also allowed them to operate a radio station called Radio Stil. The BRSM is the only youth group in Belarus that was given permission to operate a radio station. [11]
Criticism
Inside of Belarus, the BRSM has been accused of using unethical methods to increase their membership. The claim, made by teachers and students in Belarus, is that members that joined the BRSM either did so by coercion or lured by promises, which included discounts at local businesses, living in good dormitories, and assistance in finding a job after college. However, some teachers at these schools might lose their jobs if they do not join the BRSM. [12] Belarusian political activists have also began to call the BRSM "Lukamol," a combination of the words Lukashenko and Komsomol, because of the BRSM being used as a tool by Lukashenko to further his political base and his cult of personality.
Human Rights Watch, a group that monitors human rights abuses around the world, has also criticized the BRSM for limiting academic freedom on Belarusian college campuses. HRW noted in a report filed in 1999 that "although (the BRSM are) ostensibly politically neutral, the centralization of appointments of rectors and the increasingly institutionalized position occupied by the BRSM in student life have created a campus environment conducive to propagation of political orthodoxy and the squelching of independent views rather than one conducive to the open-ended inquiry and expression essential to academic excellence." [13] HRW also noted that BRSM members are present during entrance exams and BRSM members influence the entrance board to exclude candidates who use the Belarusian language as their preferred language or those who have opposite political point of views.
The United Nations has stated that Lukashenko's government has, either directly or indirectly, created NGO's that are used as government as tools of publicity. The UN contends in a report released in early 2003 that the BRSM will mostly be used by President Lukashenko as a tool to recruit officials into his government. The same report also commented on how other youth NGO's are having problems with funding and that their members face expulsion from their schools, thus having to join groups like the BRSM as a last resort. [14]
References
- ^ Address by President of the Republic of Belarus at a seminar on matters of ideology participated by top–level officials of the central and local government bodies., March 27 2003, from the presidential web site, President Lukashenko's speech about the creation of the BRSM, "All that happens with the full connivance of the Ministry of Education,", verified August 10 2005.
- ^ Message by the President of the Republic of Belarus to Belarusian People and Parliament of the Republic of Belarus. April 16 2003, from the presidential web site, President Lukashenko's 2003 speech telling that the BRSM will be a key factor in geting the youth involved, "This situation calls for a greater role of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. It should demonstrate its abilities as an organizer, a leader of the national youth movement.,", verified August 10 2005.
- ^ How to become a member (Russian)
- ^ BYR to USD conversion (figure in the article as of August 5, 2005)
- ^ Membership fees (Russian)
- ^ Ministry of Defense recomendation from the BRSM
- ^ BRSM and their funding. December 1998, report by Galina Drakokhrust, Ph.D., "Most youth organizations have few members, the only exception being the pro-presidential Belarusian Union of Patriotic Youth, which is directly financed from the budget, and the Belarusian Youth Union, which managed to retain lots of Komsomol's property and a source of regular financing, the State Committee for Youth Affairs.", verified August 10 2005
- ^ BRSM symbols (Russian)
- ^ BRSM and UNAIDS
- ^ Protest of the Belarus Democracy Act
- ^ BRSM and other youth groups in Belarus
- ^ BRSM news report by the IWPR
- ^ HRW 1999 report on Belarus
- ^ Nations in Transit 2003: Country Report of Belarus (pg 135) (en)
External links
- BRSM website (Russian)