Belarusian Republican Youth Union

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BRSM emblem

The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) (Russian: Белорусский республиканский союз молодежи, БРСМ) is an organized youth group in the Eastern European country of Belarus. The goals of the BRSM are to promote patriotism and to instill individual moral values into the youth of Belarus, using activities such as camping, sporting events and visiting memorials. The organization, which was created by a merger of other youth groups in 2002, is very similar to the Soviet Young Communist League (Komsomol). While they are only one of a few youth groups inside Belarus, it is the largest and receives much backing from the Belarusian government. The BRSM has been accused of using methods of coercion and empty promises to recruit members and that the organization is being used as a propaganda tool by the Lukashenko Government.

Creation

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The 39th Congress of the BRSM, September 23, 2005. The photo also shows that the group was awarded two Soviet orders for their work

The BRSM was created on September 6, 2002, with the merger of two Belarusian youth groups: the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union and the Belarusian Youth Union. The Belarusian Youth Union was considered the "legal successor" of the Soviet Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) and the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union was created in 1997 by Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus since 1994. Lukashenko not only issued a decree calling for the creation of the BRSM, he also issued decrees that gives the BRSM governmental support, mostly from the Ministry of Education and the Presidential Administration. President Lukashenko stated in his 2003 address to the nation 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."

Membership and structure

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BRSM Recommendation certificate to the Belarus Ministry of Defense

In order to join the BRSM, a person must be between the ages of 14 and 31, be able to send a photo of themselves, and if they are between the ages of 14 and 16, written permission from their parents or legal guardian must be granted. A person must also pay a one time fee of 1,400 rubles (0.65 USD) and must pay a mid-year fee to continue their membership in the BRSM. The total amount of the fee is adjusted based on the person's working and living status and fee waivers are granted for children who are orphaned or disabled. In the past, President Lukashenko stated that while membership in the BRSM is not required for advancing into the higher ranks of the government, it is possible for a person who joins the BRSM to increase their chances for success. An example would be that members can be recommended to the Ministry of Defense by the BRSM for service in the Armed Forces.

The BRSM national headquarters is located in Minsk, the national capital of Belarus. Each province of Belarus, Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno and Mogilev, have their own branches of the BRSM. The BRSM has estimated that there are 6803 branches of the BRSM located inside Belarus, and a count in 2003 by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting showed that the BRSM had roughly 120,000 members. While the exact yearly and total funding of the BRSM is not known, the State Committee for Youth Affairs is the government agency that is providing funding to the BRSM.

The national leadership of the BRSM is controlled by the Central Committee (Центрального комитета), which is headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee (Первый секретарь Центрального комитета). Below the First Secretary 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

BRSM scarf

The BRSM has three official symbols: the emblem (ЭМБЛЕМА), flag (ФЛАГ) and scarf. The emblem, which is based on the VLKSM badge, has a red bar and a green bar. Modeled from the Belarusian flag, the design of the emblem 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 leaving the green section unemblazoned. 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

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President Lukashenko wearing the "For Belarus!" ribbon

Most of the BRSM's activities are similar to those that were performed by the Soviet Komsomol. The main activities of the BRSM involve the promotion of patriotism for their country. This is accomplished by participating in wreath laying ceremonies at various memorials around the country. The BRSM members also pass out flowers to veterans of the Great Patriotic War to honor their service during the national holiday Den Pobedy (Day of Victory). Both the memorial visits and the flowers for the veterans give the BRSM members the ideas of what sacrifices their ancestors have made in the past. During other national holidays, the BRSM passes out a ribbon that resembles the national flag of Belarus, to be worn on a shirt or jacket. This program, along with other events, is part of their "ЗА БЕЛАРУСЬ" (For Belarus!) campaign. The BRSM also participates in outdoor activities and sports, including football, running, swimming and hockey. Some of these athletic events involve different groups from inside Belarus or from neighboring countries, such as Russia, Ukraine or Latvia. BRSM members also participate in competitions amongst themselves or other foreign groups that are similar to the BRSM. 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. An example of their efforts include 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. Social events, such as concerts for the youth of Belarus are also hosted by the BRSM. However, there was some occasions that during BRSM-sponsored concerts, neo-Nazis were not only attending the concert, but were performing the show. The BRSM has been criticised for this by local leaders and veterans. The BRSM was also one of the main organizers of the 2004 "Miss Belarus" pagent, a beauty competition along the same lines as Miss America and Miss Universe. While the BRSM does not get involved with politics, their leader, M. Orda, signed a letter along with other public officials denouncing the Belarus Democracy Act passed by the United States Congress in 2004. 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 (Style Radio, 101.2), which began broadcasting in June of 1998. The BRSM is the only youth group in Belarus that was given permission to operate a radio station. Just like the Komsomol and other organizations, the BRSM was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner for its work during the Soviet-era.

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 were 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 have lost their jobs if they had not joined the BRSM. Belarusian political activists have also began to call the BRSM "Lukamol," (Лукамол) a combination of the words Lukashenko and Komsomol, because of the use of BRSM 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." HRW also noted that BRSM members are present during entrance exams and that 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 by the 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.

External links

• BRSM website (Russian)
• Stop-Luakmol/Stop-BRSM movement by the group Zubr (Russian)

See also

• National Scout Association of Belarus