Saturday, May 26, 2007
More good news from Russia
Forget the blatant propaganda of the reporter about Young Pioneers being used to 'counter democracy'- and the silly jibe at the end about what used to go on at Pioneer camps, the news that the famous youth organisation is undergoing a renaissance in Russia is a cause for celebration. As my wife Zsuzsanna pointed out here, The Pioneer movement is about solidarity, camaraderie and compassion: better to instil these values into young people than the greedy, aggressive, materialist values which modern global capitalism seeks to promote.
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2 comments:
Dear Neil,
When I was in Yugoslavia in the late 60's and early 70's I had many friends that were Young Pioneers. I also visited them at a Young Pioneer camp. Contrary to the West's depiction of the Young Pioneers being akin to Hitler Jugen, I found that, as you mention, the Young Pioneers were about solidarity, camaraderie and compassion. Also, when I was there, the Young Pioneers were engaged in such things as working on reconstruction after WWII. These were experiences that, without exception, were expressed to me as being happy, fun and socially useful.
Just another view.
Don't forget the Patriot Camps set up in Georgia by Saakashvili
and his merry followers since their revolution where the youth can
spend the summer nights singing around the camp fire and the summer days on the rifle range.
The sad thing is that if Saakashvili thinks using patriotic youth as cannon fodder for some future military campaign to 'take back' s ossetia & s abkhazia, they may well have to face the chechens... again...
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