Lukashenko wants Belarusian youth movement BRSM to evolve
The BRSM logo. An archive photo
MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – More efforts should be poured into work with the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM). Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement as he met with top officials of the Belarus President Administration on 1 October, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The election of a new BRSM head [Aleksandr Lukyanov in August 2021]. I’ve already told the head of the administration: if we don’t help him now with the BRSM’s areas of work, we are going to say once again that they don’t do anything! And it will go downhill from there. Because we have to work with them the way the Central Committee worked with us. I was part of the leadership of the [All-Union Leninist Young Communist League aka] Komsomol. Every day we would go across the road and have a pep talk with them. And I had to do it when I was reviving this organization. It has been revived more or less but we have to move on. We have to determine their areas of work. Young people in the BRSM need to understand that there are 12 or 6 areas of work they have to take care of.”
According to the president, some of the areas of work have already been determined. Work opportunities for university students are one of them. “A good movement. People work and see benefits. Those, who want to earn money, make some money. ‘100 Ideas for Belarus’. This scientific and creative movement needs to evolve. Then there is the volunteer movement – aid for the elderly and so on and so forth. A good and kind movement. And it is necessary to embrace a number of some other areas of work from experience. And some creative things, the ones young people are interested in these days,” Aleksandr Lukashenko recounted.
“But it is necessary to sit down and think about it. It is like work on the Constitution. Maybe slightly less elevated. It is necessary to arrange a brain storm and make up our minds,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said he had received yet another report on work with university students and the situation in university student communities that day. “Yes, it is different from past times. A totally different situation. So what, have you calmed down? Everything is going to be fine… Although there are certain hotspots over there. Which means you have to work with student collectives. You have to talk to them,” the Belarusian leader stressed. “We already have the experience of organization of territorial dialogue platforms. Why can’t we go to students and organize these dialogue platforms in order to talk to them and listen to them? Everyone was a university student in the past. Every student is passionate. They may be in error, may be half right but it is their opinion. And we have to find the useful half for the country and single them out from these student collectives.”
