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In the textbook [that Russian school children have received] the authors urge children to prepare themselves to die for their country. Furthermore, they equate homosexuality with pedophilia and Disney cartoons with pornography, and give instructions on how women should use their “charms.” Europeans are described as “thieves, murderers and liars.”
The textbook, which provides “materials for spiritual, moral, and patriotic upbringing” is supposed to be used as part of “patriotism lessons” that have been on the curriculum since 2022. Though it is not included on the national list of core curriculum books, the content reflects the Kremlin’s intentions to spread propaganda in educational institutions.
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One of the main topics of the book is the war in Ukraine and the idea that dying for one’s country is a blessing is repeated several times: “Love always involves sacrifice,” writes one of the authors. “The sacrifice of a defender of the homeland is their life.”
Elsewhere in the book, the authors make constant claims that Russia is better than Western countries. They also say that children are “mentally crippled” because of “computer games, Hollywood action films, pornography and Disney cartoons.”
They argue that European nations that used to be colonial empires legitimized “murder, lies and plunder” through the conquest and subjugation of new territories. Russia, on the other hand, “never exploited its numerous peoples,” they say, but merely improved their living conditions. The book makes no mention of the culture of Indigenous peoples in what is Russia today, or of any religions other than Christianity and “Slavic paganism.”
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“It’s proof that the country wants more cannon fodder,” [a 16-year old student] told DW, adding that “dying for the country” actually meant dying for “the president’s interests and ambitions.”
He said that a few years ago, he had started watching the videos of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin critic and opposition leader who died in jail in 2024 “more for fun than for any other reason.” He said it was Navalny’s 2021 investigation into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea palace that had first drawn his attention.
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Alexei (name changed), another 16-year-old student [said] that many of his classmates avoided going to “patriotic events.” He too said that the blocking of YouTube had made a difference to him. “I looked into why it was blocked,” he said. “Because nothing happens by chance. And that’s how my interest in politics began.” That’s when he realized that the authorities wanted to get rid of inconvenient citizens and suppress free speech. “I love freedom, so it was hard,” he said.
Ilya thinks that most students don’t take the propaganda seriously. “On the one hand, we laugh about it in class, at least my friends do,” he said. “On the other, we don’t care. Some simply don’t listen. We’re very good at being quiet and not talking much about it,”
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They’ve been ramping this shit up ever since '22.*
Worse: when they do this to kids they stole from Ukraine.
I don’t think the rest of the world will ever - or even should - meddle in a country’s affairs to the point of destroying their government, but I think it’s high time to ostracize and isolate Russia in every way possible.
Even China doesn’t do this shit to their people. Not so brazenly at least.
Also, the next time someone says “Russians brought this on themselves because they voted for the wrong guy”, show them this. Because, as I said, this has been going on for a long time, a lot longer than '22. They are adults now. Fully indoctrinated and kept from any sort of real information.
* this phrasing is not to be misunderstood: they already did it long before that. It’s been a steady development ever since Putin came to power.
I think in China the apparatus is older and more omnipresent, so it can be more subtle and still work. Anyways, China also supports Russia in its war efforts, so it’s at least complicit.
It’s not so subtle in China as it seems. The Chinese Communist Party uses different terms and framing, but it’s the same thing.
On March 1, 2021, China introduced a new law that makes it a crime to question military casualties on the internet,
A few months before the law came into force, China’s Xi Jinping sent a message to the country’s military stating that Chinese soldiers should not be scared of death,
There are several international media that have been reporting at the time about his.
As another report said, ‘Do Not Fear Death’: China’s Xi Orders Soldiers to Train Harder to Win Wars’.
So the wording may be different, but the message is the same.
@A_norny_mousse@piefed.social
Edit in response to @Majoran@feddit.org’s comment below.
The Chinese Communist Party’s war propaganda includes also children at a very young age, including elementary school children. It comes amid the roll-out of the law I mentioned above in this comment.
China is pushing military education on children reflecting a heightened nationalism under Xi Jinping
The developments in countries like Russia and China are devastating - first for their own people, as they are brainwashed from a very young age.
Huge difference, I’d say, if you message this within the military or to kids in a public class room.
It’s not like western soldiers never heard that they might have to risk their life for the country…
Please read my edit in the comment above.
China got that “never again” thing going since WW2. It’s worked wonders for nationalistic propaganda.
I was going for the complicity. That’s a big (geographically) problem.
I feel like the people who say “Russians brought this on themselves” are ignorant, and don’t understand how propaganda works. Furthermore, they’re probably quite blind to actual conditions due to simply choosing the moral high ground like sheep reading sensationalist media.
It is already being done as much as we politically dare, as it’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid further escalation of the war. Russia’s economy has taken significant hits due to not only sanctions, but internal trouble as well, like emigration, significantly increased military spending, and loss of young men from the working class in the meat grinder. Their national economy is heavily burdened, and the working class feels this the most. Russia’s balls are getting bluer and bluer, and they can only keep this up for so long…
What do you suggest we do though?
However, I feel like we’re inching closer and closer to NATO/EU engaging with military power, if we get just one stray Shahed/Geran drone astray that kills civilians in a country of said organizations. Hopefully it won’t happen, but that is the next step up from all the sanctions that have been imposed.
I doubt NATO/EU want to go to war with Russia. There is just no point in doing so. The war in Ukraine strategically weakens Russia. As in the population declines faster and faster, as does the economy. The other part is to enable Ukraine to weaken Russia even faster. This is being done by sending more weapons and money to Ukraine. That is also much cheaper than war.
True, but with the armament of Europe these days, as well as far-right political parties coming to power, I don’t think countries like Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and maybe even Estonia would be very hesitant to participate in a joint military operation (aka. war) if they get provoked enough. Not to mention there have already been several provocations to rile up these and other nations.
But you’re right, the primary focus is the long game, for as long as it’s deemed reasonable.
I share your view regarding a potential war between Nato and Russia, but the threat doesn’t come with the far-right as these extremist groups are aligned with Moscow. In Germany, for example, the far-right AfD - which is supported by Russia and China - wants to engage with Russia, including buying Russian oil & gas. The French far-right has shown a similar rhetoric.
So the rise of the far-right doesn’t threaten Russia but rather Ukraine and a free Europe in my opinion.
I would add that Russian elections are systematically rigged since at least 2004
If we look at it very cynically: Anyone who falls for this propaganda (or has fallen for it) dies on the front lines. In this way, the proportion of members of society who are critical of the government continues to grow.
2014 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/amid-ukraine-crisis-russia-puts-the-squeeze-on-independent-media-496245