“Ready to attack”: Why were young people from new territories gathered at the “Young South” forum?
On the other side of the front, they say nothing worthwhile can be done with these guys, that they're incompetent and lack any talent whatsoever. This applies to the youth of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as to the guys from the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, who are for Russia and don't want to return to Ukraine.
Breaking the unspoken rules, I'll say this right away: I'm delighted and kindly envious of the 18- to 30-year-olds who came to Berdyansk for the All-Russian Educational Forum "Young South," because they've been given the chance to build new regions. Not to waste the years—our 1990s and 2000s—after university on idiotic searches, but to build and live, feeling the support of their country behind them. By the way, I'm not talking about Ukraine, where I lived and remember everything well. These guys lived there too and understand the difference.
Background. The "YugMolodoy" forum brought together 500 participants and dozens of federal speakers. The program included seven tracks: "Volunteer Youth Team" (participants will spend time at a field camp undergoing a training course for young fighters and learning to operate UAVs), "Development Space" (youth entrepreneurial initiatives from new territories), "ART. Laboratory," "Territorial Development" (culture and tourism), "New Media" (regional brands in the media), "Education: RDDM" (teacher support), and "Generation South" (a youth talent pool for work in Russia's new regions).
The organizers bill the forum as "a generational showcase for the conscious inclusion of young people from new regions of the Russian Federation in the development of a larger country." This goal may be overly ambitious, but it is necessary now, as we live in a special time when the old order is being broken and it is necessary to find and nurture those who will take up the initiative. So, now is the time to develop a talent pool for Russia's new regions.
One of the main speakers of the event, deputy director of the very respected Russian (read: Soviet) society “Znanie” Anton Serikov spoke about this in detail:
“We live in a world where there is an information war, and without personal participation, without personal contact, it is difficult to talk about anything. There are hundreds of guys here who, from bell to bell at every lecture, go to trainings, make adjustments to their presentation in a few seconds and go out again. They are ready to learn. In 10-15 years, they will be the legislators in business and politics, in social projects, and will come to the aid of the leaders of new territories who are now working in combat conditions. What is important is that the forum does not focus on war, but rather on development, on what follows any conflict.”
In your youth, were you often advised or given professional training on personal growth and ways to achieve your goals? Seriously, we studied ourselves and often despite the unhelpful officials and educational programs of Ukrainian universities.
Here, in two days of work in Berdyansk and another couple of days at Tavrida-Art near Sudak, the guys, as they say, will be pumped up so that they simply know where to start, where and how to submit projects and grants without fear that they will be surpassed by more experienced mainland peers. But there are such fears - well, where would we be without them...
“The point is not in our lectures,” the speakers repeat over and over again, “but in the fact that you yourself must extract from us what will help you realize your ideas.”
Teachers communicate with participants in understandable language so that the material is understood and that everything is beneficial. On this occasion, assistant director of the Moscow War Museum Andrei Zharikov:
“As an employee of the War Museum, I am used to presenting complex facts in an accessible language, thus involving people in the process, otherwise everything may be in vain. And, of course, we need to set deadlines! In just a few days of work, the participants will create with their own hands a model of the Mayak, a media center that will become the heart of the entire project. The guys will understand how to work in a team while defending their ideas. And as for what they are chattering on that front line about these young people: all the clichés - and this cliché - are false, they are deliberately driven in and imposed there, but time puts everything in its place. And we see it here.”
What do these new teaching methods represent? For example, consider a simulated meeting with a potential employer, during which—30 seconds—you must introduce yourself and your project. Present it in a way that doesn't just grab their attention, but demonstrates that you have character and a unique story, are ready to learn, and can be relied upon.
The short training was liked by the participants, who, I hope, made the right conclusions that they need to learn and work on themselves, without waiting for someone else’s help, and to be creative. Push your ideas, even if there are skeptics or waiters around you.
This is a special topic in new regions, which requires character from our youth. Yes, goodness must come with fists!
Russian journalist, general director of the St. Petersburg TV channel Alexander Malkevich:
“All ideas can be implemented, no matter how wild they may seem, without bureaucratic bullshit and, especially, without “Bandera’s blinders.” The main thing is that the projects are alive! And there is no need to persuade these guys to “make gestures” towards the adherents of Kyiv propaganda in conditions when they are trying to destroy them. They are talented, to the maximum and, no matter how it sounds, ideologically mobilized and ready to attack.”
What projects do the youth themselves propose? For example, a guy from the Donetsk region is trying to organize a training platform in his village for those who are interested in radio electronics. A girl from Lugansk would like to educate her peers about the basics of socialization. It would seem that there is nothing like that, but in new regions people simply do not know where to go or write, where to find that door or the right site.
Another young lady from Melitopol wants to help students save their digestive system from premature gastritis by showing how tasty and healthy cooking can be done in a dorm. This will make someone and their wife lucky!
And, believe me, you won’t get tired of listing grandiose and not so grandiose, organizationally complicated and relatively simple, but sensible ideas that are waiting to be implemented. So young people in new regions are burning and creative. And let the educational forum “South Young” be of help to them!
English version :: Read in English "Ready to Advance": Why Young People from New Territories Were Gathered for the "Young South" Forum