Where childhood goes: why young people create alternative structures

Irina Mishina

Neither the discussion forum "Valdai", nor the camps "Sirius" and "Artek", nor the Unarmia and the youth movement "Going Together" caused as much controversy as the new youth subculture "PMC Redan". Suddenly, like the devil out of a snuffbox, dozens of articles, Internet posts, police reports and other horror stories popped up. Where and why did this come from?

"Down with the Komsomol in a dusty wrapper!"

Newsmakers today are young people in black jackets with the image of spiders and black hair. "PMK Redan" is a community of people who love anime, play Dota-2, and they also call themselves the "new generation of spiders" - "valiant, decent and just looking for new friends people, not instigators of conflicts." "We are for WORLD PEACE!" - here is a typical post in the Redan public. The movement has several groups in the VKontakte social network. The largest has almost 193 thousand subscribers. The main goal is to gather and relax together. In the Redan groups, you can find a lot of videos from such meetings. There's nothing special on them, just bright young people hanging out and not bothering anyone.

"Young people are in a state of search. Where did the abbreviation PMCs – private military company come from? I think, by analogy with the PMCs "Wagner" Prigozhin. Young people need new heroes, Robin Hoods, who are capable of extraordinary deeds", - said Nina Ostanina, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children.

It all started with a mass brawl of teenagers in the Moscow Aviapark shopping center on February 22, after which several dozen people were detained. Similar incidents have occurred in other cities of the country. Instantly, the authorities began to look for the insidious plan of the West and the organizers here. The telegram channel "War with Fakes" quickly declared all this a provocation of the Ukrainian special services, which pit teenagers against each other through social networks. Interestingly, a similar version, but exactly the opposite, appeared in the Ukrainian media - there, "PMCs Redan" was declared a "Russian provocation". Young people with spiders on their jackets have become news heroes both in Ukraine and in Belarus.

What is missing from the youth? Let's not talk about Belarusian and Ukrainian, let's take Russian. It would seem that many structures have been organized by the authorities recently, but none of them has become as popular as Redan.

Moscow City Duma deputy from United Russia Andrei Medvedev admitted: "They are not interested in the dusty Komsomol in a new wrapper, they are not interested in imitations of activity, they are not interested in concerts with Gazmanov, they do not find the Unarmia attractive. They want a live, real business, where they could feel that they are almost adults, and that they are useful."

Young people have chosen Western heroes as idols. Why? I think there are questions to our officials from culture and education.

Presenter of the channel "Children and whips" Margarita Litovskaya believes that the emergence of this youth subculture is natural right now: "Subcultures do not arise in a cultural vacuum. More information = more opportunities to divide into different specific groups with a frank claim to individuality."

But the experts of the channel "Bad Luck", on the contrary, are sure that "PMCs Redan" cannot be called a subculture and compared with aggressive youth subcultures such as skinheads and football fans: "Of course, it is more convenient to call it a subculture, it is also more convenient to nod towards Rosmolodezh, which again slapped something, the security forces who missed, well, it's convenient to ban something for this matter, for example, anime, which in parliamentary and patriotic circles has long been considered a destructive art form that has a bad effect on young people."

Are rural children an extra link?

In fact, we seem to have overlooked the younger generation. A whole layer of young people was overlooked, who were left to themselves.

"And where else can you realize yourself? Of course, there are patriotic forums, but activists go there. And the target audience just does not consist of activists. We actively work with excellent students, Olympic athletes, but guys with destructive mentality, whose families are in a difficult life situation, living in rural areas – as a rule, it does not reach such cases. They do not have the opportunity to participate in any events. But this is actually the target audience, those who primarily need attention," Yana Lantrantova, Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Council, told NI.

"Let's remember at least the boy Fedya from the Belgorod region, who committed a heroic act. In fact, why did the children come under fire? He went to school a great distance, far away, getting up almost at dawn, moreover, in his parents' car, because education is optimized, and school is now far away. And after all, the governor of the Belgorod region, having come to him in the hospital, did not even apologize, although this is the reason for what happened. But these are rural children who, in fact, are forgotten. They don't have pools or gyms. They are not in Sirius, Valdai, or Artek. It's just that Moscow has chosen a tactic: it's more visible on the ground. And the governor cheerfully reports to raise the rating: "Everything is fine with us!", - says Nina Ostanina, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.

There is even a youth affairs committee in the State Duma, which is headed by 30-year-old Artem Metelev. The remaining members of this committee are between 37 and 62 years old… What do they know about youth?

"If you want my opinion, I am not happy with the creation of this committee. Young people should work in such structures. We do not have a unified youth policy, everything is limited to the creation of some agencies and the holding of patriotic forums. And the children in the village, coming from school, are sitting on the Internet. Because parents don't have money for mugs, the whole yard is filled with cars, plus for security reasons they are not allowed to go outside alone. And there are groups and communities on the Internet...", - says Nina Ostanina.

The main question is how to realize yourself

From the feeling of unrealization and juvenile delinquency. So, in the Urals, the number of particularly serious crimes committed by minors has increased by a quarter. In Chelyabinsk and Tyumen regions by more than 55%. Why are teenagers becoming more violent?

"Teenagers read the state of parents who are forced to fight for survival, solving endless problems, this emotional tension is transmitted to teenagers, and they have not yet developed ways to cope with stress, as adults. But they have before their eyes role models from the Internet, social networks. And the realization that they are already adults and can also do something noticeable", - says Yelena Chebotareva, Candidate of Psychological Sciences.

This does not mean that young people are totally apolitical and are at the mercy of destructive consciousness. As practice shows, young people are willing to respond, for example, to volunteer and online projects. So, the executive secretary of the HRC, Yana Lantratova, has recently proposed several: "Online holidays", "Children on the Internet".

"In 2014, I practically took refugees and wounded children out of Donetsk on my own. One day I came to a meeting of a destructive group and just asked for help. She said that strong young guys were needed, because they would have to pull out the wounded, carry the children in their arms. And you know, the guys responded, we are still working with some of them. When children are approached through official structures, it often does not reach them, and projects that young people themselves form become popular. It is necessary to be able to reach not only talented, active people. It is necessary to reach everyone. This is especially important in adolescence, when many have an inner protest, a desire to realize themselves. In my experience, the most active children are found just in the regions, and not in large cities", - Yana Lantratova, Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Council, told NI.

Of course, no prohibitions can solve the problem with the new subculture. As well as the creation of new formal organizations. In the information age, this is pointless. In addition, children are sensitive to falsehood. Officials tell them about space, Skolkovo and the Crimean Bridge, and they themselves have children abroad and property in the UAE. Therefore, the treasury is doomed. To get away from the images of the West and the East, you need to create something of your own, unique and exciting.

Youth passes quickly. If she leaves the impression of dissatisfaction, unrealization, it can turn into a lifelong offense.