Tired of the status quo

Tired of what?

Tired of everything that is taking place in our country. They feel that something is wrong. They want change, immediately. And they feel that time is of the essence…

What do you mean?

There is a feeling that now is the moment when we should work for our future. Many of these young people have lived with this regime their whole lives. They want to have something different and they want a better future.

What is this better future for them?

If I can name it with one word, it would be opportunity. Today, they don’t think they have many opportunities. That’s why they came out on the streets.

Do they feel stuck?

They feel stuck and want more opportunities from their country. They want to work here, they want to start businesses here, they want to study here, they do not want to emigrate.They want to be useful for Russia. But, at the same time, they see people like Pavel Durov, who is one of the smartest guys our country has, and they know what has happened to him. He created VKontakte (a Russian social media site similar to Facebook – editor’s note) but had to leave Russia because VKontakte was simply stolen by the government.

But not everybody is so innovative. There are people who just want to live a normal life…

True, and for them it is also very difficult to feed a family with their salaries. Take me for example: I am a teacher and I love teaching, but if I wanted to make a decent living it would be better for me to leave and get a job somewhere in the West. That’s why we need opportunities here. We need a future. Otherwise, our youth will leave, even though they love it here.

This is quite a different message from what official Russian media say…

It is important to understand that a lot of young people do not watch TV, mainly because Russian TV has nothing to offer them. It has no programmes that are attractive to anyone under 30. Thus, they are not fed state propaganda. They understand that the pride of being Russian is not related to the size of the country or who its leader is.

So what is it related to then?

I don’t know because for everyone the meaning of pride is different, I think. But I can tell you what pride is for me and for many of my friends who are doing the same thing.

What does pride mean for?

As I said before, pride is not related to territory. Nor historical memory. It is rather a feeling that you have when you know that you can do something better for the place where you live. You can improve it and when you see that you are not alone, that you are making an improvement with your colleagues and your friends, and that you are making this piece of land where you were born better. You are doing it because you love it, because you were born here, your parents live here, your grandparents live here, etc. And you think that it is you that can improve this place; that you can make it better. I am sure that many of my colleagues and the youngsters who came to the squares this year to demonstrate – who held all those anti-corruption and anti-robbery slogans and were against all this fraud – I think that they have the same understanding of pride as I do. They just want to live here and make things better.

What about the so-called Putin generation, meaning young adults age between 20 and 35, who are said to be strongly supportive of the president? Does it mean there is a generational conflict emerging in Russia now?

There is indeed a conflict, but in my view it is less between generations as it is between those whom I call real patriots and pseudo-patriots. By real patriots I mean people who want to improve the country and make it better, but who also point out some of its weaknesses. I consider myself such a patriot. On the other hand, there are those whom I call pseudo-patriots, and they derive their pride from Russia’s petrol resources, imperialist legacy and superiority complex. When you try to talk to them and say that our roads are in disarray and have not been repaired for years, and that people can barely make a living, they call you an American spy or a traitor who is against Russia.

What would you say are the proportions, among the youth, between those whom you call the real and the pseudo patriots?  

I do not know their exact proportions of the pseudo versus the real patriots but I know that the number of the real patriots has been on the rise over the past few years. You can see this when you look at what Alexei Navalny is doing, for example. You will see how many youngsters come to the opposition rallies that he organises. That is why I am saying that the number of real patriots is increasing.

But is it enough? These real patriots, as you call them, are not the majority of the society…

That’s true, but this is because the real challenge that we face now is the relatively large group of people who just do not care about what is happening in the country.

And what can you do about that?

I think that the only thing that we can, and need to, do is to work with them every day. We have to focus on raising awareness about the situation in our country. Here’s a simple example. In Europe, if you ask people who they are going to vote for in the next election, they will answer your question without any problem. They will probably not say “I don’t care about politics” as it would be a shame – how could someone not care about politics? In our country it is the opposite. Being involved in politics means that you are doing something marginal, that you are doing something strange. We need to change this negative attitude towards politics. People need to start thinking that being politically or socially involved is something normal and desirable. This is what we are fighting for – if we achieve that, then I will say that the percentage of the real patriots has increased for sure.

The protests were not only attended by the young. They also included representatives of other generations, including the one that put great hope in Gorbachov’s perestroika. What would you say is the relation between these young and old protesters?  

I think that both the youth and representatives of the older generation came to demonstrate in the streets and squares have one thing in common – they have the same understanding what is happening in Russia. That is why they are standing together, shoulder to shoulder, and demanding the same things, together. I think that the secret of the connection between two or even three generations of activists and protesters is hidden in the level of their understanding of reality. Thus, among our protesters you will find people who were born in the Soviet Union and who understood all the advantages and disadvantages of the Soviet system – as they lived through it. There were also the leaders of perestroika and the revolution that took place in the early 1990s along with the democratic changes that were being introduced at that time. And there are representatives of the new generation who share the same views and same European- oriented way of thinking. They have all found each other now. For me this is a great achievement, that we can all meet on the squares and that our movements attract people who are of different ages but connected by one idea.

What idea?

A stable and sustainable European future of our country. But let me add one more thing to your previous question: in my view the fact that there have been representatives of all generations protesting on the streets this year means that when they all see each other during these demonstrations, they become inspired and convinced that together they can do something. I think that this is what is happening right now.

Being a co-ordinator of a youth organisation do you see an increasing involvement of the youth? In other words, are you now receiving many new members?

To be honest, our association does not want to become a large organisation and we do not focus on quantity. Our model is to help people get experience and later move on to start their own NGOs. And they do. Here in St Petersburg they have opened up a migration centre where they help newcomers learn Russian. Others set up an urban development NGO and socio-educational projects for students and pupils, which were also an effect of their co-ordinators’ earlier experience with us.  We think that the future of our country should not be solely in the hands of the government but in the increasing number of social activists. That is why four years ago we set up Vesna, which means spring. We want to prepare those young people for the future and in this way we will make our country great again!

Nikolay Artemenko is a co-ordinator with the Vesna Youth Democratic Movement in St Petersburg, Russia.

Iwona Reichardt is the deputy editor in chief of New Eastern Europe.

This interview was first published in New Eastern Europe issue 5/2017.

interview, Nikolay Artemenko, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Youth