Moscow pitches patriot games

The media will be pressured to make space for "authoritative intellectuals" to redress what government officials say are "patriotic deficiencies" in regular news coverage. Also in the works are new museums and exhibitions to celebrate patriotic themes. Factories that produce calendars, knickknacks, and souvenirs with upbeat messages may get tax breaks.

Task No. 1, say supporters, is to raise the profile of Russia's demoralized and widely despised armed forces. According to official figures, 25,000 Russian men evaded the draft last year. Other estimates range much higher. A lack of adequate food, shelter, and equipment, and brutal hazing are among the reasons. Recruits also face being sent to Chechnya, where a more than year-long campaign against separatist rebels continues with no end in sight.

"The prestige of the Army is at low ebb," says Alexei Podberyozkin, head of Spiritual Heritage, a nationalist brain-trust that advises the Kremlin on cultural issues. "Officers are ashamed to walk in the streets wearing their uniforms. Young people refuse to serve in the military. It is crucial to increase respect toward service to one's country."

The program's obvious undertones of Soviet revivalism have prompted derision and outrage from some quarters.

"I thought we had abolished the official notion of patriotism in this country, but now we see it creeping back under Putin," says Galina Belaya, a professor of Russian culture at the University of Humanitarian Arts in Moscow. "Official patriotism has always been nationalist, militarist, and authoritarian. But for average people, patriotism has always meant, above all, a feeling of pain for Russia that is bigger than the feeling of pain for self. Although these have been very tough times for everyone, real patriotism has never diminished."

Another Soviet flourish is the plan to create committees of "cadres," including teachers and students, in schools and colleges to supervise patriotic education and extracurricular activities.

Earmarked for major increases in status and funding is Rosto, the former-Soviet organization that promoted the image of the armed forces among youth through paramilitary activities, sports events, and visits to Army bases. "The majority of young people need only a little encouragement to express their patriotism," says Vladimir Dranishnikov, the deputy chairman of Rosto. "Our task is to help youth prepare for their duty."

Patriotism is 'more than guns'

Critics say the program is, at best, a scam by venal bureaucrats looking for a new trough from which to feed. At worst, it is Kremlin history repeating itself, this time as farce rather than tragedy.

"The military brass who are behind all this seem to have learned nothing and forgotten nothing since Communist days," says Valentina Melnikova, chairwoman of the Committee of Soldier's Mothers, a grass-roots group. "Why can't we finally understand in this country that patriotism doesn't mean running around with guns? We should be teaching democracy and human rights in the schools. And the government should be listening to people rather than trying, yet one more time, to tell them how they should think."

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor

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