Domestic Crackdown on anti-war sentiments.
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Russia has been battling opposition’s on all sides. Inside the country, authorities have started a domestic crackdown to suppress dissent and propagation of anti-war sentiments.
Most Russians do not support the war, essentially saying it’s Putin’s war not Russia’s. Hundreds of educators from various educational institutions in Russia have been fired or imprisoned for voicing anti-war sentiments.
While many are being forced to portray Russia’s act of aggression as a peacekeeping mission or else they risk losing their jobs.
Even children’s are forced to participate in state-run pro-war themed ‘flash mobs’ or attend lectures that push “Kremlin’s narrative” about the Ukraine war.
Are educators wrong?
As Russia waged war in European soil, many educators took upon themselves to voice their opinions, in public, on social media platforms and even the classrooms.
Many have received disciplinary sentences from the government for voicing their anti-war sentiments.
The state has intervened repeatedly in such instances giving harsh reprisals to the teachers and educators responsible for spreading anti-war ideals.
According to Amnesty International, director general for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Bruce Millar, there are currently dozens of confirmed reports of teachers being imprisoned of stripped off their positions for educating their students with anti-war ideals.
Roman Melnichenko, an associate professor at Volgograd state University was fired on 19th April for “immoral disciplinary offense” when he shared an anti-war message on Russian Social Media platform VKontakte.
Irina Gen, an English teacher from Penza, Central Russia, is facing a 30 year long prison sentence after some of her students from the eighth grade reported her for spreading anti-war sentiments.
She was arrested on 30th March 2022 for criticizing Russian Invasion and calling Russia “a totalitarian state where any act of dissent is considered to be a thought crime.”
There are many more such names and instances that have been stopped by the state from spreading the west’s views of the Russian war in Ukraine.
State run War propaganda lessons.
The state department has been forcing children to study “Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine” and also about how “Western economic sanctions will help prosper Russian economy”.
Russia’s repeated intervention shows the intent to suppress dissemination of anti-war sentiments or any type of libertarian sentiments that go against Russia’s internal policies.
Russian authorities desperate attempts to intervene sign the involvement of higher up authorities to voice Kremlins version of the story.
The lessons have not yet been deemed mandatory, although strongly recommended. But on 20th April Russia’s minister of education Sergei Kravstov said in a statement that from 1st November 2022, all school students will have to learn about the goals and objectives of Russia’s special peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.
State sponsored indoctrination comes as a direct violation of International Human Rights laws that Russia is also bound by. Nonetheless Children have been forced to attend such flash mobs and other events that propagate Kremlin’s standpoint.
Conclusion.
Amnesty International’s governor general Bruce Millar also said that Educators have the right to freely express their opinions and teach in an environment free from political interference and without fear of reprisals.
Stopping teachers and students on university campuses and in school hallways is not only a violation of the right to freedom of expression, but also an attack on intellectual laws and the right to education.
The Russian authorities must immediately halt their shameful campaign of indoctrinating children and young people and stop prosecuting educators simply for expressing dissenting views.
