Nashi: “Ours” as in “Not Yours” /

By Vladimir Putin’s second term, Russia was flush with oil money. Terrorists and liberals – “agents of the West” – had been crushed, the oligarchs brought to heel. Yet Russia’s leaders saw a remaining weak spot: the malleable youth. Enemies had to be stopped from exploiting them.

Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgystan, despite state-controlled armies and strong intelligence systems, fell when “Orange” banners swept across their streets. These former Soviet-bloc states could not stop young revolutionaries backed by the West. But Russia would.

In 2005, Putin created a countermovement called Nashi – literally “Ours,” and implicitly “Not Yours.” Soon it was 120,000 strong, and growing. After the elections in December 2007, the Russian press fueled rumors of Nashi’s imminent demise.

The Kremlin’s “hooligans” and “marionettes” were no longer needed now that Putin had consolidated his power. But young zealots continued to gather, march, recruit, fundraise, and strike out at enemies.

Much like the rest of the country, Nashi seemed determined to go on with its business until Putin said otherwise, and it struck a chord that resonated deeply among Russian youth. So I went to see what it was all about and help peel a few potatoes.

It is 8 a.m. and the Russian national anthem crackles over camp speakers:
Russia – our sacred stronghold,
Russia – our beloved country.
 A mighty will, a great glory –
 Your heritage for all time!

Some 5,000 youth activists are in various stages of awake: sleepy-eyed, climbing out of tents, standing in line at the porta-potty, forming columns, waving their flags in the main camp square in sway to the Soviet-era hymn. Putin’s face is everywhere, a designer logo splashed across red jackets, red T-shirts, red hats, pins, stickers, flags, and posters.

Be glorious, country! We take pride in you!

Nashi calls itself a “Democratic Antifascist Youth Movement.” It defines fascism as the threat of “Orange” democratic revolutions and liberal opposition figures. The Nashists – tagged thus by the “liberal media” because it rhymes with fascists and because it evokes the Hitlerjugend – are in their late teens and early 20s. For the fifth straight summer, they have traveled from the farthest reaches of Russia to Lake Seliger, a night’s drive northwest of Moscow, to run, swim, learn, march, and procreate in the name of restoring their country’s great glory.

You are the only one in the world! You are the only one of a kind!

On Russia / Essays / Ilana Ozernoy