Crackdown on Kids

CRACK DOWN ON SCHOOL CHILDREN

By Stephen Wilson

 

 

             'The Law does not have a sense of humor ' goes a Russian saying. So when an old Russian teacher decided to perform a hoax claiming that there was a bomb in her school on April Fool's Day the authorities were not amused. The teacher was fired, fined and only managed to avoid a jail sentence. I read about this case in Russian newspapers almost 20 years ago when people in Moscow were highly anxious about terrorist threats at a time where horrific terrorists attacks were being carried out by Chechen terrorists. But those days the list of perceived 'terrorist threats' have become widened to cover all kinds of potential thoughts,calls and statements. For instance, a public call to attend an opposition rally is viewed as an 'attempt to create disorder and riots', and attempting to understand the roots of terrorism can be misconstrued as 'supporting terrorism'. For instance, when a journalist based in Pskov, expressed an opinion that a terrorist attack on a building of the F.S.B. in Arkhangelsk where a 17 year old blew himself up had to be understood in the context of a wider Russian context of increased state repression she was charged with 'supporting terrorism'. She was put on a list 'of terrorists', and later heavily fined. But 'to understand ' is not identical 'to support'! What strikes people as stranger are the recent charges against school children who have been accused of preparing acts of terrorism. Now one wonders whether more and more children will be charged for 'pranks' , 'jokes' and 'just playing a computer game such as Mine craft. '

 

The Federal Service Bureau have accused 3 teenagers from Kansk of creating a terrorist community and making jokes up about blowing up an F.S.B . building. They played a game on Minecraft where they had to blow up a virtual building of the F.S.B. There is a distinct difference between a virtual and a real building. It was just a joke! But the F.S.B. did not get the joke. Instead, the 14-year-old 9th Graders were charged under article of the Criminal Code 205.3 with 'undergoing training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist actions. 'They have further been charged with 'organizing a terrorist community and participation in it'. The F.S.B. found that in V-Kontact they had been discussing anarchist ideas and did not have a high opinion of the F.S.B. The teenagers had hung leaflets on to the local offices of the F.S.B. in support of the jailed mathematician Azat Miftakhov, who has been charged with planning to blow up an office of United Russia. Miftakhov strongly denies the charges. Although two teenagers pleaded guilty to the charges under duress, one third refused to sign a statement of guilt.

 

The implications of children being charged with preparing for terrorism by playing a computer game are sinister, to say the least!  Are the police going to charge children with planning robberies just for playing all kinds of games? How can anyone take seriously the charge of using Minecraft as training to carry out acts of terrorism? Are the authorities going to charge young people who act the role of the terrorists in Counter-Strike as 'would be terrorists'? You would have to build new prisons to carry out mass arrests. Countless school children play such games. A lot of older adults don't understand this and others worry about the impact of such games on children. They worry it might make such children more violent. At the moment it might not an exaggeration to state we have what sociologists claim is 'a moral panic' about the harmful effects of computer games. The generation gap between adults and children can be striking. One school student I taught was shocked to learn that I had never ever played a video game in my life. "What, you have never played a video game once?" he stated in sheer disbelief. But the facts are that often games such as Minecraft, when not overplayed, can be a creative and harmless pursuit. It is without doubt an attractive game where people can build all kinds of things out of cubes such as castles, tower blocks and zoos. Yekaterina Galanina who studies the cultural effects of video games at Tomsk Polytechnic University claims that games such as Minecraft can be a healthy outlet for children that stimulates their imagination and skills.

 

When I spoke to children about their views on this case they could hardly believe it. They thought the F.S.B. had gone mad or were scatter brained. Why the crack down? It seems that the Russian state is really worried about how outspoken and fearless many young people are in Russia. In contrast to older people who prefer to remain discreet and quiet, they will openly express their opinions come what may. The Russian authorities are not used to such courage. They also believe that school children don't have a right to an opinion at all. In deed, some Russian school teachers are astonished when some human right activists argue that children do have a right to an opinion. They think "How can that be? What can a young person without wide experience of the world surely know?" The Russian state were taken aback by how many school students attended Russian rallies. They have also been disappointed to know that organisations such as the uniarmy don't always appeal. Those cases made against teenagers are designed to intimidate and scare people from expressing any opinion at odds with the Russian state. The often over hysterical reaction which any form of opposition assumes is indicated by the example of an attempt by Leonid to organize a school students union in Saint Petersburg in 2018. The authorities accused him of attempting to foster disorder and massively disrupt society! But all Leonid was doing was expressing an opinion that he did not agree with the Unitary State exam and insisted that teachers observe the law that no more than 3 tests should given to pupils in a day . {Now at present teachers can't give more than one test but this rule is constantly broken}. Leonid was not breaking any laws but simply observing what is written within the Law of Education and the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Now if the Russian authorities don't like this then they should not teach all those laws to children in school subjects such as Social Knowledge. What annoyed the authorities was the vast reservoir of support and resonance among students which Leonid received to his plans to found a union! The State underestimates how fearless young people are!