The action «Voice of Truth»: young people and students from BRICS countries plan to create an international community for learning the history of World War II
The idea of creating an international youth community for studying the history of World War II was discussed at the International Youth Historical and Educational online-action «Voice of Truth» that took place may, 9th, 2022 within the framework of the multilateral social and cultural program «BRICS peoples choose life».
The main aims of the meeting included saving universal historical truth and memory about the Second World War and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, combating the falsification of wars’ history with the efforts of students and young people of BRICS member states, enriching the youth with truthful knowledge about the main battles of the war and the role of every single state in the common Victory, developing spiritual and patriotic education of young people.
The action took place with the support of the Department of Foreign Policy Planning of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Museums and External Relations of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Embassy of Russia in India, the Embassy of China in Russia, the Consulate general of Russia in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia.
The organizers of the International Historical and Educational action «Voice of Truth» were the Regional public organization «BRICS. World of Traditions», Moscow, Russia, and the International Foundation for the Improvement of Education and Skills among Youth, Noida, India.
The moderators of the event were the journalist and the author of the documentary film about the Second World War «Unknown Stalingrad» Anastasia Shkitina and the student of School of Governance and Politics of MGIMO University of the MFA of Russia Dmitry Kurbatov.
The Action united students and young people from BRICS countries, historians, academics, writers, experts in the sphere of international information security, diplomats, the columnist of the journal «International Affairs» Andrey Torin, the representatives of the organizations-partners of the program «BRICS peoples choose life»: Igor Gots, the Managing director of the Association «Afanasy Nikitin», Moscow Kira Ivanova, the employee of the Project office of the international youth cooperation Russia-BRICS, Ulyanovsk, Anastasia Ilyushina, the head of the project «BRICS Youth Project Lab», MGIMO University of the MFA of Russia.
The festive meeting was opened by the president of the Regional public organization «BRICS. World of traditions» Lyudmila Sekacheva. In her welcoming speech she congratulated the participants on the Victory Day and emphasized the necessity to give voice in defense of the historical truth. Besides, the head of the program «BRICS peoples choose life» underlined the unique opportunity for the students to get trustworthy information from historians, writers and experts in the realm of the history of the Second World War. Concluding her welcoming speech Lyudmila Sekacheva announced the «minute in memory of the heroes who had died at the frontlines».
The participants of the action were also granted a welcome by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, the Russian Sherpa in BRICS Sergey Ryabkov that was read out by the third secretary of the Department of Foreign Policy Planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Artem Fomin.
«The heroic act of our fathers and grandfathers will always serve as a brilliant example of courage and valour, moral grandeur and true fraternity of different nations. Amid tectonic shifts in modern international relations accompanied by the rise of radicalism, acts of neonationalism and xenophobia in a number of regions) of the world, it is important more than ever to carefully treat the historical heritage and to derive appropriate lessons in order to prevent the ominous tragedy of the 20th century from happening again», emphasized Sergey Ryabkov.
In his welcoming address the head of the Department of Museums and External Relations of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Alexander Voronko pointed out that «the pillar of the common historical truth will serve as a solid base for further fruitful cooperation between the BRICS member-states».
The words of welcome to the participants of the International historical and educational action were also delivered by the representatives of the embassies of BRICS member-countries. The Military Attaché at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Russian Federation, Senior Colonel Cao Xiaocan confirmed the necessity of states to stand for justice and historical truth citing the Head of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping who said that «The Second World War was an unprecedented disaster of human history».
The organizing team of the meeting expressed its gratitude to the Embassy of China in Russia for giving numerous presents (around 200) to the veterans and children of war – the participants of the action «Voice of Truth» (May, 9th, 2022) that was held May, 6th as part of the Victory Day celebration in the Airport district of Moscow where the welcoming word of the military attaché of the Chinese embassy was announced (the link for the event)
In turn, the second secretary of the Russian Embassy in India Alexey Illuviev made the colleagues remember about the participation of Indian soldiers in the international conflict. According to him, about two and a half million Indians were called up for military service. «Two soldiers who served in the British-Indian army delivering the military equipment and ammunition from Iraq to Iranian-Soviet border were awarded with one of the major Soviet military orders – the Order of the Red Star», - added Alexey Illuviev.
The attaché of the General consulate of Russia in Rio de Janeiro Egor Sergachev said that in Brazil the history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War are studied. He also mentioned that in 2019 a monograph «The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People» by Brazilian academics was published in Rio de Janeiro. «We are opening the exhibition of photos dedicated to the Great Patriotic War and the Victory Day in the first Russian-Brazilian intercultural bilingual school in the state of Rio de Janeiro. More than 50 pupils will be able to learn about the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union to the Victory, as well as to get closer to the history and culture of our country», - added Egor Sergachev.
The abovementioned book by Brazilian academics «The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people» was one of the main topics of the discussion. The book was presented by the co-authors: the graduate of the Faculty of Philology of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), founder, organizer and member of the "May 9 Research Group" (Grupo de Estudos 9 de Maio) Lucas Rubio, the journalist, editor-in-chief of the “Revista intertelas” media magazine, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Alessandra Scangarelli Brites, the master of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IFCS-UFRJ) Eden Pereira Lopes da Silva, as well as the co-author of the book Ricardo Quiroga Vinhas who studied deeply the Soviet history. All of them expressed their hope that the historical memory will be preserved as the beginning of the XXI century has been marked by the negation of the Soviet Union’s role in the victory over fascism.
«I lived in Czech Republic only the first 5 years of my life but still I remember well the historical books and films, as well as monuments underlining the Soviet Union support of the Czechoslovak partisans during their resistance against the Nazi occupation», - declared Ricardo Quiroga Vinhas.
The role of monuments in the cause of saving the historical truth was also touched upon by the organizer of the «9th May research group» Lucas Rubio. In his opinion, people from several European countries want to forget this tragedy. «They want to destroy the monuments to Soviet heroes-liberators, the soldiers’ graves. We in Brazil regard such steps as totally absurd and will never agree to them. We will never forget about the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the sake of liberating humankind!», - added the Brazilian researcher.
The contribution of the historians from Latin America in the cause of saving the historical truth and the role of Brazilian expedition corps in the victory over fascism were emphasized by the professor, the head of the department of international relations and foreign policy of MGIMO University of the MFA of Russia Boris Martynov. He expressed the determination to continue the collaboration with foreign colleagues in studying the two wars. Speaking about the Brazilian monograph, the academic highlighted: «This book has become a landmark. It showed the increasing, profound attitude towards the history of the Great Patriotic War that is now spreading globally. The historical events were treated differently in different times, However, the contribution of the Soviet Union and the Red Army to the victory cannot be regarded in an ambiguous way».
The historian, the Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Region Studies of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Olga Solodkova, who is the daughter of the author of the book «Friends of the Soviet Union» Leonid Mitrokhin, spoke about the role of India in the Second World War. She punctuated that «the route through India and Iran through which the land lease cargo was transported to the USSR, was «the road of life» for our country that desperately needed help then while ordinary Indians who did not hear much about the USSR at those times were ready to work day and night to build that road».
The leading expert of the Center for International Information Security, MGIMO, MFA of Russia Marianna Alborova put emphasis on the importance and the role of young people and students from BRICS countries in saving the historical truth, maintaining the information security and cyberstability.
The action also featured the performance of the member of the International Union of Public Associations «Public Committee of War Veterans», Colonel Vladimir Bednov who represented the Action «Voice of Truth» May, 5th in the regional centre of fine arts propaganda, Vladimir, there the exhibition «A minute of silence. Artists from Vladimir about the war» is held.
The issue of India’s participation in the Second World War was also raised in the speech of the Member of the Board of Trustees of the organization «BRICS. World of Traditions», New Delhi, India, Deepanshu Gupta. The founder and chairman of the International Youth Edu – Skills Foundation Mohammad Akil expressed the determination of students to make efforts to create the electronic version of the Brazilian book «The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people» in Russian and English to publish it on Russian and foreign web-sites and informational portals.
According to Li Jiaxin, PhD student at Moscow State University (MGU), teacher of Chinese at MGIMO, «History is a mirror. And both those who made a historical contribution and those who were punished by history should always look at the face of history, respect it and remember the truth about it».
The Chinese participants of the meeting – the student of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (PFUR) Xin Fanin and the President of the China-Russia Youth Exchange Association of SKUR and Member of the Russia-BRICS International Youth Cooperation Office Zhang He continued discussing this matter, claiming that «There are numerous patriotic events in China where amongst other things people remember the help of the Soviet counsellors in Chinese struggle against the Japanese militarists».
The representatives of South Africa – the founder and chairman of the South African BRICS Youth Association (SABYA) Matlala Raymond and Tumisang Victoria Maheso, founder and chairman of the South African International Student Association (SAISA) highlighted their duty to disseminate knowledge about the World War II because this historical block is not included in their school curriculum. The leader of the South African youth in BRICS admitted to knowing about the role of South Africa in the international conflict of the XX century only during the action.
After all the reports the BRICS countries students discussed the necessity of saving the historical truth and the memory. The participants unanimously expressed their determination to continue the cooperation and agreed that they have witnessed the birth of a new youth community for learning the history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
«The Truth is a fragile vessel. Carry it throughout your life carefully, protecting it from negative strikes and pollution! The BRICS peoples choose life without wars, the BRICS peoples choose Truth!» - these were the final words by Lyudmila Sekacheva who ended the Action «Voice of Truth», addressing its participants.
The Action was held with the support of the Department of Foreign Policy Planning of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Museums and External Relations of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Embassy of Russia in India, the Embassy of China in Russia, the Consulate general of Russia in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia.
The multilateral historical and educational event united students and young people from BRICS countries, historians, academics, writers, experts in the sphere of international information security, diplomats, the columnist of the journal «International Affairs» Andrey Torin, the representatives of the organizations-partners of the program «BRICS peoples choose life»: Igor Gots, the Managing director of the Association «Afanasy Nikitin», Moscow Kira Ivanova, the employee of the Project office of the international youth cooperation Russia-BRICS, Ulyanovsk, Anastasia Ilyushina, the head of the project «BRICS Youth Project Lab», MGIMO University of the MFA of Russia.
The article has been prepared by the journalist Anastasia Shkitina.