Honesty and directness are needed in interaction with young people. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during a meeting timed to the 30th anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, BelTA has learned. 

“This is the kind of young people we have. Time will tell whether they are the good kind or the bad kind. Time can tell everything. Let’s see how things pan out. It is also a fact that we don’t have another kind of young people and we have to work with this one,” the head of state stated. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned that young people are excessively captivated by some things on the Internet. The fact sometimes interferes with how they perceive the reality: “If we cannot agree with that, we have to at least do something to make youngsters understand that apples grow on apple trees and that you have to work a lot before you can fry some potatoes. This is why it is necessary to give an objective real evaluation to young people and their actions. Without offending and without contrasting them with ourselves. We were not easy-going when we were young either.” 

Bozhena Yeremich, member of the Minsk City Council of Deputies, member of the Constitutional Commission, spoke on behalf of young Belarusians during the meeting. She thanked Aleksandr Lukashenko for managing to preserve an independent and strong state.

 “You are a leader we would like to follow the example of,” Bozhena Yeremich said. “Young Belarusians are also grateful because the Constitution has found some space to stipulate the role and status of young people. We want to live, learn, work, create families, raise kids in our beloved Belarus. We have something to preserve. And we have someone to rely on.”

 She suggested using municipal councils of deputies of various levels and the Belarusian People’s Congress for teaching youth leaders how to handle matters of state so that they could learn from experience of the elder generation among other things.

 Bozhena Yeremich stressed: “People are open to the authorities. The key is to go towards them, listen to them, and speak openly and honestly about what we can really do for them. It is how the genuine democracy of our Constitution will be manifested and how the tasks you’ve formulated will be accomplished.”

 Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed: “It is necessary to speak sincerely and frankly. There is no need to lie: ‘You are such saints!’ We weren’t and we are not saints. And they are not saints either. We should talk about it as well. If they commit errors, we also should talk about it openly. There is no need to hide anything. It is the key principle.”

 Speaking about threats relating to the Internet and artificial intelligence, the president stressed that the corresponding challenges are genuine. It is necessary to fight them but it is very difficult to win this fight. Nevertheless, Aleksandr Lukashenko offered an effective recipe: live communication with people.

 “There is no way out. If our nation comes to realize that our main television channels don’t lie and that they speak sincerely. If we meet with people and talk about something, we will not be forced to use different rhetoric. This is why it is necessary to meet with people and talk to them. We have to get our message across to at least half of the society. And the other half that takes less interest in politics will have someone to ask questions when things go south,” the head of state said.

 “This is why it is necessary to work out a mechanism for living in this society, in this situation. And later on we will see how things will turn out. We need this unity more than ever in order to endure,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

 According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there are a lot of those, who envy Belarus, because the country manages to retain peace and calm while countries around it are at war and are getting armed. “We are arming ourselves as well. But not as brazenly as everyone around us,” he remarked.

Speaking about further development of the country, the president pointed out that it is necessary to act carefully: “Make a step and look around. Nobody forces you to run. Today is not the time we had 30 years ago when people asked us. Today our nation has forgotten those times a bit. And young people don’t remember how people were ready to work day after day for $30 a month but there were no jobs. And today you can go ahead and work and you will earn good money. Not everyone wants that now.”

belta.by