An Examination Of Alternative Conceptions Of Nashi

SOC 248T: Post-Soviet Paradoxes Ryan Kelley Professor Shevchenko December 13, 2016 An Examination of Alternative Conceptions of Nashi In Pixar’s feature film Toy Story 3, Lotso Bear represents pure evil. Although welcoming to Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear upon their arrival at Sunnyside Daycare, Lotso soon traps the unsuspecting new arrivals in the toddler section to secure his executive status in the pyramidal structure of the daycare. Originally enchanted with the idea of playing with children, Woody and Buzz are horrified to find themselves abused and crippled by energetic toddlers. In Lise Birk Pedersen’s documentary Putin’s Kiss, journalist Oleg Kashin describes Nashi — the controversial political youth organization most active in Russia from 2005 to 2012 — as another trap: â€Å"Nashi cripples young people’s morality. Many of those I know in these movements are already mentally crippled, and there is no way back for them† (Pedersen). Attributing his brutal beating in 2010 to Vasily Yakemenko, the founder of Nashi, Kashin views Nashi as an evil organization t asked with trapping Russian youth inside a malicious ideological framework with deceptive promises such as career opportunities and social mobility. However, in Youth Politics in Putin’s Russia: Producing Patriots and Entrepreneurs, Julie Hemment presents Nashi within a â€Å"broader political geography† and explores the nuance between how the state-run youth movement was intended and how it was received by participants