Paul Goble
Staunton, Jan. 7 – The Russian government has announced plans to conduct a propaganda campaign to counter negative stereotypes about the elderly and to promote among other age groups respect for the elderly as part of Moscow’s broader efforts to promote traditional values.
The campaign will focus primary attention on children, young adults and the middle-aged and will in the words of the Province portal “explain the importance of the role of elderly people for society in the support and strengthening of families and the bringing up of grandchildren (province.ru/society/4480663-v-rossii-razrabotan-plan-po-borbe-s-diskriminaciey-lyudey-starshego-pokoleniya/).
And the effort will have as its main goal the elevation of “the social status” of the elderly and “compel society to show respect to the old and understand their value for society.” In both rural and urban Russian communities, the elderly – most often female grandmothers – allowed parents to work by taking care of their grandchildren.
But in recent times, many of these grandmothers continue to work or at least do not want to play this traditional role. As a result, inter-generational tensions have increased; and it appears that Moscow hopes to reduce them without taking the far more expensive step of raising the standard of living of the elderly by increasing their pensions.
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