Vitebsk youth entered into a debate. What did they argue about and what did they conclude?

"Vybiray.by!" – under this title, the city stage of open youth debates was held in Vitebsk as part of a nationwide project.

As Tatyana Krasakova, First Secretary of the Vitebsk City Committee of the BRSM, told reporters, the "Vybiray.by!" project provides an opportunity for active, initiative-taking, and creative representatives of the "next" generation to discuss current topics, ask each other sharp questions, and, together with experts from various fields, seek solutions to problems that concern young people.

The new format events took place over three months in all administrative districts and higher education institutions of the city. The winners of these stages – teams from the Oktyabrsky, Zheleznodorozhny, Pervomaysky districts of the regional center and VSU named after P. Masherov – met on a city-wide discussion platform to debate the topic "Political Stability is a Guarantee of Citizens' Well-being." Gennady Gritskevich, Deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Petr Podgursky, Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, and Vladimir Bilevich, Chairman of the Vitebsk City Council of Deputies, acted as experts.

During the debates, participants asked their opponents questions concerning all aspects of socio-political life and youth representation in state administration bodies. Timely remarks from the experts allowed the teams' answers to be brought closer to objective realities. For example, the young people were invited to reflect on whether absolute political stability is possible, who guarantees it in our country, to assess Belarus's multi-vector policy and electoral system, and also to predict the path of the republic's development after the upcoming presidential elections.

Following discussions and an exchange of views between participants and experts, the jury concluded that the regional stage of the open youth debate "Vybiray.by!", which will take place on September 29, will be represented by a team of the most active young men and women from Vitebsk.

The event concluded with the "Our Year – Our Choice!" campaign. Each attendee received an apple as a gift, tied with a ribbon in national colors – a symbolic representation of 2015, which was declared the Year of Youth in the republic.

Natalia Kamleva, "Vitebskiye Vesti". Photos by the author.