Heroes don’t die
Memorial service, Friday, March 1st, 2024
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, died on Friday 16th in a brutal Arctic Circle penal colony, where he had been incarcerated. He was 47.
This is a tragedy. But we won’t let it paralyze us. And we’ll remember this day in great detail — to keep this fury alive within us. In the 2022 film “Navalny”, Alexei Navalny answered the question of what to do if he would be killed: “Don’t give up. If that happens, it means that we are unusually strong since they decided to kill me.”
Responsibility for Alexei Navalny’s death lies with the man who has declared himself president of Russia. Vladimir Putin killed Navalny. Alexei Navalny was the Kremlin’s fiercest critic. He publicly denounced the corruption he saw at the core of Putin’s political party at immense personal cost: he barely survived an attempted poisoning and had been imprisoned since 2021.
Returning home in January 2021 was a whole other level of courage and personal example. Alexei Navalny had just been poisoned with Novitchok. He was a recognized leader of the opposition both in his country and abroad. He was not supposed to prove anything, but he went home anyway knowing what awaited him. And from prison he continued to be proactive and unyielding.
Alexei Navalny is the latest in a long line of Putin critics who met an early death. Nerve agents, open windows, a plane crash: a list of suspicious incidents throughout Vladimir Putin’s years in power is long. We remember the critics of Putin who had met untimely deaths: Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, Boris Nemtsov in 2015.
Alexei Navalny’s death is a devastating moment for the opposition in Russia. Alexei was the true hope for people opposed to Putin. He was the main alternative to Putin in Russian politics. He was really the only figure of all the various political figures in the last 24 years seeking to challenge Putin. He was the only one who was able to appeal not just to urban liberals in Moscow, but really to a much broader cross-section of Russians with his message of hope and change. He was incredibly adept at using YouTube and social media to penetrate the bubble of propaganda created by state television. And he was able to build a nationwide political network that repeatedly was able to organize mass protests.
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for our country. And I encourage you to stand by my side.” — these are the words Yulia said in her appeal to the people. “In killing Navalny”, said Julia, “Putin didn’t just want to kill one person: He wanted to kill our hopes, our freedom, and our future.”
Everything that Alexei fought for must not be lost. Putin has taken him away from us and is trying to take away our hope, our freedom and our future. But Yulia Navalnaya is calling on us all to fight even harder, even more desperately, and even more fiercely than before.
“We tell the truth here,” Alexei often said at the end of his YouTube streams. He spoke to the Russian authorities in the language of facts, law, irony and humor. They answered in the language of lies, revenge, and violence.
Politics in Putin’s Russia is built on fear. Alexei was one of those who was not afraid. And for sure – the most famous of those who were not afraid. Putin, Kadyrov, Prigozhin – potential threats or problems from any of them did not stop Aleksei from speaking his mind. And for many this was an example of fearlessness and people followed this example. The most important thing is that the signal came through, even from beyond the Arctic Circle. Hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who, when faced with injustice, showed resistance, dignity and care. Even though it was very scary.
Alexei Navalny lived as a hero and died as a hero.
He showed that even people with no power can transform the world.
Thank you, Alexei!
The battle between good and indifference is not over yet.
Heroes don’t die.
We gather in Memory of Alexei Navalny
WHERE: RF embassy, Kristianiagade 5, Copenhagen
WHEN: March 1st, 2024, 19:00