Who among us, like Navalny, will stand up for freedom?
Around the world those who love liberty are still mourning Alexei Navalny’s death in the Russian gulag. In remote corners of his country, tens of thousands have risked their lives to protest his murder and show solidarity. Russian oligarch Vladimir Putin, whose henchmen once poisoned Navalny, finally succeeded in dispatching his most ferocious critic. Ilya Valeryevich Yashin and Vladimir Kara-murza, two brave though less prominent dissidents, still languish in prison, along with hundreds of other resisters.
Putin has lately been on a roll. He has rewritten Russian history to sanctify its past, removing any mention of Ukraine as an independent country. The new official narrative, to be obeyed at risk of imprisonment, whitewashes Stalin’s mass crimes and glorifies Russia’s past victories. The upcoming Russian election, devoid of real opposition candidates, will soon crown the Kremlin oligarch for another six years in the Presidency.
Putin’s U.S. ally, Donald Trump, publicly encouraged Russia to invade NATO allies if they fall behind in dues. Under Trump’s orders, House Republicans are blocking U.S. military assistance to Ukraine as the embattled democracy runs short of supplies and Putin’s war enters its third year. House Speaker Mike Johnson called a two-week recess, refusing to consider the Senate’s bi-partisan military aid bill.
President Biden just announced more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia’s top financial institutions, its card payment system, bank assets and military institutions, as well as officials involved in Navalny’s imprisonment and the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. Russia is already the world’s most sanctioned country, yet similar efforts since the invasion of Ukraine have failed to curb Putin’s aggression or his growing repression at home.
Earlier this month, talk show host Tucker Carlson journeyed to Moscow to interview Putin, who rattled on about the ancient history of greater Russia. The Kremlin boss later feigned surprise that the far right journalist went so easy on him. When Carlson was later asked by Egyptian reporter El Din Adeeb why he didn’t press Putin for suppressing freedom of speech, blocking free elections, incarcerating Navalny and conducting assassinations, he tried to back out, saying every leader does similar deeds. He quipped that “leadership requires killing people.”
Where might this bizarre, sinister path lead? Navalny’s valor, his indomitable spirit and that of his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who has taken up his banner, shines a light on all those who apologize and make way for destroyers of democracy. In his book “The Road to Unfreedom,” historian Timothy Snyder recounted that never before has an American presidential candidate suggested he would imprison a rival or murder an opponent — and get away with it. Never, before Trump, has one maintained he would reject any election which he didn’t win. Never has one so audaciously signaled he would replace “the rule of law with the rule of fear.”
After recovering from the 2020 poison attack, Navalny returned to Russia to continue speaking out for freedom in his country. Some say he was foolhardy, knowing the grim stakes. He simply refused to run away or give up. Navalny’s slow-motion murder will not be forgotten. It illuminates the fragile moment we face in our own country. The fate of this democratic republic will be on the ballot in November. Will we stand up in its defense?