Navalny’s friends knew he was willing to become a martyr if that’s what it took to stand up to Putin.

Alexei Navalny’s long struggle against President Putin began with a humorous blog and culminated in repeated demonstrations of his willingness to risk his own life. According to the Russian authorities on Friday, he has now died in prison.

Russia’s leading opposition voice has been silenced.

Other dissident figures went into exile or died in mysterious circumstances over the past decade, leaving Navalny as the last national figure with a dedicated following.

Though he had been arrested many times before, Navalny’s defining moment in the eyes of many Russians came after the attempt to assassinate him with Novichok. He recuperated in the sanctuary of a German hospital but chose to defy Putin and return to Russia in January 2021, knowing full well he would end up in prison.

  • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Be careful who you praise:

    Navalny took part in the Russian March, an annual demonstration in Moscow that draws ultranationalists, including some who adopt swastika-like symbols. In 2008, Navalny, like an apparent majority of Russians, supported Russian aggression in Georgia. In 2013, he made illegal immigration from Central Asia a central theme of his campaign for mayor of Moscow. In 2014, after Russia occupied Crimea, he said that, while he opposed the invasion, he did not think that Crimea could be just “handed back” by a post-Putin Russian government.

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-evolution-of-alexey-navalnys-nationalism

      • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        How is a Nazi a “step in the right direction”? There is a lot of opposition to Putin that’s worth supporting, Nazism isn’t one of them

        • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          In the same way that Biden is preferable to Trump. Biden is far from perfect, has lukewarm political leanings, only advances soft-left policies to better his own election chances and keeps a cop as a vp.

          But Trump is an actual war mongering lunatic wannabe fascist. Sometimes it’s about the lesser evil.

          Yes, you could say there are plenty of people more worth supporting than these two old farts, but none of them are on the ballot are they?

          It’s that situation with Russia. Putin is an actual, proven warmonger who kills his own countrymen to hold on to power. Someone who doesn’t do either of those things and respects the will of the people is a step up, regardless of their politics, because that person can be voted out.

          • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            A lot of people on the internet think there’s an electable Abraham Lincoln instead of what the reality is

          • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            You’re only saying that because you know what Putin is like in power, with his racist remarks and Nazi affiliations you don’t even know how worse it could have been with Navalny

            • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Racist remarks

              You mean like how putin criminalized being gay? It’s one thing to make remarks, it’s another thing to actually oppress a minority by claiming their existence is propaganda.

              Nazi affiliation

              So taking nazis from prison with the promise of a pardon if they fight on russias front line is… What?

              You’re only saying that because you know what Putin is like in power

              This is an incredible fallacy. I’m almost lost for words. First of all, any line of logic that relies on the premise “you’re just saying that because you don’t understand how much worse it could be” is just plain wrong. I could say with the exact same amount of confidence that you don’t understand how much better it could be.

              But also, Putin is by far the most dangerous leader the world has seen since Hitler. He’s an actual fascist, who disappears people who pose any kind of threat to him. He’s single handedly swinging his entire country into a war they don’t want because he feels entitled to Ukrainian land.

              I’d take my chances on literally anyone else who respected the vote. Putin does not. I’d take my chances on someone who would end the war. Putin will see a million of his own die before he even considers it.

              Pushing the whole “Navalny was a nazi so he’s automatically worse” is really downplaying how incredibly evil putin actually is. I mean, he’s basically already a nazi in all but name.

              Get out of here with your Russian apologetics.

            • uis@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              This looks so similar to russian electoral joke and part of Putin’s propaganda “current thieves are full, new will be hungry and steal more”.

          • uis@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            only advances soft-left policies

            Soft-left? Biden is more right than Navalny.

            Biden and rest of American “left”: maybe we shold do some student debt relief? Just a tini-tiny. If you don’t mind.

            Party started by literal member of Union of Right Forces: universal education, state must provide students with everything(including housing and food) so they don’t worry about anything else other than learning, state must provide teachers with everything(including decent salary) so they don’t wory about anything else other than teaching, state must provide universities with all necessary equipment, buildings must be maintained in good condition(so ceiling wouldn’t fall on students’ and teachers’ heads)!

        • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          What makes you think he was a Nazi? I really hate how watered down the word Nazi is these days. You’re being hyperbolic.

          • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            He compared the people from the region of Caucasus to cockroaches who should be shot and had skinhead and neonazi affiliations.He also supported the invasion of Georgia in 2008, comparing Georgians to rodents. He regularly attended marches of a racist which the slogan is “Russia for ethnic russians”, posted a video where he called for deportations of immigrants…

            It’s not a case of exaggeration, he was anti Putin because he wanted a racist in power.

            • Iceman@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qucpwhtWFjk

              It’s still on his Youtube channel. He even shoots a woman in hijab in it! But all his useful idiots will ask you to ignore these dog-whistles. This is of course from back in the day when he was the co-funder of the ultranationalist party National Russian Liberation Movement, that among other things wanted South Ossetia and Abkhazia be made independent from Georgia alá Donbas.

            • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              “Navalny released YouTube videos in which he likened Islamic militants to cockroaches, called for the deportation of immigrant workers, and vowed to defend the rights of ethnic Russians in Russia.”

              This is a pretty mainstream view for a lot of countries.

              Anti immigration doesn’t mean you’re a racist.

                • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  I’m not sure if you’re right or wrong. We are talking about comments made over 15 years ago.

                  Let me put it to you this way - would you rather Putin or Navalny in charge of Russia?

                  • uis@lemm.ee
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                    9 months ago

                    Obviously Navalny.

                    over 15 years ago.

                    Kadirov’s troops still exist. After killing russians in Russia they did some killing ukrainians in Ukraine, but I think they are back to killing russians too.

            • uis@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              He compared the people from the region of Caucasus to cockroaches who should be shot

              Navalny: *talks about how terrible for Russia Kadirov’s personal army is*

              Americans: He must be a racist!

              Kadirov’s personal army: *Joins war in Ukraine. On Putin’s side.*

              Americans: Navalny is the worst!

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Better in the sense that there were Nazis less crazy than Hitler? Dude supported the invasion and annexation of part of Georgia, and said Russia shouldn’t give back Crimea to Ukraine in 2014.

        He apologized later, but when he was running for president he was still a bad dude.

          • mellowheat@suppo.fi
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            9 months ago

            There’s an important difference in Russia and British India. If a Gandhi appeared in Russia, he’d just be thrown in jail and forgotten there. It’s possible that this has happened already. This is nothing new: it’s what they have been doing to political dissidents for centuries.

            Gandhi’s methods worked in India partially because the British Empire had democratic and liberal principles that even as colonial lords they valued enough not to blatantly break.

            • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              And in Russia, you have to appeal to the Nationalists which make up a significant portion of the population. Nationalism doesn’t necessarily mean Nazis.

              Navalny appealed to them and was much more in line with western principles than Putin. Like I originally said, Navalny wasn’t perfect but he was a better option than Putin. Seems a few people disagree with me.

              • uis@lemm.ee
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                9 months ago

                I wonder how local fauna will react to Bashkir nationalist Salawat Yulayev. Probably their views will align with Russian Empire’s. And will be opposite to Republic Baskortostan’s. For Bashkirs he is national hero.

                For those wondering where Bashkiria is it is roughly in the middle of Russia.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      he did not think that Crimea could be just “handed back” by a post-Putin Russian government.

      It is interesting way to rephrase his “Crimea is not a sandwich with sausage to return it back and forth”. For context in 2014 propaganda was talking about annexation as “returning” Crimea to Russia.