To ask for your thoughts/views about Alexei Navalny?

[Chocolatefrogs]

I’m posting this as I am conflicted about how I feel about Alexei Navalny’s politics, even though I still think he was extremely brave to focus on campaigning against corruption in Russia and then to return to Russia after being poisoned in 2020.

Since his death last month, I’ve been doing a lot of research into who he was (as a person and a politician/public figure) and how he was viewed in Russia and internationally. I’ve also watched a lot of the YouTube documentaries he produced about corruption in Russia and Putin’s wealth.

Given his recent death in a Russian penal colony and the circumstances of his death (everything points to the fact he was murdered whilst being serving a politically motivated sentence), and the fact that I’m sure there is lots about his life and work that I still don’t know about, I’m finding it difficult to be objective about him. I don’t want my views of him to become unrealistic and hagiographic, and to hold him up as a sort of saint, but equally, I want to recognise the work that he did in holding Putin’s government to account.

Also, as he died before getting into power or government, it’s obviously impossible to know what sort of leader he would have been, had he been leader of Russia. I find it comforting and tempting to think that he would have done everything he’d promised to as leader (continue to root out corruption, established free law courts and a free press, made Russia a democracy).

However, this is a massive undertaking that would have taken years to achieve, and he may have preferred the idea of holding onto political power more than achieving these things. Equally, he may have been an excellent leader. Of course, we will never know.

Grateful for your thoughts on him and on any other resources I could use to find out more about him.

Anyone?

Have you read Dollbaum, Lallouet and Noble’s book about him?

Presumably you've seen the doco on iPlayer about his poisoning, recovery in Germany then his return to Russia?

I'm not sure what to make of him to be honest

I think it's still possible to admire his courage on standing up to Putin and returning to Russia while acknowledging that not everything about him is perfect. Far from it.

I thought he was a very brave man and Russia’s best hope against Putin.
Now there is probably nobody left who will stand up to this psychopath and once his mate Trump gets back in then that is a huge chunk of the world ruled by evil.

https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/the-christian-faith-of-alexei-navalny/17235.article
He wasn't perfect but could be seen as a modern martyr in the sense that a martyr is a witness to the truth. He stood up for the truth in a system based on lies.

He was an incredibly brave man who died for his attempt to make the world a better place. He was a true and rare hero.

I’ve got it but haven’t read it yet. I think it’ll be useful for learning more about him. Have you read it? Did you find it helpful?

Yeah I have and I really liked it - I thought it was very well done. The scenes that showed him and his organisation investigating his poisoning and his phone call with his poisoners were very impressive. I also loved the scenes that showed him with his family and the fact that they tried their best to live a normal family life despite his very public role in Russian politics.

Having said all of that, I don’t think the documentary delved much at all into some of the problematic views he had (e.g. his views on Ukraine, Muslims, gay people, people who aren’t ethnically Russian).

I’ve thought a lot about the documentary, as that is my main source of information about him (in addition to the content of his YouTube channel, although that’s mostly in Russian, which I don’t speak or understand, so I’ll have a limited understanding of that, as I can only rely on the English subtitles). I think the documentary didn’t try at all to interrogate him on some of the controversial views he held (see above for details).

As much as I loved the way the documentary presented him, I think it actually presents him as an idealised, heroic figure going back to his home country - Russia - to ‘save’ it from Putin, and it doesn’t really go beyond that. The documentary was beautifully filmed, the music is exciting, and it sets him up as a very human, attainable figure with his family, but this unattainable heroic character when he is doing his work.

I think the purpose of the documentary was to raise awareness of his poisoning (which was horrific), to raise awareness of Putin’s treatment of his political opponents and to make sure we don’t forget the plight of Russia’s political prisoners, and these are all very important and laudable aims. Having said that though, for me, it comes across a bit as a hagiography, almost, as it doesn’t seem to present him critically, instead presenting him as a purely admirable person with no flaws in terms of his public persona and as the hero of a very Hollywood-esque narrative.

He comes across in the documentary as a funny, clever, brave and principled man, and I’m sure he was all of those things. That’s precisely why I like him. It’s just I’m sure his personality and views went beyond this and I would like to find out about that side too.

Now that he has been killed, I’m not sure we’ll ever find out about that. Completely understandably, it’s seen as disrespectful to draw attention to less savoury aspects of a dead person’s views, and it could come across that this is an attempt to take away from the good work that he did and the good things that he stood for.

That’s how I’ve been trying to rationalise it in my mind so far.

I’ve been on other forums e.g. Reddit and people on there seem very, very critical of him. I keep on trying to ask why, and I’m not getting any answers. All I am going on is what I have read and watched so far (e.g. the documentary about him, his own YouTube channel and articles I have read about him).

I’m also aware that many things I read and watch him - if not all - will have a particular stance and take a particular side. For example, there will be lots of stuff that just focuses on his positive side, as it doesn’t want to say anything that plays into the hands of Putin and the Kremlin. On the other hand, there will be loads of pro-Kremlin, pro-Russian stuff that will just focus on his negative side or it will even make claims about him that are unfounded and baseless.

I have it and it’s excellent. Very readable too.

Great - I’m glad it was helpful. I’m looking forward to reading it. Have you read or watched anything else about him and his life that you found helpful?

I haven’t been able to find much more about AN specifically, but I can make a couple of recommendations about contemporary Russia under Putin if you like? They give very good context.

Yes please, that would be great. Thank you!

From Russia With Blood by Heidi Blake
Putin Country by Anne Garrels
The Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachman

Thanks so much, @WinterMorn. I’ll have a read of these.

I would be interested in discussing them with you afterwards if you like? Sort of a mini book club 🙂

I think he is a martyr and a hero

Navalny was a very brave man who ultimately made a very bad decision to pointlessly sacrifice his life. He knew Putin was a gangster and he must have realised how opposing him would inevitably end, but he did it anyway. He can’t influence anything now, sadly.

He was a brave man, but some of his views (and it seems that he did change some of them with time or decided not to voice them) were quite controversial. He held some opinions that did support views of Russia as an empire to be expanded. He did distance himself from his earlier connections with russian nationalists. It seems he was quite cocky and really overestimated his influence and the level of support by russians and had expected a bit of a revolution when he decided to return to the country after poisoning. But clearly he was not that popular and with propaganda working hard he was supported by a small minority. His death was not really held as significant in Ukraine too because of his views towards Ukraine previously (although he seems he did not support military action of the Russia but he was very sceptical about Ukrainian state).
His investigations into corruption were brave and interesting.

That sounds great, thanks! I think that would be really interesting.

Brilliant, let me know as soon as you want to start!

Hi @WinterMorn, sorry for the very late update! I’m happy to start any time from now 😊 I’ve bought those books you mentioned and looking forward to starting them. I’m reading ‘The age of the strongman’ at the moment, almost midway through, and it’s fascinating! If it’s easier, I’ll drop you a PM on here to arrange things.

On a separate note, I saw in the news the other day that Navalny wrote his autobiography before he died.

When I read that he’d written his autobiography, I found it both extremely sad, as he was far too young to need to think about writing his life story, and he must have written it with a horrible sense of urgency knowing his life was threatened, but also found it uplifting, in that we can find out from him directly about his motivations and opinions around the work he did and that this will be a way for his work to live on. I’m looking forward to reading that once it comes out.

Yes, PM me 🙂 I am looking forward to this