Navalny left a message for us all
Ever since I watched the documentary on Alexei Navalny, I prayed that his life would be extended.
I prayed that he would rise from that prison cell like Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned for 27 years to become the first president of South Africa.
I worried for Navalny in that cold, concrete cell. I prayed that he would survive. That he be warm. That he be fed. That he be comforted knowing he was the voice for millions silenced by dictators. That he be given courage and hope and an extra blanket.
When I learned he had died, I wept. Alexei Navalny died on Feb. 16 in a federal prison in the Artic Circle. He was 47.
Russia claims Navalny died from natural causes when he collapsed while walking in the prison yard. Most of us in the free world believe Russia President Vladimir V. Putin killed Navalny.
Putin is a puny man who fears freedom. A dictator who hates any hint of democracy. Navalny was his biggest foe. An anticorruption activist, Navalny called the invasion of Ukraine a nightmare, called Putin “a single crazy grandfather” who fantasizes he’s a popular military leader in Ukraine.
Putin tried to kill him before and failed. In the documentary, “Navalny,” which won an Oscar last year, you can see why Putin hates Navalny’s charisma, confidence and courage.
Even in prison, Navalny crusaded against corruption. He called prison his “space voyage.” The guards kept him sleep deprived and tossed him into solitary confinement for months.
Navalny lasted three years in prison.
He was nearly murdered once before. The documentary reveals the sordid details.
After meeting with local opposition candidates, Navalny had boarded a plane to Siberia on Aug. 20, 2020. He quickly fell into a coma. The plane made an emergency landing. His wife insisted he receive medical care in Berlin. Doctors there discovered a nerve agent had nearly killed him.
During the documentary filming, Navalny tracks down the men who poisoned him. He calls them on the phone. One by one they hang up. Then he calls one and pretends to be an aide to a senior Russian security officer. The agent believes it and describes poisoning Navalny’s underwear at his hotel before Navalny got on plane.
The man unknowingly confesses to attempted murder. The nerve agent Novichok is considered Putin’s “signature poison.” Navalny survived only because he got fast medical help.
Why did he go back to Moscow? Why risk it?
His widow answered for him last week: “Aleksei more than anything else on earth loved Russia, loved our country and you all. He believed in us, in our power, in our future and that we deserved better. He didn’t believe it just in words but in deeds – so deeply and sincerely that he was ready to give his life for it.”
The documentary shows Navalny arrested at the airport in Russia. He was later imprisoned for fraud, extremism and embezzlement.
His widow, Yulia, told his followers if they want to honor his legacy, “fight more desperately and furiously than before.”
“I call on you to stand beside me, to share not only in the grief and endless pain that has enveloped us and won’t let go. I ask you to share my rage – to share my rage, anger and hatred of those who have dared to kill our future.”
She also spoke of her personal loss: “In killing Aleksei, Putin killed half of me, half of my heart and half of my soul. But I have another half left and it is telling me I have no right to give up.”
I watched the documentary again after he died. It’s chilling to hear Navalny talk about his death:
“My message for the situation when I am killed is very simple: Not give up.”
“Listen, I’ve got something very obvious to tell you. You’re not allowed to give up. If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up, to remember we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes.”
Then he pauses and says, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. So don’t be inactive.”
It’s a message to us all: Don’t be complacent with democracy.
May his memory be more than a blessing, may it be a warning to all who value democracy and a challenge to all of us to preserve it.