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Alexei Navalny Speaks from Moscow
The German newspaper Die Zeit is politically left in its outlook and editorial policy. Nevertheless, it is well-written and occasionally surprises this right-wing social conservative reader with real gems. This one, admittedly, was not written by any of the paper’s staff or contributing writers. It was translated from Russian and is an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Alexei Navalny. It is part of his concluding statement given before the Municipal Court of Moscow on the 20th of February 2021:
So, I am supposed to give my closing statement now–to speak my closing words before this court. I don’t really know what I should say, your honors. Should I tell you about God and salvation? Set the “pathos” switch to maximum? The thing is, I am a believer. In the Anti-Corruption Foundation…the people there are mostly atheists, and I was one, too, once, and a rather militant one at that. But now I am a believer and that helps me in what I do. It makes everything much, much easier. I worry less. I have fewer dilemmas in my life. It’s not always easy to hold myself to it, but by and large, I try. It makes doing politics in Russia easier.
A bit further on he continues:
Someone recently wrote to me to encourage me… “Alex, you said in an interview that you believe in God. And it is written Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” And I thought, ‘There’s someone who understands me well.’
And later after he has talked about the fact that his guards are forbidden to speak with him as means of putting psychological pressure on him to feel as if he were totally alone; and in that paragraph, he compares Putin’s tactics with those of Voldemort in the Harry Potter books, he states:
But that [the psychological isolation tactic] doesn’t work on me. And I’ll tell you why. This Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied? It may sound exotic or weird, but right now, it is the most potent political idea in Russia. Say it aloud yourselves, your honors. There’s this political slogan in Russia, the most popular one of all. What is it again? ‘True power lies in’…what? Help me out. Where does power lie? (Pause). Right. In righteousness. This is the sentence everyone quotes. And it is exactly the same– the commandment without the archaic verbal flourishes…. Whoever has truth and righteousness behind him will win.
The whole piece is very inspiring, very much worth reading. If you can find Die Zeit in your local library or a good bookstore, you can find the piece on page 10 of the Edition from July 22nd. It is also available online, behind a paywall: Alexej Nawalny: “Russland wird glücklich sein” | ZEIT ONLINE .
Translation note: The German word „Gerechtigkeit“ can be translated both as „righteousness“ and „justice“. Since Navalny is using a Biblical register in his rhetoric here, I opted for the former.
Published in Politics
I don’t think it’s possible to be an honest politician in Russia without being a believer. I might not say the same against atheists in other countries, but in Russia at least the whole edifice of politics seems cynically corrupt enough that you have to have faith in a transcendent cause to play the game straight. Any practical measure of progress will likely drive you to despair.
I think that works for the Greek dikaiosuneh/δικαιοσύνη and the Latin justitia/iustitia as well. Also the Chinese yi6/yi/义/義.
If only I knew Hebrew.
In the Eighties and Nineties I traveled to Germany quite a number of times, often also as an outward/homeward transit point to points farther east. I was almost always impressed with the quality of Germany’s press coverage of the Communist world, whether I agreed with it or not, whether the publisher was left or right. This continued into the internet era. I don’t speak German beyond the most primitive schoolboy lessons, so I was grateful for the generous English translations that the various media groups provided.
Now, with the basics of communication made accessible and all but free, we have more possibilities than ever to read these perspectives, but less motivation. It takes a knowledgeable person on the scene like Hartmann to notice the meaningful moments in the press and bring it to Ricochet, for which I thank him!
That’s a powerful speech.
Tyrants fear free speech more than anything else. The internet must drive them crazy. :-)
Christians and Jews will lose a lot of battles but they will never lose the war. :-)
This post has totally changed my mind about Navalny. Because he had been close to Putin, I viewed his struggle with Putin as being little more who gets the graft and was rather indifferent. This is a game-changer. It’s not that I was in favor of political murder, but that is how the game has been played for centuries in Russia. I had wondered if it would have been any different if Putin and Navalny were reversed.
While Putin is far from perfect, he’s better than anything Russia has had for centuries. There is actually far more free speech now in Russia than there has been in a very long time, certainly since tsarist times. Can you imagine this speech being allowed before a court in communist times? Impossible. And for such a speech to be published at all? Those who are comparing Russia now with what it was like in communist times don’t have a clue. But that doesn’t mean it is free speech either. Especially if it is directed at an internal audience.
There is hope for Russia.
During the Cold War, I would never have characterized die Welt as left. They are liberal. And still are. Axel Springer’s press, however, was drippingly anti-Communist. And tightly tied to European and American intelligence services. I used to read die Welt all the time, but then they went behind a paywall and it was Trump Derangement Syndrome all the time. So haven’t read it in a long time. Their take on the Iraq war was also rather split personality. I think it was becoming clear to them that US and German strategic interests were diverging at that point. Not that the US has gotten its strategic interests right since 1991.
Now that’s interesting about Die Welt because I read it often and find it to be more even-handed with respect to American politics. Some of its writers got on the TDS express, but there was a balance at Die Welt that is nowhere to be found at Die Zeit in its coverage of American politics. Neither is as bad as that rag Der Spiegel but of the two, Die Welt is generally better about the U.S.
Navalny ends this piece on that very note. He even calls the guards at his prison “good boys” (“Sie sind gute Burschen”) and appeals to the judges to see the beauty of a clean conscience, beauty they could have.
We seem to have a similar assessment of Czar Vladimir the Great…err….President Putin. He’s conducting himself like a Czar…or like a head of the Medici family …Il Magnifico or maybe Cosimo. I’ll take any of these over a retread of Stalin or Kruschev any decade, but that does not mean I think he’s a morally upstanding statesman. What was it Il Magnifico did to that Papal Nuncio….
And thanks for the kind remarks.
That’s interesting. I try to follow Alexei Navalny, but didn’t know he had given that little speech. It’s totally in character, though. It’s also amazing how his wife supports him in what he does.
Things seemed to go a little bit quiet for a while after Navalny had been several weeks into his latest imprisonment, but it seems lately his Anti-Corruption Foundation colleagues have really stepped up their video production, and seem to be having a great time doing their criticisms of Putin’s colleagues, becoming more self-confident the more they do. The recent ones are getting to be as much fun to watch as were those done by Navalny himself. I definitely like to watch those that have English subtitles, but I watch some of the others, too, to see how much I can understand.
Did you see their video about “Putin’s Versailles”?
I’m pretty sure I did. You mean the one that got something like 42 million YouTube views?
I think we do. I will completely defer to you on the Medici. What little I know is more from Netflix and Amazon Prime with a couple of series, and I know how ahistorical that can be but I still enjoy it as entertainment – or sort of. But English history (which I know considerably more about) was none too shabby in the bumping people off who got under the king’s skin. And then there were the civil wars from time to time. So I think it’s more of a human thing. It’s just remarkable that it stopped at all. That’s why I think there may be hope for Russia.
“While Putin is far from perfect, he’s better than anything Russia has had for centuries. There is actually far more free speech now in Russia than there has been in a very long time, certainly since tsarist times.” Wow! That’s not saying much – since tsarist times? P is a wolf and wants to recreate the Russian Empire of the past, and will do anything it takes. What I don’t get is how does this kind of thuggery that’s been present for so long coincides with orthodoxy? They are incompatible. The very seed of evil germinated here and ‘spread its errors across the world’ as predicted by Mary, in an apparition to the three children of Fatima.
It’s also interesting that P visited The Vatican, and there was a rumble that that Orthodox and Roman Catholicism were attempting to build a bridge. United is better than divided, especially for what is coming over the world soon. This brave man that this post is about knows the truth, and he is a testimony to all.
You sound as though you have never read any history.
Not strictly true. There is less free speech in Russia now than there was last year, and there was less last year than five years ago, and there was less five years ago than there was twenty years ago. But there was more free speech twenty years ago than there was forty years ago.
Remember that words aren’t actions either. I have a pretty high opinion of Navalny, it takes some guts to go to prison for politics, especially Putin’s prison. While I’d much rather see him leading that country than Johnny Novichok many a good man’s moral character has been ruined by his ascension into power. And even if it isn’t we still don’t know that he’s going to be doing things we like.
If I remember right, Yury Dud has challenged Navalny on that point in his most recent interview with the Navalnys on his vDud YouTube channel. I think it was in this one, in which Navalny also describes what happened when he was poisoned. It’s long (2 hours and 20 minutes) so I’m not going to watch it again just now to see just how that question was handled. (Some of the Dud interviews are worth re-watching, but it’s not a good time for me.)
Yup. That’s the one.
I just now watched 40 minutes of it in spite of not having any time to watch it. The poisoning is a fascinating and exciting story to keep me on edge, even though I’ve heard it all before. Dud (pronounced more like “dude” than “dud”) is a good interviewer, and Navalny and his wife speak well. (This interview was done while Navalny was still recovering. He thinks and speaks quickly, but explains what things he was still having trouble with. I could easily stay up and watch the rest of it now, but can’t afford to sleep late in the morning.)
I think it would be some version of the word Tsa-DEEK or TSA-dik, as in a righteous man.
Thanks, Hartmann. His message is both simple and profound.
Is this the same root as in the name “Zadok” and in the name for the LORD in “YHWH Tzidkenu”?
The name probably is the same, but I’m not schooled well enough to have come across Hashem the Righteous One.
I see it’s up to 117 million views now. I was one of the first few million viewers, and it got up to 42 million rather quickly.
I suppose we’ll have to wait for the book to come out to find out what Russian word Navalny used.
Are you able to check to make sure it was the 20th and not the 2nd of February?
Yup. He returned to Moscow on the 17th and his appearance before the court was on the 20th.