Malathi Raghavan: Thank you for memorializing Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny.
The other commentator believes Navalny was no friend of Ukraine. For a long time, Navalny held traditional Russian views about Ukraine. But Navalny opposed Putin's war in the end.
Navalny, totally unlike the other commentator's remarks, was not foolish and forgettable, but a visionary who wanted to leave hope to the Russian citizen.
Russia has had other martyrs before Navalny.
They are not forgotten.
Fr. Georgy Apollonovich Gapon (of Ukrainian descent), a priest of the Holy Orthodox Church was at the head of the peasants, hoping to petition the Country's Father for redress of grievances.
As in 1917, there were strikes throughout the land.
The overwhelming forces of the Imperial Guard opened fire and massacred hundreds of innocents, many women.
Now, my colleague (below) might say, "the decision to demonstrate in Russia was stupid and had no legs."
Now maybe, with his long attention to Slavic history, the learned commentator can correct me.
But I have read some authorities that haled from the Glasgow University, Russian. East European and Eurasian Studies, including Jonathan Smele's study of the Russian Civil War.
Now maybe the commentator, "Researching Ukraine," finds events do not leave memories, but the major studies I have read say that Bloody Sunday 1905 kept the revolution alive and made the revolutions of 1917 inevitable, so much so that Lev Trotsky himself wrote a history of the 1905 Revolution many years later.
Maybe the Scholls could have left Germany during the Third Reich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1938 was offered a Professorship and permanent residence at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.
The Scholls remained.
Bonhoeffer determined he had to return to Germany, because a postwar Germany would need a rebuilt Christianity.
The Scholls were murdered by the Nazi authorities.
Heinrich Himmler personally signed the death warrant for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in April 1945, so that Bonhoeffer was martyred on month before the war's end.
The "Cost of Discipleship" is the more poignant to read, when one considers the martyrdom of the great theologian.
At 76, I personally remember the 1956 revolution in Budapest.
In the Spring this year, a newly found friend opined that the 1956 revolution, where citizens uprose and threw Molotov Cocktails and bricks at the incoming tanks, died in vain.
Not so. I was an 8-year-old boy in Long Beach, California, watching the events live on a little, vacuum tube TV, black and white, on a tremendous console that matched my mom and dad's wooden furniture.
At 76, the Budapest martyrs inspire me, and I assured my newfound friend in Budapest that the Revolution of 1956 made of Armando a lifelong admirer and supporter of the people of Hungary.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny repented of his unkind thoughts toward Ukraine. Navalny will be remembered along with the martyrs in Budapest in 1956, the Scholls, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the hundreds of innocents of Bloody Sunday 1905.
🙏🏽. Thank you for writing to me. I will come back to finish reading (give full justice to your time and thoughts) after workday today.) Have a wonderful afternoon or rest of your day whichever time zone you are in. 🙏🏽
So much history! I did not know any of this. Your comment deserves to be a post of its own.
Yes, I appreciate Navalny despite the unease a learned, politically active Indo-Ukrainian friend felt /feels about him (she is living in Ukraine nearly 40 years now; still there); despite what some or most Ukrainians and maybe even diaspora Ukrainians feel. I figured that it is probably because I am on the outside and am a non-Ukrainian and quite a bit imperfect. But Navalny, also imperfect, had a LOT to lose in going against imperialism’s current leader. He may have been naive AND he may have been calculating (wanting to dethrone the current imperialist leader and install himself as the next all-powerful one as those suspicious of him believe) or he may have earlier been a product of his country's collective xenophobia and later extraordinarily courageous (hopefully, breaking out of his dismissal of non-Russians in the region). But he is not here today to show what he would have done in the future. All I can go by is what he left the world with -- a rare sense of awe in a jaded world — including bringing attention to Putin’s grip. Imperfect and rash, he was one of a kind.
Yet, I do not want to define Ukraine or make Ukrainians dependent on yet another powerful Russian (inadequately powerful as it turned out) to make their case for them, I respect Ukrainians' angst, distrust and unease first and foremost. Even their anger. They have lived through much that we have not and we need to respect their voices and yes, even outrage. Otherwise it is like saying 'All lives matter' in the U.S. without an acknowledgement of historical wrongs overwhelmingly suffered by one community alone. I (and perhaps, you too) may believe that at this stage Ukraine cannot fight alone. Ukraine and friends of Ukraine need all kinds of alliances to highlight Ukraine's plight, but our beliefs, words and thoughts need to make way for the voices of those who have experienced betrayals firsthand.
Nevalny was no friend to Ukraine. He believed in Empire just like Putin. He just thought it could be done democratically. His decision to return to Russia was stupid. It has no "legs" in today's attention deficient tiktok world.
6 months from now he could still be opposing Putin safely from Germany. He could prove me wrong and show strong support for Ukraine by rallying partisans to open a new front in Russia. He could be doing so much more.
As it is... he is dead. His contributions will be 90% finished in about 6 months. His work written in history books outside of Russia. The last 10% will fade over the years.
It's my opinion that he started believing in his own celebrity and thought he had more power than he actually had. It did not protect him. Now all Russia and the world has are his not insignificant contributions up to and until his death. No more. He was a fool to go back and serves very little purpose other than to get clicks and headlines for others.
Malathi Raghavan: Thank you for memorializing Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny.
The other commentator believes Navalny was no friend of Ukraine. For a long time, Navalny held traditional Russian views about Ukraine. But Navalny opposed Putin's war in the end.
Navalny, totally unlike the other commentator's remarks, was not foolish and forgettable, but a visionary who wanted to leave hope to the Russian citizen.
Russia has had other martyrs before Navalny.
They are not forgotten.
Fr. Georgy Apollonovich Gapon (of Ukrainian descent), a priest of the Holy Orthodox Church was at the head of the peasants, hoping to petition the Country's Father for redress of grievances.
As in 1917, there were strikes throughout the land.
The overwhelming forces of the Imperial Guard opened fire and massacred hundreds of innocents, many women.
Now, my colleague (below) might say, "the decision to demonstrate in Russia was stupid and had no legs."
Now maybe, with his long attention to Slavic history, the learned commentator can correct me.
But I have read some authorities that haled from the Glasgow University, Russian. East European and Eurasian Studies, including Jonathan Smele's study of the Russian Civil War.
Now maybe the commentator, "Researching Ukraine," finds events do not leave memories, but the major studies I have read say that Bloody Sunday 1905 kept the revolution alive and made the revolutions of 1917 inevitable, so much so that Lev Trotsky himself wrote a history of the 1905 Revolution many years later.
Maybe the Scholls could have left Germany during the Third Reich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1938 was offered a Professorship and permanent residence at Union Theological Seminary in NYC.
The Scholls remained.
Bonhoeffer determined he had to return to Germany, because a postwar Germany would need a rebuilt Christianity.
The Scholls were murdered by the Nazi authorities.
Heinrich Himmler personally signed the death warrant for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in April 1945, so that Bonhoeffer was martyred on month before the war's end.
The "Cost of Discipleship" is the more poignant to read, when one considers the martyrdom of the great theologian.
At 76, I personally remember the 1956 revolution in Budapest.
In the Spring this year, a newly found friend opined that the 1956 revolution, where citizens uprose and threw Molotov Cocktails and bricks at the incoming tanks, died in vain.
Not so. I was an 8-year-old boy in Long Beach, California, watching the events live on a little, vacuum tube TV, black and white, on a tremendous console that matched my mom and dad's wooden furniture.
At 76, the Budapest martyrs inspire me, and I assured my newfound friend in Budapest that the Revolution of 1956 made of Armando a lifelong admirer and supporter of the people of Hungary.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny repented of his unkind thoughts toward Ukraine. Navalny will be remembered along with the martyrs in Budapest in 1956, the Scholls, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the hundreds of innocents of Bloody Sunday 1905.
Navalny leaves behind a worthy heritage.
🙏🏽. Thank you for writing to me. I will come back to finish reading (give full justice to your time and thoughts) after workday today.) Have a wonderful afternoon or rest of your day whichever time zone you are in. 🙏🏽
Malathi Raghavan: In a suburb of Memphis, so on Central Time.
I love your work!
🙏🏽
So much history! I did not know any of this. Your comment deserves to be a post of its own.
Yes, I appreciate Navalny despite the unease a learned, politically active Indo-Ukrainian friend felt /feels about him (she is living in Ukraine nearly 40 years now; still there); despite what some or most Ukrainians and maybe even diaspora Ukrainians feel. I figured that it is probably because I am on the outside and am a non-Ukrainian and quite a bit imperfect. But Navalny, also imperfect, had a LOT to lose in going against imperialism’s current leader. He may have been naive AND he may have been calculating (wanting to dethrone the current imperialist leader and install himself as the next all-powerful one as those suspicious of him believe) or he may have earlier been a product of his country's collective xenophobia and later extraordinarily courageous (hopefully, breaking out of his dismissal of non-Russians in the region). But he is not here today to show what he would have done in the future. All I can go by is what he left the world with -- a rare sense of awe in a jaded world — including bringing attention to Putin’s grip. Imperfect and rash, he was one of a kind.
Yet, I do not want to define Ukraine or make Ukrainians dependent on yet another powerful Russian (inadequately powerful as it turned out) to make their case for them, I respect Ukrainians' angst, distrust and unease first and foremost. Even their anger. They have lived through much that we have not and we need to respect their voices and yes, even outrage. Otherwise it is like saying 'All lives matter' in the U.S. without an acknowledgement of historical wrongs overwhelmingly suffered by one community alone. I (and perhaps, you too) may believe that at this stage Ukraine cannot fight alone. Ukraine and friends of Ukraine need all kinds of alliances to highlight Ukraine's plight, but our beliefs, words and thoughts need to make way for the voices of those who have experienced betrayals firsthand.
Nevalny was no friend to Ukraine. He believed in Empire just like Putin. He just thought it could be done democratically. His decision to return to Russia was stupid. It has no "legs" in today's attention deficient tiktok world.
6 months from now he could still be opposing Putin safely from Germany. He could prove me wrong and show strong support for Ukraine by rallying partisans to open a new front in Russia. He could be doing so much more.
As it is... he is dead. His contributions will be 90% finished in about 6 months. His work written in history books outside of Russia. The last 10% will fade over the years.
It's my opinion that he started believing in his own celebrity and thought he had more power than he actually had. It did not protect him. Now all Russia and the world has are his not insignificant contributions up to and until his death. No more. He was a fool to go back and serves very little purpose other than to get clicks and headlines for others.