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Navalny and Courage · Scripture-ish

0:01
SPEAKER_00: Hi,
0:01
this is Ed Gallagher and I am going to talk about Alexei
0:06
Navalny and specifically
0:09
SPEAKER_00: here about his courage.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: You might remember that Alexei Navalny died on February 16th, 2024.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: So a couple of years ago by now.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: And a few days after his death,
0:28
SPEAKER_00: This would be Wednesday.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: I always speak in chapel on Wednesday.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: So it would be February 21st of 2024.
0:37
I spoke briefly about Alexei Navalny in the chapel service at
0:43
Heritage Christian University.
0:45
And if you listen to that speech,
0:48
and there's a video online you can find.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: I've linked to it on the Substack page for this episode.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: If you listen to the speech,
0:56
SPEAKER_00: you'll find that I really didn't know much about Navalny at the time.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Just what had been widely reported.
1:03
His memoir,
1:07
which is titled Patriot,
1:09
was published a few months later,
1:11
and I eagerly read it.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: By the way,
1:16
SPEAKER_00: while in prison,
1:17
SPEAKER_00: this is an excerpt from the memoir,
1:20
SPEAKER_00: or this is a recollection that Navalny writes in the memoir.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: While he was in prison,
1:30
Navalny mentioned that one of the reasons he was writing the
1:35
memoir was for the
1:36
SPEAKER_00: royalties that would come to his family in case he died in prison.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: And this is a quote from that.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: It's on page 406 of the memoir.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: He says, let's face it.
1:49
If a murky assassination attempt using a chemical weapon
1:54
followed by a tragic
1:55
SPEAKER_00: demise in prison can't move a book,
1:58
SPEAKER_00: it is hard to imagine what would.
2:02
Still quoting,
2:03
the book's author has been murdered by a villainous president.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: What more could the marketing department ask for?
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Well,
2:12
SPEAKER_00: that's the end of the quote,
2:13
SPEAKER_00: but I'll say he nailed it,
2:15
SPEAKER_00: and that is exactly why I read the book.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: If he were not dead, I'm not sure I would read his book.
2:25
The essay that I am reading here is a heavily edited version of
2:32
that chapel speech
2:33
from two years ago with substantial material added from my
2:38
reading of his memoir.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: On January 17th,
2:47
SPEAKER_00: 2021,
2:48
Alexei Navalny boarded a plane in Germany and returned to his
2:52
home country of
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Russia.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: That's the main point of this post.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Remember I'm,
3:04
SPEAKER_00: or this episode,
3:06
I'm reflecting on Alexei Navalny's courage and it is getting on
3:11
that plane.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
3:14
SPEAKER_00: it's a lot of other things as well,
3:15
SPEAKER_00: but that is a moment in time that took a great amount of courage.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: This seemingly simple action required great bravery.
3:31
And according to some people,
3:34
even people who knew and loved Navalny,
3:38
it required great folly.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: For the last time,
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Because the last time Navalny had been in Russia,
3:47
SPEAKER_00: he had been poisoned and thought he was going to die.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: This poisoning,
3:54
SPEAKER_00: about which there is an entire Wikipedia article,
3:57
SPEAKER_00: happened on a Russian plane on August 20,
4:00
SPEAKER_00: 2020.
4:03
A passenger on the flight used his phone to capture video of
4:07
Navalny's moaning.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: And on the Substack page for this episode,
4:12
I have linked to a 60 Minutes story about Navalny that covers
4:19
the poisoning and
4:20
SPEAKER_00: plays a brief clip of that passenger video.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Navalny was in safety in Germany.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: He chose to go to Russia.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: He was immediately detained in the Russian airport.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: and never left Russian state custody.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: He died in a Russian prison on February 16th, 2024.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: He was 47 years old.
4:51
While in prison in 2021,
4:55
Navalny recalled that his publisher,
4:57
who had already contracted
5:00
SPEAKER_00: or issued him a contract for his memoir,
5:02
was concerned that he wouldn't be able to finish the book if he
5:05
returned to Russia.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: He remembers the publisher saying,
5:09
SPEAKER_00: of course,
5:10
SPEAKER_00: we admire your courage,
5:11
SPEAKER_00: but anything can happen in that country of yours.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: And then what would become of the book?
5:17
SPEAKER_00: To this remembered statement,
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Navalny replied,
5:22
SPEAKER_00: I understand that you are saying courage because you were polite,
5:26
SPEAKER_00: but you were thinking stupidity.
5:31
Navalny's decision to return to Russia despite the risks is
5:38
reminiscent of similar decisions.
5:43
My daily Bible reading has Acts 21 fresh in my mind where
5:50
friends of the Apostle
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Paul were urging him to avoid Jerusalem
5:56
assured by unimpeachable authority that his entrance into the
6:01
city would bring him
6:03
SPEAKER_00: great suffering.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: Here's a quote from Acts 21, verses 10 through 13.
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While we were staying in Caesarea for several days,
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a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
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SPEAKER_00: He came to us and took Paul's belt, bound his feet and hands with it,
6:25
SPEAKER_00: and said,
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Thus says the Holy Spirit,
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This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who
6:34
owns this belt,
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SPEAKER_00: and will hand him over to the Gentiles.
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When we heard this,
6:42
we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Paul answered, What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?
6:53
SPEAKER_00: for I am ready not only to be bound,
6:55
SPEAKER_00: but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
7:02
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
7:04
Paul's response to his friends sounds remarkably like Navalny's
7:09
response to those
7:10
SPEAKER_00: urging him to stay in safety.
7:14
And if we recall the courageous entrance into Jerusalem of the
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apostle of Jesus,
7:21
SPEAKER_00: we surely must also think of Jesus himself,
7:25
SPEAKER_00: who knew what awaited him in that same city,
7:30
SPEAKER_00: and that it must take place.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: See, for instance, Mark 8, verse 31.
7:41
Closer to our time,
7:43
Navalny's decision echoes that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: In June 1939,
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Bonhoeffer was in New York City,
7:53
having come there specifically to avoid the sufferings that the
7:58
Nazi regime was
8:00
SPEAKER_00: visiting upon German society.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: After a week-long layover in Britain,
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SPEAKER_00: he boarded the Bremen,
8:07
SPEAKER_00: the ship called the Bremen,
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SPEAKER_00: for a five-day voyage to New York.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: He had been there before,
8:13
SPEAKER_00: a decade earlier,
8:15
SPEAKER_00: to study at Union Theological Seminary,
8:17
and it was the friendships he had forged at that time that
8:21
paved the way for this
8:23
SPEAKER_00: return visit.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: His friends,
8:27
SPEAKER_00: particularly his former teacher Reinhold Niebuhr,
8:31
SPEAKER_00: urged Bonhoeffer to flee to safety,
8:35
SPEAKER_00: and Bonhoeffer acquiesced.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Bonhoeffer arrived on June 2nd.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: His hosts were out of pocket on summer holiday.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: In his journal,
8:48
SPEAKER_00: he mentions that he went to the movies,
8:51
SPEAKER_00: saw a movie called Juarez,
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SPEAKER_00: which he thought was enjoyable and diverting.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: But the movie was no match for the anguish Bonhoeffer felt inside.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: He writes in his journal, I would have liked to take the next ship.
9:10
This inactivity or rather activity spent on trivialities is
9:16
simply no longer bearable for us.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Thinking of the brothers and the precious time,
9:22
the full force of self reproaches about a wrong decision comes
9:27
back up and is
9:28
SPEAKER_00: almost suffocating.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: I was filled with despair.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: That's a journal entry from June 15th.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Now,
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Bonhoeffer's recent-ish biographer,
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SPEAKER_00: Charles Marsh,
9:45
SPEAKER_00: quotes that journal entry and then comments,
9:48
SPEAKER_00: "...the situation at home,
9:50
SPEAKER_00: it was now clear,
9:51
SPEAKER_00: had depleted his lifelong love of idle pleasures to a remarkable degree."
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Dietrich had become consumingly serious.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: He left New York on July 8th, returning to Germany.
10:15
In Germany,
10:16
Bonhoeffer became an agent for the Abwehr,
10:20
but he was working against the Nazis.
10:22
SPEAKER_00: He had some involvement in the July 20 plot,
10:26
which led to his arrest in 1943 and eventually his execution on
10:31
April 9th,
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SPEAKER_00: 1945,
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SPEAKER_00: a few weeks before the end of the war.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Why did he return to Germany?
10:42
As Bonhoeffer scholar Victoria Barnett writes in the
10:47
introduction to volume 15 of
10:53
SPEAKER_00: the recent Fortress Press series of Bonhoeffer editions,
11:00
and that volume 15 is the – this is a series called Dietrich
11:05
Bonhoeffer Works in
11:07
SPEAKER_00: English,
11:07
and volume 15 is the one that contains that journal entry that
11:10
I mentioned,
11:11
SPEAKER_00: that I quoted from.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: And in the introduction,
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SPEAKER_00: Victoria Barnett says,
11:15
SPEAKER_00: this is a quote from Barnett,
11:17
Bonhoeffer came to New York because of his uncertainty about
11:21
what would happen to
11:22
SPEAKER_00: him in Germany and his fears of military conscription.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: From the moment he arrived,
11:28
SPEAKER_00: however,
11:29
he was haunted by the sense that he had abandoned his students
11:36
and fled to safety
11:37
SPEAKER_00: while they confronted a precarious future.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: In late June, he tried to explain himself by letter to Reinhold Niebuhr.
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SPEAKER_00: And the relevant passage is quoted at Wikipedia.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: You can find it there in the Wikipedia article on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
11:56
But here I am quoting the entirety of the excerpt as printed in
12:03
that volume 15 of
12:05
SPEAKER_00: the series Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Bonhoeffer wrote to Niebuhr,
12:11
SPEAKER_00: quote,
12:11
SPEAKER_00: and this is a somewhat lengthy quote,
12:15
SPEAKER_00: Sitting here in Dr.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Coffin's garden,
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I have had the time to think and to pray about my situation and
12:25
that of my nation
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SPEAKER_00: and to have God's will for me clarified.
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SPEAKER_00: I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America.
12:36
I must live through this difficult period in our national
12:40
history with the
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SPEAKER_00: Christian people of Germany.
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I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of
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Christian life in
12:49
Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time
12:53
with my people.
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SPEAKER_00: My brothers in the confessional synod wanted me to go.
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SPEAKER_00: They may have been right in urging me to do so, but I was wrong in going.
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SPEAKER_00: such a decision each man must make for himself.
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Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of
13:15
either willing the
13:16
defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may
13:19
survive or willing
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SPEAKER_00: the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization.
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SPEAKER_00: I know which of these alternatives I must choose.
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SPEAKER_00: but I cannot make that choice from security."
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SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
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Bonhoeffer returned,
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though he knew that his decision would cost him dearly.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet, what would be the point of his life if he avoided suffering?
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SPEAKER_00: Some people might be fine with a life of easy pleasure.
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As Charles Marsh argues,
14:04
Bonhoeffer himself was content with such a life earlier.
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SPEAKER_00: But things had changed.
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SPEAKER_00: German society and Bonhoeffer himself.
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SPEAKER_00: He chose suffering.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: Likewise, Navalny.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Navalny died after three years in a Russian prison.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Was it an assassination?
14:32
Well,
14:33
whatever you call it,
14:34
it was certainly ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: How do I know?
14:41
SPEAKER_00: You can't be seriously asking that question, can you?
14:46
How about you watch that 60 Minutes piece that I mentioned and
14:49
then reflect on
14:50
Navalny's last three years of life in a Russian prison and
14:54
Putin's control of the
14:56
SPEAKER_00: situation in Russia?
14:58
SPEAKER_00: And if you're still wondering whether Putin ordered Navalny's death,
15:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to tell you,
15:04
but I guess you could consider that recent European report that
15:10
came out a few
15:11
weeks ago where they say that Navalny was intentionally
15:14
poisoned by the Russian
15:17
SPEAKER_00: government.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: When the news of Navalny's death broke a couple of years ago in 2024,
15:24
Tucker Carlson was also in the news because he had recently
15:28
returned from Russia.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about Tucker Carlson for a moment.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: As I recall, he used to be a sane, level-headed Republican pundit.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: It's been a while since that description could be applied to Carlson.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: He became most famous and influential as a nightly Fox News commentator,
15:49
SPEAKER_00: having replaced Bill O'Reilly.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: Carlson himself was fired from Fox in 2023,
15:56
SPEAKER_00: at least in part for his role in promoting falsehoods regarding the 2020
16:01
SPEAKER_00: presidential election.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: For a while now,
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SPEAKER_00: it seems that Carlson has endeavored to say the most outlandish,
16:09
SPEAKER_00: provocative nonsense—
16:11
SPEAKER_00: He seems uninterested in informing people.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: Quite the opposite,
16:15
he apparently revels in his ability to get people to believe
16:20
the most patently
16:21
SPEAKER_00: ridiculous opinions.
16:24
That is how one should understand Carlson's trip to Russia that
16:29
he took in 2024,
16:33
SPEAKER_00: which included an interview with the Russian president,
16:36
SPEAKER_00: which,
16:36
SPEAKER_00: and that interview also has its own Wikipedia page,
16:40
SPEAKER_00: And you might remember this,
16:42
that he also went to a grocery store in Russia and rode the
16:47
Moscow subway.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: Carlson effused about the beautiful Moscow subway.
16:54
There's a video that he posted online of his time in the
16:57
grocery store praising the
16:59
low prices of Russian food as if Russians are so much better
17:04
off than Americans.
17:06
Carlson seemed unaware that salaries in Russia are so low that
17:10
the average Russian
17:11
SPEAKER_00: can barely afford those so-called cheap groceries.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: There are other silly things Carlson says in the video,
17:24
especially about the grocery carts that use a coin release
17:28
mechanism that he had
17:29
SPEAKER_00: never seen before,
17:31
SPEAKER_00: though they are all over America,
17:33
SPEAKER_00: like in our local Aldi.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: In his interview with Putin, the name Navalny never came up.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: In Dubai, on the Monday following, Carlson went from Russia to Dubai.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Carlson was asked why he hadn't questioned Putin about Navalny.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: And Carlson said,
17:53
SPEAKER_00: this is a quote from Carlson at that Dubai interview,
17:57
SPEAKER_00: leadership requires killing people.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: By Carlson's standard, Putin is a great leader.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: A few days later, Putin killed Navalny.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay,
18:11
SPEAKER_00: to be fair to Carlson,
18:13
SPEAKER_00: he did follow up that last comment by saying,
18:15
SPEAKER_00: that's why I wouldn't want to be a leader.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: He does seem to be saying that in the world in which we live,
18:22
SPEAKER_00: practically speaking,
18:23
SPEAKER_00: not ideally,
18:24
SPEAKER_00: leadership requires killing people.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Carlson is perhaps regretful that this is the case.
18:32
But what I want to point out in this context is the bravery of
18:35
Navalny and the
18:37
SPEAKER_00: cowardice of Putin.
18:41
Vladimir Putin is no leader,
18:43
certainly not according to the standards of Jesus.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember Mark 10 verses 41 through 45?
18:51
And not even according to the much less noble standards of
18:54
American history and society.
18:57
Putin's cowardice so defines him that he could not stand for
19:03
Alexei Navalny to run
19:04
SPEAKER_00: against him in a presidential election,
19:06
SPEAKER_00: which I'm referring to something that happened in the 2010s.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Putin was not concerned,
19:15
SPEAKER_00: I imagine,
19:15
SPEAKER_00: that he would actually lose the election,
19:17
just that Navalny might get enough of the vote that Putin would
19:23
somewhat lose face.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: He could not allow that to happen.
19:28
But Putin's cowardice,
19:30
as cowardice tends to do,
19:33
has only grown in recent years.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Let me point this out about cowardice and all sin.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: It increases.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: Last night,
19:49
SPEAKER_00: I was reading once again The Lion,
19:51
SPEAKER_00: the Witch,
19:51
SPEAKER_00: and the Wardrobe to my kids,
19:53
SPEAKER_00: and we were in chapter four called Turkish Delight.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember about this Turkish delight?
20:02
The white witch created it for Edmund,
20:05
pounds of it,
20:07
and Edmund ate it all up.
20:10
And then he was not satisfied,
20:12
but only wanted more because it was enchanted Turkish delight.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Edmund's lust for that Turkish delight determined his actions and
20:27
SPEAKER_00: over the coming days,
20:28
SPEAKER_00: his own betrayals,
20:30
SPEAKER_00: his own sin,
20:33
all for more of the false enjoyment that could never offer
20:39
lasting pleasure.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Such is sin.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Such is cowardice.
20:48
And Putin's cowardice has now grown to the extent that he would
20:51
not even allow
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Navalny to live in the same country.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Notice the contrast between the two men.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Putin has been indicted by the international court in The Hague,
21:05
which means that if he travels to a nation that is a partner in
21:09
the international
21:10
SPEAKER_00: criminal court,
21:11
SPEAKER_00: they are obligated to arrest him.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: So he has not traveled to such a country in all that time.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: He's reduced to traveling to places like China.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: On the other hand,
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Navalny knew full well that if he entered Russia again,
21:30
SPEAKER_00: he would likely be arrested and killed.
21:35
And he went in order to provide an example of bravery and to
21:41
give people hope.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: At the time of Navalny's death,
21:47
SPEAKER_00: I did not know whether he was a Christian,
21:49
SPEAKER_00: but his memoir makes plain that he was.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: What I did recognize at the time
21:55
SPEAKER_00: What was indeed blindingly obvious was that Navalny's actions,
22:01
SPEAKER_00: at least the actions I have been praising here,
22:05
SPEAKER_00: are entirely consistent with Christian principles.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Now,
22:10
it was at this point in that chapel speech from two years ago
22:13
that I transitioned
22:15
SPEAKER_00: to talking about the book of Daniel,
22:18
SPEAKER_00: specifically chapter 6,
22:19
SPEAKER_00: the lion's den story.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: which was supposedly the topic for the day.
22:27
I omit that brief portion of the speech here and appoint you
22:31
instead to my book.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I have since then published a book on Daniel,
22:36
SPEAKER_00: and you can find what I say about Daniel and the lion's den in that book.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: I won't continue with it here,
22:42
except to say that Daniel's response in chapter six to the
22:46
foolish decree of King
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Darius
22:49
SPEAKER_00: is another example of courage in the face of death.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: So well illustrated by Navalny in our own time.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: Why did Navalny return to Russia in 2021?
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Here I am, uh,
23:09
This section of this episode will be all taken from my own
23:16
reading of Navalny's
23:18
SPEAKER_00: memoir,
23:19
which does deal quite a bit with his motivations for returning
23:22
to Russia after he
23:25
SPEAKER_00: recovered in Germany from his 2020 poisoning.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Many people advised him to stay away from Russia.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Navalny recalls even a visit to his hospital from Angela Merkel.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: what do you call those things?
23:39
SPEAKER_00: The Chancellor of Germany.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: At the time, she was the Chancellor of Germany.
23:42
When she heard about his plans to return to Russia,
23:45
she said,
23:46
there's no need to hurry.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: The chapter in the memoir that,
23:51
SPEAKER_00: to my mind,
23:52
SPEAKER_00: is the best in the book,
23:54
SPEAKER_00: the most engrossing,
23:55
SPEAKER_00: is the out of chronological order,
23:59
SPEAKER_00: chapter eight.
24:01
written from prison shortly after he was arrested in the
24:04
Russian airport in January 2021.
24:08
This chapter reveals that he and his team did not necessarily
24:12
think that he would
24:13
SPEAKER_00: get arrested straight away.
24:16
They gamed out several scenarios for how Putin might greet
24:19
Navalny's return to Russia.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: Before he left Germany,
24:24
the bevy of questions from reporters about whether he intended
24:28
to return to his
24:28
SPEAKER_00: home country annoyed him.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: This is a quote from his memoir.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: How do you like that?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: I thought irascibly.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: You work for 20 years in the full glare of publicity.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: You write hundreds of articles every day.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: You back up your words with actions.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: And they still imagine I might be too scared to go back.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: End of the quote.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: This response suggests that part of the reason for his return was,
24:54
SPEAKER_00: to put it cynically,
24:57
SPEAKER_00: to make a show of his bravery.
25:02
I think a better and truer way of putting it would be to
25:05
provide an example for
25:07
SPEAKER_00: others,
25:08
SPEAKER_00: to provide hope.
25:10
This interpretation is supported by an incident narrated later
25:14
in the same chapter.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Outside of a police station waiting to be transported to prison,
25:20
SPEAKER_00: he encountered some supporters.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Quote, they took me outside and people started yelling.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Unexpectedly for me, I yelled back to them, don't be afraid of anything.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm still quoting from Navalny's recollection of this incident.
25:40
That was an important moment,
25:42
the kind when you feel at one with your supporters.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: They are thinking about you and want to show they are with you.
25:52
You are thinking about them and that the regime needs this
25:57
arrest to frighten them.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: And you do your utmost to help them not to be afraid.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: You keep your back straight and shout, don't be afraid of anything.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, bravery is the point.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: When the regime lives on fear, courage is resistance.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: A later chapter,
26:26
SPEAKER_00: chapter 15,
26:27
SPEAKER_00: prints Navalny's speech at the,
26:30
SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to butcher this pronunciation.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: It's like a French term, I think.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Yves Rocher trial.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Now,
26:41
SPEAKER_00: this Yves Rocher case in which Navalny and his brother Oleg were accused,
26:48
SPEAKER_00: I think,
26:49
SPEAKER_00: of embezzling funds.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
26:52
my understanding of this is basically these are trumped up
26:54
charges by the Russian
26:56
SPEAKER_00: government to try to squelch Navalny's movement.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: But in this case, the case dragged on for years.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: I think this particular speech was delivered in court probably in 2015.
27:10
He repeatedly mentions in the speech how the judges and the
27:15
prosecutors stare down
27:18
SPEAKER_00: at the table,
27:20
which he interprets as an attempt to ignore all the evidence of
27:26
corruption in the
27:27
SPEAKER_00: system to render the verdict that the Kremlin expects.
27:34
So like staring down at the table is equivalent to burying your
27:38
head in the sand,
27:39
SPEAKER_00: being like an ostrich.
27:41
Toward the end of the speech,
27:43
he divides Russian society into a few categories.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: The whole system is a junta controlled by about 20 billionaires.
27:52
There are about a thousand people,
27:54
but no more who are,
27:56
quote,
27:57
feeding at this junta's trough.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: And these people are state deputies and crooks.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: And here's another quote.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: There's a small percentage of people who don't agree with this system.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: And then there are the millions who are simply staring at the table.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Navalny says, I'll never stop my fight with this junta.
28:22
I'm going to continue fighting this junta by campaigning and
28:26
doing whatever it
28:27
SPEAKER_00: takes to shake up these people who are staring at the table.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: You included.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm never going to stop.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: When he says you included, he's talking about the judges.
28:38
This is the speech at his court case,
28:40
talking about the judges and the prosecutors.
28:44
About halfway through the speech,
28:46
he says this,
28:46
and this is a longer quote.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: from that 2015 speech.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Why do you put up with these lies?
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Why do you just stare at the table?
28:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry if I'm dragging you into a philosophical discussion,
28:59
SPEAKER_00: but life's too short to simply stare down at the table.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: I blinked and I'm almost 40 years old.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: I'll blink again and I'll already have grandchildren.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: And then we all blink,
29:11
we'll blink again and we'll be on our deathbeds with our
29:15
relatives all around us.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: And they'll all be thinking,
29:18
all they'll be thinking about is it's about time they died and
29:22
freed up this
29:22
SPEAKER_00: apartment.
29:23
And at some point we'll realize that nothing we did had any
29:27
meaning at all.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: So why did we just stare at the table and say nothing?
29:33
The only moments in our lives that count for anything are those
29:38
when we do the
29:40
SPEAKER_00: right thing,
29:41
SPEAKER_00: when we don't have to look down at the table,
29:44
SPEAKER_00: but can raise our heads and look each other in the eye.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Nothing else matters.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: This reminds me so of Bonhoeffer.
30:00
whose flight to New York in 1939 was a flight away from doing
30:05
something meaningful,
30:06
SPEAKER_00: a flight toward staring at the table.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: He quickly realized that just staring was not for him.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: In the last chapter before the memoir becomes a prison diary,
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Navalny reflects on why he doesn't protect himself more.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: And here's a quote, a long quote.
30:31
I have always tried to ignore the idea that I could be
30:33
attacked,
30:35
arrested,
30:36
or even killed.
30:38
I have no control over what might happen,
30:40
and it would be self-destructive to dwell on it.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Should I think, what are the chances that I'll survive this morning?
30:48
I don't know,
30:48
six out of ten,
30:49
eight out of ten,
30:50
maybe even ten out of ten.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: It's not that I'm trying not to think about it,
30:55
SPEAKER_00: closing my eyes and pretending the danger doesn't exist.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: But one day I simply made the decision not to be afraid.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: I weighed up everything, understood where I stand and let it go.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm an opposition politician and understand perfectly who my enemies are.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: But if I were to worry constantly about them killing me,
31:21
SPEAKER_00: then it's not worth my while living in Russia.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: I should immigrate or change what I do.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: So why doesn't he immigrate or change what he does?
31:37
Navalny doesn't say so explicitly,
31:39
but I believe the one action implies the other.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Immigrating entails changing what he does.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: What he did could only be done in Russia.
31:53
Because part of what got attention was the audacity of the
31:57
bravery that he's doing
31:59
SPEAKER_00: these things in Russia.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: When he could be punished for it, as we see he was.
32:07
Another way of saying it is that exile is a good way to make
32:12
yourself irrelevant.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: Again, echoes of Bonhoeffer in New York City.
32:21
While I don't remember Navalny in his memoir framing his return
32:26
in that way,
32:27
SPEAKER_00: various things he says touch on the same idea as we've seen.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Living in safety while others...
32:36
SPEAKER_00: specifically one's fellow countrymen,
32:39
suffered while others suffered was not something that Navalny
32:43
or Bonhoeffer was
32:45
SPEAKER_00: willing to do.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: In an Instagram post from prison on Navalny's 47th and last birthday,
32:56
SPEAKER_00: which was June 4th,
32:58
SPEAKER_00: 2023,
32:59
SPEAKER_00: he wrote this and here's another long quote,
33:02
but life works in such a way that social progress and a better
33:07
future can only be
33:09
achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay the
33:13
price for their right
33:15
SPEAKER_00: to have their own beliefs and
33:18
SPEAKER_00: The more of them there are, the less everyone has to pay.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: But until that day comes,
33:24
SPEAKER_00: I see my situation not as a heavy burden or a yoke,
33:28
SPEAKER_00: but as a job that needs to be done.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Every job has its unpleasant aspects, right?
33:36
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going through the unpleasant part of my favorite job right now.
33:40
My plan for the previous year was not to become brutalized and
33:45
bitter and lose my
33:47
SPEAKER_00: laid back demeanor.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: That would mean the beginning of my defeat.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: He saw it,
33:56
Navalny saw it as a personal defeat if the regime cowered him
34:02
or embittered him and
34:04
SPEAKER_00: in that way controlled him.
34:08
No doubt Navalny faltered at times,
34:10
but he provides,
34:12
I think,
34:14
a compelling example.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: The final item in the book before the epilogue,
34:22
SPEAKER_00: which the epilogue was written earlier in March of 2022,
34:26
SPEAKER_00: written by Navalny in March of 2022.
34:31
But the final item in the book,
34:32
I think the final item written in the book is
34:36
SPEAKER_00: is an Instagram post dated January 17th, 2024.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: One month later, he would be dead.
34:45
This final Instagram post once again addresses the question,
34:51
why did you come back?
34:54
SPEAKER_00: And here's a long quote from that even longer Instagram post.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: I have my country and my convictions.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to give up my country or betray it.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: If your convictions mean something,
35:13
you must be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices
35:17
if necessary.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not prepared to do that, you have no convictions.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: You just think you do.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: But those are not convictions and principles.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: They're only thoughts in your head.
35:29
Of course,
35:29
this doesn't mean that everyone who's not currently in prison
35:33
lacks conviction.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Everyone pays their price.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: For many people, the price is high, even without being imprisoned.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: I took part in elections and vied for leadership positions.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: The call for me is different.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: I traveled the length and breadth of the country,
35:54
SPEAKER_00: declaring everywhere from the stage,
35:56
SPEAKER_00: I promise that I won't let you down,
35:59
SPEAKER_00: I won't deceive you,
36:00
SPEAKER_00: and I won't abandon you.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: By coming back to Russia, I fulfilled my promise to the voters.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: There need to be some people in Russia who don't lie to them.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: That's the end of the quote.
36:19
And like I say,
36:19
that's merely an excerpt from the Instagram post as printed in
36:25
the memoir.
36:27
The very last line of that post,
36:31
again,
36:31
written a month before Navalny's death.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: But for now, we must not give up, and we must stand by our beliefs.