Book review: "Patriot, a memoir" by Alexei Navalny

 

Alexei Navalny: "...life works in such a way that social progress and a better future can only be achieved if a certain number of people are willing to pay the price for their right to have their own beliefs. The more of them there are, the less everyone has to pay. And the day will come when speaking the truth and advocating for justice will be commonplace and not at all dangerous in Russia."

I've been obsessed with Alexei Navalny ever since I first learned about him. The biggest reason for my obsession: He went back voluntarily. To Russia. Knowing what would probably happen to him. How was he able to be so courageous?

The answer is actually pretty simple, although Navalny was not a simple man: Convictions. Not dreams and wishes, but solid convictions.

Here are some excerpts from his diary, shortly before his death:

"If your convictions mean something, you much be prepared to stand up for them and make sacrifices if necessary. And if you're not prepared to do that, you have no convictions. You just think you do. But those are not convictions and principles; they're only thoughts in your head."

"I knew from the outset that I would be imprisoned for life-- either for the rest of my life or until the end of the life of this regime."

How could he do this? Through a mixture of extreme realism and faith. Navalny realized that people who were telling him the regime couldn't last "much longer" and he would soon be free were well-meaning, but probably wrong. And even if they were right about the collapse of the regime, he knew he would be killed before rescuers could reach and release him. He was realistic to the extreme about these facts. But he was also a man of deep faith, which kept him from being broken or hardened by these same facts.

"But are you a disciple of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others, paying the price for their sins? Do you believe in the immortality of the soul and the rest of that cool stuff? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left for you to worry about?

....My job is to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leave it to good old Jesus and the rest of his family to deal with everything else."

Alexei Navalny was modern-day martyr for the sake of truth and justice for others.