Alexei Navalny: The Voice of a Younger Generation
Navalny will never be a successful Russian politician, but that's okay. He's so much more than a politician.
“His main gripe with me is that he'll go down in history as a poisoner,” opposition-leader Alexei Navalny said of Russian President Vladimir Putin doing a court hearing in April. “We had Alexander the Liberator, Yaroslav the Wise, and we will have Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.”
Vladimir the Underpants Poisoner.
Vladimir Putin sees himself as a modern-day czar and the savior of Mother Russia, but every dictator is terrified of one thing: a populist uprising. Navalny currently has very little electoral power; Putin will remain in the Kremlin as long as he wants. But all it takes is the pouring of a little gasoline and the striking of a match and in an instant, a small fire becomes a raging inferno.
Alexei Navalny is slowly pouring gasoline onto the Russian Federation.
Putin knows all of this.
That’s why on April 27, 2017, assailants attacked Navalny outside of his office in the Anti-Corruption Foundation by spraying an unknown bright green substance into his face. As a result of the attack, Navalny lost nearly all of the sight in his right eye.
That’s why on August 20, 2020, FSB agents attempted to assassinate Navalny by putting Novichok—a military-grade nerve agent—into his underwear. On a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, Navalny suddenly fell extremely ill and passed out. His plane made an emergency landing in Omsk where he slipped into a coma. Navalny was transported to Germany where he remained in a coma for over two weeks. His doctors later said that is his plane had not made an emergency landing in Omsk, Navalny would have certainly died.
That’s why on January 17, 2021, when Navalny returned to Russia from Germany, he was arrested for violating the terms of his probation—even though he was in a coma. He is currently still in prison serving a multi-year sentence.
That’s why on June 4, 2021—Navalny’s 45th birthday—Putin signed a law banning “extremists” from running in Russian elections. They will also be prohibited from donating to or consulting candidates for office.
Alexei Navalny has stirred something within the hearts of those Russians who are tired of decades of being ruled by Putin’s iron-fist.
Politics has not been something Russians have generally been involved in. The oligarchs rule the country and the normal citizenry live their everyday lives as best as they can. If the system is constructed upon crony capitalism, managed democracy, and censorship of speech, why even bother fighting?
But that’s all changing. After Navalny’s January arrest, thousands of young Russians braved the cold and the police to protest Putin and the government. Hundreds were arrested, yet they continued.
Something is shifting inside of Russia and Putin can feel the ground moving beneath his feet.
Putin won’t even mention Navalny’s name.
“My generation adores Navalny and really believes he is someone who could solve the government’s problems,” a teenage citizen of Moscow told me. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work like that; and, in my opinion, he is just the voice. He doesn’t have the power to solve any problems, it’s just ideas.”
The person then went on to outline for me the stark division between the younger and older generations: “The younger generation just doesn’t know any other government than Putin. He has been the president for like 20 years. But the older people know that it wasn’t really that good before Putin. They don’t want change. But we—the younger generation—have no one to compare him with, we can only look at other countries. That’s why my generation believes we should upgrade. We see Navalny as someone who understands that society is in need of improvements.”
The younger generation is yearning for something more than survival. They want freedom, liberty, and free speech. They want Putin gone.
According to a poll done by the Levada Center in February of 2021, 49 percent of the population aged between 18-24 disapproves of President Putin. This is a major increase from even early 2020 when only 39 percent of Russians between 18-24 disapproved of Putin’s job as president.
Alexei Navalny is leading the charge, fearlessly confronting the dictator in the Kremlin and calling on Western governments to not let Putin continue his reign over Russia. Navalny might not ever hold political office, but that is okay.
Through his fiery speeches, videos, and activism he has shone a light on the “crooks and thieves” that form the Russian oligarchy. He has the young people fighting for change.
Even after his arrest in January, Navalny hasn’t stopped fighting. During his first court appearance, Navalny took the stand and delivered a blistering monologue. “I would like to say that your king is naked, and more than one little boy is shouting about it—it is now millions of people who are already shouting about it. It is quite obvious. Twenty years of incompetent ruling have come to this: there is a crown sliding over his ears. Your naked king wants to rule until the end, he doesn’t care about the country, he is clung to power and wants to rule indefinitely.”
If the younger generation has their way, that might not be the case.