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https://theconversation.com/navalny-dies-in-prison-but-his-blueprint-for-anti-putin-activism-will-live-on-223774>
"Long lines of Russians endured subzero temperatures in January 2024 to demand
that anti-Ukraine war candidate Boris Nadezhdin be allowed to run in the
forthcoming presidential election. It was protest by petition – a tactic that
reflects the legacy of Alexei Navalny, the longtime Russian pro-democracy
campaigner. Authorities say Navalny, a persistent thorn in the side of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, died in prison on Feb. 16, 2024.
For more than a decade, Navalny fought Russian authoritarianism at the ballot
box and on the streets as the most recognizable face of anti-Putinism,
filtering support to candidates brave enough to stand against the Kremlin’s
wishes.
Often opposition does not translate into electoral success. Nadezhdin
supporters did not expect that their man could actually defeat Putin in the
vote scheduled for March 20, 2024. Given how tightly the Kremlin controls
politics in Russia, the result of the presidential election is a foregone
conclusion.
But for many Russians, the opportunity to support Nadezhdin’s candidacy was the
only legal means they had to communicate their opposition to Putin and the war.
The fact that authorities ultimately barred Nadezhdin from participating
suggests that the Kremlin remains cautious about any candidate who punctures
official narratives of a nation united behind Putin’s war in Ukraine.
That effort to protest the election seems all the more poignant following
Navalny’s death. It reflected the heart of a strategy that Navalny developed
over more than a decade and that I have written about since 2011."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
