The One With Navalny #4
# intro
Hey, 👋
I found a new job, and soon we'll be relocating to a new place. I'll share more about it soon.
It was hard for me to gather my thoughts and switch to privacy and tech this week, so I didn't. The news on February 16, 2024, took the wind out of me - Putin killed Navalny. Since Navalny's return to Russia, the murder had been unfolding slowly, but then it happened all of a sudden.
This is a big deal for me personally, so I wrote the following post about it. If you haven't seen it on my socials, you can read the full version below.
Also, please read the full speech by Yulia Navalnaya at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on February 19, 2024, here. Or, watch her video on Youtube. It's worth it.
I'll return to the regular programming next week. Stay safe out there.
# navalny
I didn't have many reasons to love Russia growing up. At 35, I've witnessed 24 years of the country crumbling under Putin's regime. The 90s weren't any better, or so I've been told.
Hating the country was also part of the teenage angst. We all called it “Rashka,” a derogatory term for Russia. Moving to a different, “better” country wasn’t a dream per se, but it was certainly a goal. You could say I attempted it twice, but always came back for one reason or another.
We spent tons of time online, because back then it was the last bastion of free speech in Russia — an "online exile," if you will. Navalny had a blog registered on LiveJournal.com called "The Final Battle between Good and Neutrality," and that's where I stumbled upon him for the first time.
I was hooked because he always had the ability to find honest words about what was happening in Russia. I've never met him in person, of course, but I once saw him on stage in Saint Petersburg in 2011 or 2012. I've attended every political rally and protest since then, and my friend and I even helped assemble the tables at one of his mayoral campaign offices in Moscow in 2018.
It was truly heartbreaking to see Navalny poisoned and jailed. While some Russians lamented how we "failed as a nation," from abroad, Navalny consistently found the right words to inspire hope for the future and make one believe in "The Beautiful Russia of Tomorrow" even from SHIZO. He inspired an entire generation, including me, to not be ashamed of their passport but to show everyone that a different Russia is possible. He endured so much that everyone was convinced he would persevere through it all. Sadly, Navalny wasn't a superman, but rather the most human among us.
When my mom passed away from cancer in 2016, something inside me shattered, making it incredibly difficult to return to my hometown — everything seemed to lose its colors, and nothing felt the same as before. Russia has long been a hollow shell of a country, but in my heart, it crossed a similar line with Navalny's murder.
Thank you, Navalny, for everything, but most of all for making me love the Russia that can be. We will not forget. We will not forgive.
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Until next week, ❤️
Greg