Navalny’s Death Completes Russia’s Descent into Tyranny
23 February 2024
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Harrison Griffiths writes for Reaction
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Tax and Fiscal Policy
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Daniel Freeman writes for CapX
IEA Managing Editor Daniel Freeman has written for CapX after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Daniel wrote:
“I only saw Alexei Navalny speak once. It was the summer of 2019 at a rally calling for independent opposition candidates be allowed to run in elections for the Moscow City Duma. It was taking place on Sakharov Avenue, near where I was living at the time, so I decided to go along out of sheer curiosity.
“Russia was far from a free country but autocracy comes in many degrees. Russia was then at the edge of what political scientists call a hybrid regime. In practical terms this meant elections were rigged but officials were expected to be discreet and avoid blatant ballot stuffing (in the big cities at least).
“In choosing to return to Russia to face imprisonment and death over a comfortable life in exile, Navalny ridiculed the propaganda which tried to present him and by extension all liberals, as cowardly, unpatriotic grifters. In Navalny, Russian liberals have lost a courageous and able advocate and gained a martyr. Time will tell whether this was a worthwhile exchange, but the courage of the man who made it cannot be denied.”
Read Daniel’s full piece here.
You can also read it on the IEA Blog.
Daniel wrote:
“I only saw Alexei Navalny speak once. It was the summer of 2019 at a rally calling for independent opposition candidates be allowed to run in elections for the Moscow City Duma. It was taking place on Sakharov Avenue, near where I was living at the time, so I decided to go along out of sheer curiosity.
“Russia was far from a free country but autocracy comes in many degrees. Russia was then at the edge of what political scientists call a hybrid regime. In practical terms this meant elections were rigged but officials were expected to be discreet and avoid blatant ballot stuffing (in the big cities at least).
“In choosing to return to Russia to face imprisonment and death over a comfortable life in exile, Navalny ridiculed the propaganda which tried to present him and by extension all liberals, as cowardly, unpatriotic grifters. In Navalny, Russian liberals have lost a courageous and able advocate and gained a martyr. Time will tell whether this was a worthwhile exchange, but the courage of the man who made it cannot be denied.”
Read Daniel’s full piece here.
You can also read it on the IEA Blog.
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