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On Friday, a Moscow court sentenced Alexei Navalny to jail for 20 days. The charge was that Navalny called for an unsanctioned protest, despite getting permission from the city to hold the rally. He is opposing Putin in next year’s election. This is not the first time he has been jailed nor is he the only one facing charges. Reuters reported that Navalny “has been jailed twice already this year after organising rallies and protests against government corruption.” and his campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, is facing similar charges
Alexei Navalny isn’t just a political opponent to Vladimir Putin. He also runs the Anti-Corruption Foundation which “investigates, exposes and fights corruption among high-ranking government officials.” It is important that we take self-appointed mission statements with a grain of salt. However, I find myself giving the benefit of the doubt to the Kremlin’s opposition over the Kremlin itself. The upward trend of political opponents being poisoned, exiled, jailed, or killed in the last several years is apparent to anyone who looks.
Navalny’s platform is reminiscent of the democratic socialists of Western Europe and America. It is built, in large part, on redistributing wealth. He campaigns on the idea that the corporations connected to the Kremlin are the cause of economic pain for the Russian people. In many ways, it reminds me of Bernie Sanders’ political perspective. But rather than the people being able to decide whether the candidate is good for them, the Kremlin uses the iron fist to decide that Putin is people’s choice. Here are some examples.
Perspectives
Alexei Navalny: Russia’s vociferous opposition leader – BBC News
Mr Navalny was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days following the first protest on 5 December, but emerged to speak at the biggest of the post-election rallies in Moscow on 24 December, attended by as many as 120,000 people.
Russia jails top opposition leader; Putin denounced as dictator | Reuters
In a last message from court, Navalny, 37, referred to Putin as a “toad” who abused Russia’s vast oil revenues to stay in power, and urged his supporters to press on with his campaign.
“Okay, don’t miss me. More important – don’t be idle. The toad will not get off the oil pipeline on its own,” he wrote on Twitter.
Russia’s opposition: who is left to take on Vladimir Putin? | World news | The Guardian
Among the “non-systemic” opposition, there are few politicians who have much of a national profile, with the restrictions of state television meaning it is hard to gain a real platform. Harassment, threats and fatigue have led many into either jail or exile. Now that Nemtsov has been silenced, here are a list of the main opposition figureheads.
More of Kremlin’s Opponents Are Ending Up Dead
Putin, has made no secret of his ambition to restore his country to what he sees as its rightful place among the worldâs leading nations. He has invested considerable money and energy into building an image of a strong and morally superior Russia, in sharp contrast with what he portrays as weak, decadent and disorderly Western democracies. Political murders, particularly those accomplished with poisons, are nothing new in Russia, going back five centuries.
Reactions
#Navalny: My arrest is probably a birthday present for Putin https://t.co/8bo7pKEvww
— Sarah Rainsford (@sarahrainsford) October 2, 2017
Freedom Fighters of the world, unite.
Make Navalny trend on Putin's Birthday, Oct 7th. #KickPutie #nullify2016 #MadamPresident #Navalny https://t.co/2KGVjD6rrl— Jzikah (@jzikah) September 30, 2017
#Navalny is touring around #Russia and all he does is cheap empty promises to fight corruption he personally has been in change with ?? pic.twitter.com/IQ9WQI7xAe
— Springprincess (@TamrikoT) September 30, 2017
#Navalny in jail…… 🙁 NO freedom of speech in #Russia#Putin is a dictator and 100% criminal !!!
— Vissenkop (@Vissenkop3) October 2, 2017
" We might need to get used to each other, many rallies planned" says #Navalny. Judge smiles. It's a performance on all sides.
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) October 2, 2017
Final Thoughts
Dennis Prager gives a great comparison of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. In a totalitarian regime, the people have no say in how they live their lives. In an authoritarian regime, the people can live their lives largely unimpeded, provided they don’t oppose the leader.
Putin’s Russia is an authoritarian regime. As long as the people live their lives and don’t speak out, the government will leave them alone. As soon as someone questions Putin’s leadership, the iron fist of government shows its full strength
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