There are a huge number of dissidents in the world today, but few groups, big or small, have a spokesperson or a leader. They make their feelings known in mass demonstrations with signs and shouting. One group that had a leader of note has just lost him. Alexei Navalny, a longtime fighter for freedom, died in a remote Russian prison north of the Arctic Circle. As I write this, the cause of his death is being investigated, according to reports.
Navalny, age 47, was a lawyer and an activist whose target was modern Russia. He was the leader of the Russia of the Future party, (he ran for office against President Vladimir Putin), and a member of several anti-corruption groups that campaigned against the Kremlin.
Navalny hit the world news in 2020 when he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. After being treated in Germany, he returned to Russia in 2021 where he was immediately arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison on three different charges of political wrong-doing. Needless to say his criticisms of the Kremlin were not appreciated by President Putin.
He was recognized by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience and he received the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
His followers are being encouraged to continue the fight for freedom in Russia.
One thing that struck me about this story is Navalny was a very visible spokesperson as the “head” of a group of dissidents. There are many smallish protest groups in Canada these days (for example the Freedom Convoy bunch) but none of them have a visible leader to carry the torch. The world democracies don’t have a specific spokesperson either.
Are the would-be leaders of contentious groups leery to take the job because it might be the end of them?
Diana French is a former editor of the Williams Lake Tribune and longtime columnist
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