Erik Uden 🦣🍑:coffefied: on Nostr: And yes, Alexei Navalny had problematic (Ultra nationalist, anti-immigrant, far ...
And yes, Alexei Navalny had problematic (Ultra nationalist, anti-immigrant, far right) views. Some might jump to the statement “just because I hate the offender doesn't mean I feel sympathy for its victim”, which I have some sort of understanding for. Opposition is good, but please not from the right.
However, I can also understand why in the wake of this war or invasion of Ukraine, many people flocked to a political figurehead that opposed it, even if they had widely opposing views!
Let's just remember, why was Navalny imprisoned according to the Russian Federation?
By a Russian (Military) Court he was convicted of:
inciting and financing extremism [1]
creating an illegal NGO [1]
the rehabilitation of Nazism [1]
and inciting children to dangerous acts [1]
terrorism [2]
You can think of these charges as you will, but as a Russian citizen this would seem pretty damming, right? If you had to judge this person and the validity of their imprisonment to these accusations you'd find it okay for them to be imprisoned.
All I want to clarify is that if you still believe it's important for Navalny to exist as an opposition or may even believe many of these sentences are fabricated or one-sided by the Russian government who wishes to silence its opposition, then just reflect on what western nations say about people like Julian Assange or Abdullah Öcalan.
There are always two sides to a story, and sometimes big and threatening words are thrown around to scare you and justify undemocratic actions. It's important to free yourself of the local, often chauvinist bias, our media institutions have, willingly or unwillingly reflecting the Overton window of one's region. If you want the Russians to rethink Russia's actions on Navalny, then you should rethink the western world's actions on Assange and Öcalan.
#FreeAssange #FreeÖcalan
However, I can also understand why in the wake of this war or invasion of Ukraine, many people flocked to a political figurehead that opposed it, even if they had widely opposing views!
Let's just remember, why was Navalny imprisoned according to the Russian Federation?
By a Russian (Military) Court he was convicted of:
inciting and financing extremism [1]
creating an illegal NGO [1]
the rehabilitation of Nazism [1]
and inciting children to dangerous acts [1]
terrorism [2]
You can think of these charges as you will, but as a Russian citizen this would seem pretty damming, right? If you had to judge this person and the validity of their imprisonment to these accusations you'd find it okay for them to be imprisoned.
All I want to clarify is that if you still believe it's important for Navalny to exist as an opposition or may even believe many of these sentences are fabricated or one-sided by the Russian government who wishes to silence its opposition, then just reflect on what western nations say about people like Julian Assange or Abdullah Öcalan.
There are always two sides to a story, and sometimes big and threatening words are thrown around to scare you and justify undemocratic actions. It's important to free yourself of the local, often chauvinist bias, our media institutions have, willingly or unwillingly reflecting the Overton window of one's region. If you want the Russians to rethink Russia's actions on Navalny, then you should rethink the western world's actions on Assange and Öcalan.
#FreeAssange #FreeÖcalan