Navalny is a Martyr for Democracy
My thoughts on Navalny's messianism, its historical antecedents, and what the West should do to honour his memory and punish Putin
Navalny became a martyr for freedom, justice and democracy
Throughout history, true revolutionaries, freedom fighters, and religious prophets have understood a lesson about human nature: when facing an entrenched, despotic, and ruthless regime, the powerless can nonetheless overthrow the powerful, but only if they are willing to selflessly risk death while always holding firm to their truth. For this ancient formula to work, the hero cannot overtly seek death, nor must he glorify it. He must only strive to live according to his principles of righteousness. When the ultimate sacrifice is finally exacted, the hero’s – seemingly untimely – death ‘bears witness’ to the truth and righteousness of his cause. When fate surreptitiously choreographs this formula to perfection, the hero’s martyrdom can strike an emotional chord so powerful that it can overthrow empires, found new nations, convert millions to a new religion, and immortalize the hero.
The tragic murder of Russian opposition politician and ‘messianic’ freedom fighter Alexei Navalny on February 16 conforms to well-established martyrdom patterns. It resonates in Russia, throughout Christendom, in the Islamic world, and with all those who believe in the pursuit of justice.
Conceptually, to be a martyr is to individually ‘witness’ in one’s life the profound and metaphysical distinction between injustice and righteousness; and then to publicly ‘bear witness’ to that truth through one’s death. In Western languages the word ‘martyr’, deriving from the ancient Greek, and in Islamic languages the word ‘shahid’, literally mean to witness or bear witness as in a testimony. Like the etymology of the words, the Christian and Islamic worlds’ concepts have a shared root. Why? Because the connection between self-sacrifice and bearing witness to a religious or political truth is somehow implicit in human sociology.……
Read the rest of my opinion contributor article in today’s USA Today here.
You can also pick it up at newsstands throughout the English speaking world.