Michael Ramirez Essay: Navalny's Courage 02-20-24

From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist

Navalny’s Courage

By Michael P. Ramirez, February 20, 2024

The world is outraged over the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Artic prison last week. Navalny died while serving a trumped-up 19-year prison sentence in the harshest Russian gulag in the bitter cold of Siberia.

Navalny exemplified courage. 

He was a symbol of hope, a crusader against corruption, and a champion for free elections. Navalny tried to liberate his country from Putin’s authoritarian grip. He promoted nonviolent change in the vein of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. 

Alexei Navalny was willing to sacrifice his life for his country. Vladimir Putin made sure he did. 

Putin and his operatives had tried many times to silence him.  

Navalny was attacked with chemicals twice, first in 2017 and then again in 2019.  In the 2017 attack, he lost 80% of his sight from having a green dye with a corrosive agent thrown in his face.

He remained defiant.