PATRIOT

Patriot, by Alexei Navalny is a a truly inspiring book. In case you have forgotten, he was the amazing man who set up an Anti Corruption Party in opposition to Putin who had him killed in response. He carried out investigations into corruption, in particular he made a film about Putin's palace. He clearly felt a burning anger at the level of corruption throughout the Russian State and the fact that people in a state position with any level of authority used their position to become wealthy while the rest of the population lived in poverty and with shortages. Putin and his circle have accumulated unbelievable wealth which certainly does not come from their salaries. Putin must have feared him and his thousands of followers because there had been several failed attempts to kill him before he was poisoned with Novichok and almost died. Angela Merkel intervened and he was transferred to a hospital in Germany, where after many months of treatment and physiotherapy he was more or less recovered. He had to learn to speak, write and walk again and required intensive physiotherapy. He was left with long term back problems. When he was well enough he returned to Russia with his wife and two children. I think he is the most courageous person I have ever come across. He knew that Putin would not be satisfied until he was dead but he returned anyway. In fact, he was arrested straight off the plane and imprisoned on trumped up charges. He was finally killed three years later. Putin regularly thought up new false charges when there were farcical show trials and more time was added to his sentence. The book is both interesting and moving. Navalny’s love of his country and its people together with his anger at the way time and again those in power have reduced them as individuals and the country as a whole to poverty and backwardness. When I told my son about it he responded by sending me links to 3 articles critical of Navalny. After reading the man’s book, however, I am convinced that his death is a tragic loss to Russia. He started writing it while he was convalescing in Germany and the first part of the book contains a lot about his childhood and early life. One of his parents was Ukrainian and he spent his summers on his grandparents' farm. The rest of it is in the form of a prison diary. I don’t know how he got his writings out of prison. He must have had help. What impresses me particularly is that throughout the book there is not the slightest hint of self-pity neither about his situation and the knowledge that he would never be freed nor about his painful back; he writes with a wry humour which I found wonderful, given the circumstances. A truly great man in my opinion. I only hope the people he inspired to oppose Putin don’t just give up without his leadership.

A true hero’s story

Un libro da leggere se si è interessati alla storia contemporanea!

"And don't you be afraid!" This is one of Alexei Navalny's most famous quotes. There is a song about him under the same name and several people remember him by this quote. That's why, perhaps, it is unsurprising that his book talks of a life that has simply one lesson for everyone - And don't you be afraid. It is part memoir, part autobiography and part prison diary, all the way peppered with the author's indefatigable dark humour. It has four parts- The first - Alexei’s near-death, the second - his childhood and everything that drove him towards politics, the third - his political work as the sole face of Russian Opposition and the fourth - his prison diaries. By far, the last part is an emotionally difficult and moving read. Not because his cheeriness or good-humour fail him in those conditions that are as close to hell as can be humanly replicated, how desperately Putin tries to break the spirit of the most influential Leader of the Opposition. And yet, for all that Putin did, he failed. Alexei’s cheeriness and faith in humanity and his belief that Russia will be free and happy last all through his life. Never once does he lose that belief and that is seen all through his prison diaries. The first part starts with the line "Dying really didn't hurt" and in it he describes, down to the most minor detail, the day when he nearly died after collapsing into a coma mid-flight between Tomsk and Moscow. By the end of the first part, you are hooked to the fantastic writing style and the gripping plot, infinitely better than the best thrillers - and completely true as well. The second part talks about his childhood and college days, against the backdrop of the political upheavals that defined the latter third of the 20th century, namely; he presidency of Gorbachev, The Afghanistan War, The 'August Putsch', The Fall of the USSR, Yeltsin assuming the position as the President of Russia and so on. He talks of how he was once a starry-eyed Yeltsin supporter and how the purchase of his first car changed his political opinions radically. Part two ends with him recounting how he met his wife, the now Leader of Russian Opposition, Yulia Navalnaya. Part three is the story of his work against trumped-up court cases, (notably the Kirovles and Yves Rocher scandal), his brother's (Oleg Navalny) imprisonment (also thanks to the completely fabricated Yves Rocher case), his own house arrest and the ups-and-downs of the two-decade-plus Putinist tyranny. It's a tale of a political miracle under one of the most repressive conditions on the planet. A figurative rose in a bleak and hopeless political desert. The section ends with him explaining what motivates him to fight for the country, why he no longer fears for his life and why he loves Russia. He puts forth his vision for a Russia, a Beautiful Russia of the Future. This part ends with the line ‘The future is ours’, a belief that Alexei lived and died for and one that millions of Russians cling onto for succour in these dark times. The fourth and last part is a challenging read, and certainly takes emotional involvement to read. His prison diaries, the posts he wrote from prison and his final words on the several court hearings he was subject to during the period of his imprisonment are what constitute this part of the book. The prison diaries are easily the most heartbreaking part of a book and really are not for the faint of heart. He talks of the absolute madness of regulations and searches by authorities, his own hunger strike and sickness, of solitary confinement and punishment cells and of the general vindictiveness of a massive system that uses its entire machinery to break the spirit of one man – and fails. It is a glimpse into a mind that is constantly thinking of the best things for his country. I was half-expecting them to charge him with ‘excessive charisma’ or ‘threatening levels of integrity’. In summary, this is a fantastic book that somehow is heartbreaking, humorous and inspiring, all at the same time. On the day I post this book review, it is the 16th of February 2025, exactly one year since Alexei’s murder, and I feel that everyone should honour his memory by picking up a copy of this book. It will be impactful and the full force of it will hit you straight in the face, but it will be unforgettable. It is impossible to condense a life as eventful as Alexei’s into a single book and the book does not attempt to do so. Instead, it offers us a glimpse into Navalny’s mind-not just the opposition myth and the poisoned legend, but also an insight into the mind of a man who simply wants the best for his country, a man with a humour so black it makes Vantablack jealous and a man who simply thinks that Russia deserves better than Putin-and gave Russians a choice. It is a once in a lifetime book, and it is unlikely you’ll read anything like it ever again. The book does not have a straight plot-line but rather jumps between places and events, starting off in a flight out of Siberia, into Berlin and the Black Forest in Germany and then back into Russia, rushing between prisons and ending in Kharp, Siberia where, on the 16th of February exactly one year ago Alexei would be murdered under mysterious circumstances. It is Alexei’s parting farewell to the burning world he left behind, not just the story of his less-than-fifty–years long life but also the dream he left behind-if he laid the foundation for The Beautiful Russia of the Future, it is up to us to build the road towards it. Five stars are nowhere near enough for this book, I’d give a whole constellation! Simply put, I will recommend to everyone this 400-odd paged part-memoir, part-thriller

Really enjoyed this book, a fascinating story from beginning to end.