February 12, 2021
Alexei Navalny’s remarks before the Moscow court are for the ages.
Our author Terri Langston, who has a PhD in comparative literature, applies that skill set to what must be one of the most politically charged relationships in the world today, the battle of Putin vs. Navalny.
Join Terri on her remarkable journey. Sometimes she cannot help bursting out laughing. Then, there is all the very real drama. To capture it, Navalny uses deeply ironic imagery.
For example, when Navalny points to Putin hiding in a bunker, that implicitly references Hitler’s last days in his bunker in Berlin.
And a brief reference to the Virgin Mary conjures up the famous 2012 song by the band Pussy Riot in the Moscow cathedral. Read closely, those lyrics now appear in a holy new light in the Navalny context.
Finally, look out for two leading women thinkers — Hannah Arendt and Gloria Steinem — making appearances with very pointed guidance on what it means to be really free.
Cheers,
Stephan Richter,
Editor-in-Chief.
New!
Alexei Navalny: The Freest Man in the World
The recurring question of what freedom means in the political and the everyday world.
By Terri Langston