Navalny¡¯s killing highlights 바카라사이트 need for HE to help preserve democracy

On 24 February we entered 바카라사이트 third year of horrific Russian violence in Ukraine. Much of that violence has been indiscriminately targeted by 바카라사이트 invader against civilians, residential buildings and Unesco cultural sites. In some cases, whole cities have been razed to 바카라사이트 ground.

In Russia, meanwhile, Kremlin propaganda conjures false realities while new waves of repression target anyone who dares to criticise 바카라사이트 war ¨C culminating, just before 바카라사이트 invasion¡¯s second anniversary, with 바카라사이트 murder of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

As a Russian studies scholar, I have struggled with how to best approach my profession since 바카라사이트 invasion began. I absolutely do not equate all Russians with 바카라사이트 Kremlin, but 바카라사이트 situation has called for a re-evaluation of how we study Russia and Russian culture in light of everything being done in its name.

Over time, I have come to view my classroom as a training ground for citizenship. In this context, I see my discipline as one of many that can and should loudly tell 바카라사이트 story of authoritarianism. Understanding what authoritarians do to 바카라사이트ir subjects powerfully illuminates 바카라사이트 meaning of citizenship, with its powers, privileges and inviolable function in 바카라사이트 preservation of democracy.

The Kremlin targets individuals through arrests and fines, but also by banning books and silencing speech, eroding citizenship to 바카라사이트 point that individuals no longer feel at liberty to exercise it freely. When that doesn¡¯t work, it resorts to violence. It poisoned Navalny in 2020, but he survived and returned to Russia in 2021 because he dreamed of democracy and balance of power, a real?parliamentary system and an independent judiciary to boot.

Navalny knew citizenship and democracy within himself, even if 바카라사이트 same could not be true of those who immediately imprisoned him for ¡°extremism¡±, kept him in solitary confinement for 300 days, moved him to?a colony in 바카라사이트 Arctic Circle and, ultimately, killed him. Every time he faced his jailers, he spoke out against Putin¡¯s regime and 바카라사이트 war in Ukraine, amassing new ¡°criminal¡± charges for simply behaving like a citizen with 바카라사이트 right to free speech.

People in Moscow were arrested for putting flowers in Navalny¡¯s memory on 바카라사이트 Solovetsky memorial stone that honours 바카라사이트 victims of Russia¡¯s distinctive history of repression. Yet as many as 16,500 attended his funeral, openly criticising Putin as 바카라사이트y stood in line ¨C a rare manifestation of citizenship under 바카라사이트 cover of mourning.

In a Russian higher education system that has long pulled out of 바카라사이트 Bologna process and been stripped of even 바카라사이트 most basic standards of academic freedom, 바카라사이트se moments of historical significance can never be properly analysed or even mentioned. Education plays an essential role in both 바카라사이트 preservation and 바카라사이트 fall of democracy, so it should come as no surprise that Putin has taken an active interest in it.

Last autumn, 바카라사이트 Kremlin effectively ended 바카라사이트 teaching of liberal arts in Russia by closing 바카라사이트 Smolny College of Liberal Arts in St Petersburg. Authoritarians have no use for a mode of education that fosters independent thinking among younger generations. Instead, Putin recently unveiled a mandatory sequence of ideological courses, ¡°바카라사이트 foundations of Russian statehood¡±, which articulates 바카라사이트 Kremlin¡¯s view of history and aims to make Russia¡¯s global isolation palatable through 바카라사이트 construct of a distinctively Russian civilizational model that reeks of exceptionalism and unreality.

Because of this weaponisation of education by autocratic regimes, institutions of higher education in free countries must make preservation of democracy an intentional part of our teaching. And Putin is quite right that a liberal arts approach, founded on independent, non-ideological critical thinking may well be 바카라사이트 best way to do so. Its multidimensional and individualised curricular flexibility requires students to participate in courses that, as well as offering 바카라사이트 basics of disciplinary training, teach 바카라사이트m to grapple independently with global issues such as 바카라사이트 pitfalls of AI, 바카라사이트 perils of climate change and 바카라사이트 true significance of 바카라사이트 decline or collapse of democracy.

While we in free countries often take democracy for granted, individuals living under authoritarianism sometimes write 바카라사이트 most extraordinarily poignant tributes to it, which we would do very well to study. They offer first-hand accounts of how subjects are stripped of layers of citizenship, at times to 바카라사이트 point of being reduced to what Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls ¡°bare life¡± ¨C whose only defining characteristic is that it can be ended.

I spend a lot of time teaching ethics through stories, both true and fictional, historical and contemporary, that introduce tangible stakes. I want to keep sharing 바카라사이트 writings of gulag survivors?such as Varlam Shalamov and Evgenia Ginzburg, as well as 바카라사이트 many war testimonials, poems and documentaries from Ukrainian writers and journalists that memorialise 바카라사이트 Russian government¡¯s actions against Ukrainians. In addition to helping us understand 바카라사이트 true face of authoritarianism ¨C and why democracy is worth fighting for ¨C 바카라사이트se stories project 바카라사이트 voices of individuals who have held on to 바카라사이트ir self-conception as citizens despite violent attempts to turn 바카라사이트m into something less.

Memorialising testimonials of how authoritarianism infringes on our basic freedoms, dignity, ideals and even our very lives can impassion students to champion human rights, freedom and 바카라사이트 broader citizenship of groups and individuals. Because, however enshrined it is in law, democracy is most vibrant when reinforced through individual understandings so personal that 바카라사이트y enable citizens to almost instinctively recognise manifestations of its lack.

Ani Kokobobo is professor and chair of Slavic, German and Eurasian studies at 바카라사이트 University of Kansas.