‘Love is stronger than concern’: How some Russians in Australia are commemorating Navalny’s demise one yr on

Key Factors

Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny died on 16 February 2024 in a distant Arctic Circle jail camp.
His supporters in Australia have established memorials for him in most capital cities.
They’ll collect for particular providers to coincide with the one-year anniversary of his passing.
In 2023, Navalny was sentenced to a further 19 years in jail on extremism costs.

Within the centre of Perth, on the foot of the Ascalon sculpture at St George’s Cathedral, is a memorial to the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, who died one yr in the past in an Arctic jail.

Folks in Perth have been bringing flowers to Navalny’s portrait since February 2024, once they had been shaken by information of his passing.

A makeshift memorial to the late Alexei Navalny at St George’s Cathedral in Perth. Credit score: Equipped / Raisa Akifeva

Over the previous yr, the memorial has advanced from a spontaneous tribute to a extra everlasting one, with the assist of St George’s Cathedral, says Raisa Akifeva, a researcher at Edith Cowan College and a kind of who keep the memorial.

“This sculpture depicts St George in probably the most well-known a part of the feat, the place he kills the dragon … The sculpture is concerning the struggle between good and evil, and the primary individuals (of the initiative to protect Navalny’s reminiscence in Perth) additionally related Alexei Navalny with the need to defeat evil,” Akifeva informed SBS Russian.

She added that the cathedral’s rector, in a gathering with neighborhood representatives, stated he and different cathedral members had been happy the summary sculpture had resonated with them.

‘Love is stronger than concern’

In the meantime, within the centre of Sydney, on the Royal Botanic Gardens, is a memorial bench for Navalny with one among his most well-known quotes: “Love is stronger than concern.”

These phrases, together with “Russia will probably be glad” and the well-known photograph from jail the place he types a love coronary heart along with his fingers to cheer up his spouse Yulia, have develop into highly effective symbols of affection and resilience for Navalny’s supporters.

A bench in reminiscence of Alexei Navalny in Sydney. Supply: Equipped / Pavel Shpilev

The bench was unveiled in December 2024 after crowdfunding.

“Alexei Navalny was greater than only a politician. He was a person who stood as much as concern with unimaginable braveness … His perception that love is stronger than concern resonates with many people, particularly those that have been compelled to depart their houses seeking security and freedom,” wrote crowdfunding organiser Pavel Shpilev.

That is the least I may do. And if one individual desires to find out about Alexei by discovering this bench within the park, I believe the duty will probably be completed.

Pavel Shpilev

On Sunday, individuals from the Russian-speaking neighborhood will collect there to pay tribute to the person who as soon as gave them hope for a “stunning Russia of the longer term”.

After Navalny’s demise, individuals additionally started bringing flowers and candles to a different Sydney memorial web site on the monument of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish World Conflict Two diplomat and humanitarian who saved 1000’s of lives in Hungary in 1944 and 1945.

Galina Seredina, secretary of the Svodoba Alliance, informed SBS Russian that they had been grateful the Jewish neighborhood of Sydney allowed them to determine one other Navalny memorial there.

A memorial with a sculpture and flowers laid at the bottom

A Navalny memorial in Sydney. Credit score: Equipped / Galina Seredina

In Melbourne’s Collingwood, the brand new Goldstone Artwork Gallery will characteristic an exhibition entitled That is Navalny, the primary solo present by esteemed Russian photojournalist-in-exile Evgeny Feldman, who captured “the indomitable spirit of a person who dared to confront authoritarianism”.

One among Evgeny Feldman’s pictures of Alexei Navalny which can characteristic in a brand new exhibition in Melbourne. Credit score: AP Picture/Evgeny Feldman/AAP Picture

Gallery curator Nina Sanadze, a sculptor and visible artist who had a big solo exhibition at NGV final yr, informed SBS Russian that Feldman had been photographing Navalny since 2011.

“He had fairly a detailed relationship with Alexei. They corresponded so much when he was already in jail over the last two years,” Sanadze stated.

Sanadze stated she hoped Feldman’s exhibition would develop into a spot the place members of the Russian-speaking neighborhood who supported Navalny may collect to pay tribute to the person who believed that Russia can be free.

“Maybe our exhibition will develop into the principle place the place we are able to collect and keep in mind Navalny, to grasp the significance of what he did and who he was,” she stated.

Church buildings ‘beneath strain’

In Navalny’s e-book, Patriot, he describes how he transformed from atheism to Orthodox Christianity after his youngster was born and located energy in his religion throughout probably the most determined moments of his closing years in jail.

So when Navalny died, his supporters in Australia tried to organise memorial providers in numerous cities however some say they had been rebuffed by the Russian Orthodox Church Outdoors of Russia (ROCOR).

Melbourne-based Petr Kuzmin stated he believed the rationale for the rebuttal was that church buildings had been “beneath strain”.

“At first, they agreed. In each Sydney and Melbourne, the clergymen informed us they might maintain (the memorial service). However then they modified their minds. (I imagine) they had been beneath strain,” Kuzmin stated.

A Navalny memorial in Melbourne’s well-known Hosier Lane in 2024. Supply: SBS

“I attempted a number of instances through the week to persuade the priest that this ought to be performed. It didn’t work. In Sydney, we nonetheless managed to carry the service, but it surely was not in a Russian church.”

Seredina stated her group had additionally skilled difficulties find a church.

“We had already made preparations for all the pieces to happen at a Russian Orthodox Church,” she stated.

“However for some cause, the priest thought we wished to organise a political occasion … Because of this, the service for Alexei happened in a Greek church.”

Nicholas Ohotin, Communications Director of Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR, informed SBS Russian: “Mr Navalny was not a member of the ROCOR neighborhood at any time. Divine providers are held for worship and prayer, not for political functions. There may be little doubt that such memorial occasions can be interpreted because the latter.”