Daria Navalnaya, the daughter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is imprisoned in the Russian Federation, spoke at the graduation ceremony at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. The video of the performance was published by the Navalny Live YouTube channel. Navalnaya was invited to do this because part of the graduation ceremony in 2023 was devoted to political prisoners. Meduza published a transcript of her speech with slight cuts:
Hello everyone. Thank you very much for inviting me. If I look flustered, it's because I am. There's a huge crowd here, and I'm honored to be here. I wanted to thank Dean Joel Hellman and the Walsh School of Foreign Service for the invitation, and I'm honored to be here today.
My name is Dasha Navalnaya. My dad Alexei Navalny fought against Putin even before it became mainstream. For more than two decades, he has fought against corruption, disinformation and dictatorship. For this fight and for standing up to the cruel dictator, he has already served two and a half years in the harsh conditions of solitary confinement and punishment cell without the necessary medical care.
My dad put himself at risk of new charges for speaking out against the unjust and terrible war in Ukraine. Now he faces another 30 years for voicing his opinion.
<…>
Like all of us here, my dad believes in freedom of speech, freedom of the press. He believes in fair elections, he believes in democracy. And right now, he and many others are being persecuted for these beliefs.
In 2021, my dad returned to Moscow after being poisoned with a nerve agent, knowing that he would be arrested. Because, simply put, you can't run away from your problems. You have to have difficult conversations, seek the truth, stand up to the authorities when you know they are doing the wrong thing. We must continue to persevere and fight, because actions speak louder than words.
I miss my dad every day. He doesn't have to be your hero, but he is my hero. And a leader who fights and amplifies the voices of those who continue to fight and die under Putin's authoritarian regime.
We students are the pioneers of the future. Most of us present at the ceremony today did not have to fight for our basic rights and freedoms. Yet somehow we have been chosen by fate or circumstance to represent those who continue to struggle.
Each of you has shown the drive, passion and dedication to the common good to get to where you are today. And I'm here to ask you one simple thing. Don't lose it. There are too many burnt-out adults in the world who run governments. And it seems that they have lost the passion they once had.
Save your passion. Follow your passion. Stand up for what is right.
In this rapidly changing bureaucratic environment, it's very easy to lose your innate sense of who you are or just sell out. I don't know, I'm a student at Stanford.
I would like to end with this, no matter how trite it may sound. With great power comes great responsibility. And to get this power, you need to graduate from Georgetown. And you did it, congratulations!
But seriously, don't look for easy ways. You are the future leaders of the world. Bear this responsibility with pride, selflessly face your problems. And always remember that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Thank you!
Earlier, Politico reported that Navalnaya's invitation to the ceremony caused discontent among some students from Ukraine and Georgia, who called for her performance to be cancelled.
The management of the university did not do this. However, it met these students halfway by purchasing 200 Ukrainian flags for the graduation ceremony, as well as canceling the traditional handshake with the speaker (one of the students expressed dissatisfaction with the need to shake hands with Navalna). In addition, the university invited two more relatives of political prisoners to speak – American journalist Austin Tice from Syria and pastor from Zimbabwe Evan Mavarire.
As a result, during the speech of Daria Navalnaya, several people in the audience actually stood up and turned their backs on the speaker. At the same time, you can hear in the video that after Navalnaya falls silent, the audience applauds her.
