In memory of Alexei Navalny. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to updates from Mothers Against Greg Abbott. If you don’t wish to receive further emails, please [click here]([link removed] to unsubscribe.
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Dear Friend,
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I’ve been following Alexei Navalny’s fight against Putin’s authoritarian regime for almost a decade. Navalny’s courage, his humor, and his unwavering commitment to democracy spoke to millions of us.
Now, we are faced with a world without him.
*›› For anyone who needs a bit more context, I recommend* [*Masha Gessen’s piece in the New Yorker.*]([link removed]
In short, Alexei Navalny was a singular freedom fighter, the Kremlin’s chief opponent despite the impossible odds, and the kind of person who was never giving up — and Vladimir Putin murdered him for it.
**A life spent in the pursuit of freedom deserves more than email — we all know that. But if you haven’t watched this already, [please take a moment to watch this, Alexei Navalny in his own words.]([link removed]
Alexei Navalny’s Final Message
**[WATCH]([link removed]
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Listen, I’ve got something very obvious to tell you: You’re not allowed to give up.
If they decide to kill me, it means that we are incredibly strong. We need to utilize this power to not give up, to remember we are a huge power that is being oppressed by these bad dudes.
We don’t realize how strong we actually are.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
So don’t be inactive.
— Alexei Navalny
*Excerpt from the 2022 documentary Navalny*
It might seem an *odd* choice for Mothers Against Greg Abbott to write about the death of Alexei Navalny.
We’re a parent-led pro-democracy organization based in Texas. Most of us are here because we’re really, deeply concerned about the things happening in our own immediate vicinity: the neighborhood school board race, our kids’ safety at school, our right to vote or to access healthcare, who represents us in Congress, or in the state Legislature, or on our City Council.
And I would disagree with critics who’d say that that’s a myopic focus.
As parents, we have a responsibility to a whole generation of people who aren’t yet old enough to have a seat at the grown-ups table; our kids are relying on folks like us to do the right thing when it comes to *all* the things that impact their lives, now and for the future. *Just that, in and of itself, is… a lot.*
**We need to care about this too.**
As parents, our ability to take care of others is *also* dependent upon our ability *to care* — about the people, places, and issues directly affecting us, certainly, *and also* about people we’ve never met, places we’ve never been, issues that might only impact someone else.
Putin has been consolidating power in Russia for the past two decades. He now controls the Russian media, its judicial system, and effectively, all national government institutions. He imprisons and murders any and all opposition with impunity. And he rigs his country’s elections.
In one month, Russia will “hold” its next national election—except, there’s only one option: Vladimir Putin.
When he is “elected” this spring to yet another six-year term, Putin will have extended his reign of terror over the Russian people to thirty-one years. The election will be one more fascist fiction, a farcical distortion of what *freeelections* are supposed to be.
And scarily, **all of this reminds me of Donald J. Trump.**
Trump openly admires Putin’s cruel and authoritarian leadership. He’d love nothing more than to emulate Putin’s despotic reign, right here in the U.S.
When Donald Trump tells the world that *he wants to be a dictator on day one,* **this** is what he’s talking about.
When Donald Trump tells the world that he’ll use the Justice Department to exact revenge on his political opponents, **this** is what he means.
In the words of Alexei Navalny: ***It is on us to not give up now.***
**Nancy Thompson, Founder**
**Mothers Against Greg Abbott**
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[]([link removed] Against Greg Abbott / Mothers For Democracy is **the largest coalition dedicated to defeating the extremist MAGA movement in Texas.** While we don’t agree on every topic, we all agree the Texas GOP isn’t Texas values.
Since 2021, we’ve been helping lead the Democratic resistance in Texas, we’ve organized thousands of local voters and our public issue campaigns have reached millions of Texans in key battleground areas. Now, we’re backed by thousands of Texas parents who are mobilizing in their own neighborhoods to ensure the Texas we hand over to the next generation is better than the one we've inherited.
**The power of mothers and others like us means we know we can do it**: It’s time for democracy to prevail.
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