Alexei Navalny – Navalny’s speech for the Democratic Summit in Copenhagen

Alexei Navalny was asked to write a welcoming speech for Democratic Summit in Copenhagen dedicated to information technology.

Below is the text of Alexey’s letter in Russian and English:

“When I got the offer to write a few words of welcome for a conference on democracy and technology, I thought I would do it because I am the right person for this. Information technology plays a big role in my life. In the regulation on my prison, it is written: “Correction of prisoners through constant video monitoring and information impact.”

So I am a resident of a small information dystopia with cameras and electronic locks at every turn. Well, only adjusted for the fact that this is Russia, so the electronic locks, of course, are broken, and the doors continue to be opened with huge metal keys.

I welcome the organizers and participants of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. You obviously have something to discuss.

It is an absolute banality to say that the new information world can be both a boon for democracy and a huge evil. Nevertheless, it is so. Our organization has built all its activities on information technologies and achieved serious success with this, even when it was actually in an illegal position. And information technologies are now actively used by the Kremlin to arrest participants in protest rallies. It is proudly declared that all of them will be recognized even with hidden faces.

The Internet gives us the ability to circumvent censorship. And at the same time, Google and Meta, by shutting down ads in Russia, made it impossible for the opposition to run anti-war campaigns, making a grand gift to Putin.

We all have many questions. Should Internet giants continue to pretend that they are “just a business” and “neutral venues”. Can we continue to say that social network users in the US and Eritrea, in Denmark and Russia should act according to the same rules? How should the internet treat states’ guidance given that Norway and Uganda seem to have slightly different views on the role of the internet and democracy?

All this is very complicated, very contradictory, and all this must be discussed. Not forgetting that after the discussion it is necessary to develop solutions.

We love technology. We love social media. We want to live in a free information society. So let’s figure out how to stop the bad guys from using the information society to drive their people and all of us into the dark ages.”

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“When I got the invitation to write a few welcoming words for a conference on democracy and technology, I thought that I would accept it, because I am the right person for that. Information technology plays a big role in my life. It says so in my prison regulations: “correcting inmates through constant video monitoring and informational influence.”

So I am a resident of a little informational dystopia with cameras and electronic locks at every step. Well, adjusted for the fact that this is Russia, so the electronic locks are obviously broken and the doors continue to be opened with huge metal keys.

I salute the organizers and participants of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. You clearly have a lot to discuss.

It would be downright banal to say that the new information world can be both a boon for democracy and a huge bane. Nevertheless, it is so. Our organization has built all its activities on information technology and has achieved serious success with it, even when it was practically outlawed. And information technology is being actively used by the Kremlin to arrest participants in protest rallies. It is proudly claimed that all of them will be recognized even with their faces covered.

The Internet gives us the ability to circumvent censorship. Yet, at the same time, Google and Meta, by shutting down their advertising in Russia, have deprived the opposition of the opportunity to conduct anti-war campaigns, giving a grandiose gift to Putin.

We all have a lot of questions. Should the Internet giants continue to pretend that they it’s “just business” for them and act like “neutral platforms”? Should they continue to claim that social network users in the United States and Eritrea, in Denmark and Russia, should operate under the same rules? How should the internet treat government directives, given that Norway and Uganda seem to have slightly different ideas about the role of the internet and democracy?

It’s all very complicated and very controversial, and it all needs to be discussed while keeping in mind that the discussion should also lead to solutions.

We love technology. We love social networks. We want to live in a free informational society. So let’s figure out how to keep the bad guys from using the information society to drive their nations and all of us into the dark ages.”