Photo by Echo of Moscow

For whom did Novodvorskaya present an obstacle? Why she was a lone soldier and didn’t demand heroism from others? And how did the “city madwoman” manage to change our way of thinking?

Valeriya Novodvorskaya, a long-standing Russian human rights activist and founder of Russia's Democratic Union Party, a dissident, and public figure died of toxic shock linked to a chronic illness at a Moscow hospital on Saturday, July 12. On July 16 Moscow paid last tribute to her. Up to 10,000 persons have come to say the last goodbye to the famous opposition politician. Valeriya Novodvorskaya was buried at Donskoye cemetery in Moscow.

EuroBelarus Information Service talked with Uladzimir Matskevich, the head of the Board of the International Consortium “EuroBelarus”, the philosopher and methodologist about the significance of the outstanding personality born in Belarus in Baranavičy and her importance for the civil society.

— Her death is a serious loss for the Russian civil society, isn’t it?

— It is, and not only for Russia. Novodvorskaya lived a prominent political life, and it is very hard to say that such people have gone and that it is a loss. We’d better say that such people were among us, and continue being an example, a lesson, and a challenge for us.

The life of Novodvorskaya was a challenge, not only for Russians or within the Soviet Union, but far beyond its borders as well.

— What do you think: is it true that Novodvorskaya was an eyesore for Kremlin in the situation of Ukraine-Russia confrontation?

— Novodvorskaya had always been an enfant terrible for all authorities — under the Soviet regime, under Yeltsin, and, of course, under Putin’s regime.

It is hard for me to say whether she posed a threat, as on a large scale, she set an example of morality in politics.

She might have been a hindrance for some people, who can’t stand democracy and freedom, and she was reacting accordingly. Thanks God, Soviet Union is over, and she was no longer arrested at every opportunity. But nevertheless, she was a bone in the throat of those who tried to restore the Russian Empire.

— Do you believe in the official version of her death — toxic shock?

— I don’t really understand this diagnosis; but as I don’t have any facts I can’t make suppositions. I think that the reasons why she died should be investigated. It might be malpractice, or the outcome of a serious illness.

— Did she fit in the realities of Putin’s era? And why did many people were ironic about the “truth hacker”?

— It is not people who live a quiet life that are moving our life, our civilization, culture, and society forward; it is dreamers, those people, who want strange things, who are dissatisfied with what they have. These people can be found in all spheres of our life; it can be scientists, artists, public figures, and politicians. They never fit in the established stable pace of life; they always drop out.

And such people can be found both in the democratic society and in the totalitarian countries. And they always are perceived as city madmen, or halfwits. This is a philistine attitude towards such people.

That is why I understand that the attitude to Novodvorskaya as to some odd person was largely overestimated. Not all the people who shared her views were able to behave as she did. Thus, people admitted that they were unable to follow their beliefs as Novodvorskaya did.

Nevertheless, when analyzing people’s reactions to her words, lections, and speeches, I saw that people showed bigger respect and better attitude to her than I could expect.

— A writer Victor Shenderovich, who was at the funeral, told that all her life Novodvorskaya was fighting against the regime on her own, was a maximalist, but didn’t require that others were heroes, too. From your perspective, are such lone fighters doomed to failure, or their actions change life for the better?

— The epoch we are living in seems not to be a heroic one. But there were times when heroes could be met more often: during the revolution, war on fascism, communism, and so on. The heroes of those times never looked back on what others would think about them and whether others would follow them. They lived by the principle: “If not me, then who?”

They inspired other people.

Indeed, Novodvorskaya didn’t required heroism from the others. She didn’t even demand that her personal heroism was appreciated and understood. She did what her mind, her conscience, and her heard dictated her to do.

And such heroes have great influence on the minds of the living people and future generations. I think that people will regard Novodvorskaya even better in future.