HAPPENING NOW: Bette’s Happy Hour — ‘Warnings from Soviet Russia’ with Special Guest Dmitrii Kovegin

Alexei Navalny campaign volunteer Dmitrii Kovegin returns to our Happy Hour to offer useful talking points from his experience growing up in Russia to help in our pro-democracy efforts—Tue 4.16, 12 pm

***Registration link for paid members is below the paywall at the bottom of the post. Please take out a membership to join our community events, access all archives and support independent investigative journalism.***

THIS IS HAPPENING NOW!

Thank you to those of you who joined our Speakeasy event last week with Ukrainian playwright, Sasha Denisova.

Art Is A Weapon: RadPod’s Interview with Ukrainian Playwright Sasha Denisova

Those in attendance also had a chance to briefly also meet my friend and colleague Dmitrii Kovegin, who worked on two Alexei Navalny campaigns and has been kind enough to share his reflections with me in many late-night chats.

‘A Silent Protest of the Spirit’ — Alexei Navalny Campaigner on ‘Solidarity in Grief’

I have asked him to join us again for Tuesday’s Bette’s Happy Hour — today, 4.16, Noon PT, and this time the conversation will center around ‘Warnings from Soviet Russia.’

Often when we speak, he describes a surveillance state in what became a fascist dictatorship, and I think to myself, ‘If only people flirting with the idea of fascism understood the stakes, maybe they’d wake up.’ Yes, get woke.

Our smart group is always looking for better words to fight for truth to see sunlight, so I feel it’s vitally important we hear from people who grew up in oppressed countries to better articulate the freedoms we don’t want to lose here.

As David Pepper just taught us at our most recent Happy Hour, “It’s Trump vs YOU, and what freedoms are you willing to give up?”

I’m not willing to give up a thing, and in fact, wish to reverse the losses we’ve already suffered.

Tuesday’s Happy Hour at 12 pm PT will offer an important reality check and bring a No. 2 sharpened pencil and a notepad. There won’t be a quiz, but I bet you’ll find some helpful narratives to introduce to your networks, as we did yesterday with the brilliant Jeff Sharlet. I will have that recap and recording asap.

As we learned from Bette’s Ep85 podcast with Dmitrii, we need to protect our trust with one another as if it’s treasure.

“Putin envies the United States. He wants to rob the humanity. He claims that Russia doesn’t have boundaries. Putin wants to be everywhere. Do you want spies, killers, and crazy people camped out on your lawn who spread their hatred in society, or do you want to organize against them. Just do your part, analyze, demand, and go forward. It’s not just Putin, but his hand puppets — like Medvedev — it’s the state, parroting Putin’s words. It’s not a fight against ideology anymore. The ideology of Russia is just go wherever they can go. If we can stop them, we have to do something to stop them.”—Dmitrii Kovegin, BDP Ep85

Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep85: ‘Don’t Go To Sleep’ — Dmitrii Kovegin on Protecting Our Trust and Being ‘Honest People’

As those who have met him already know, Dmitrii was so inspired by Alexei Navalny, he worked on two campaigns for him and survived being poisoned in 2017, after he went public about his activism.

He says he was inspired to work with Navalny by both the promise of a good man leading Russia out of the darkness but also by the promise of America, and the example we set for the world. We gave him hope there could be a better future in Russia.

With Navalny now murdered, and America being influenced by hostile forces from within and without, I feel it will be useful to hear from someone who not only believes we can prevent the worst from happening here, but how we can do it. It’s important to listen.

BYLINE SUPPLEMENT: ‘We Must Speak In the Language of Art’

You will find the registration link below the paywall, and if you would like to join our pro-democracy community, you can do so here:

Here is my first interview with Dmitrii:

‘He Didn’t Want to Leave Russians Alone with Putin’ — A Q&A with an Alexei Navalny Campaigner

Look forward to seeing many of you.

And thank you to everyone who subsidizes my work with your generous donations.

Members will find the link to register below, at the very bottom of this post xo

****

Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with your generous coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. Some of you prefer making subsidizing donations via venmo, and it’s always greatly appreciated.

Also, a private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.

🤍

Begin each day with a grateful heart.

🤍

BETTE MEMBERS: PLEASE REGISTER HERE…