Heroes 2024: New Year's letter from the founders of The Bell

Dear readers!

Instead of summing up the last days of the outgoing year, we decided to think and talk with you about the people who make our world a better place. We thought it would be much more meaningful and hopeful. A few days ago, I asked the audience of The Bell and the channel “Eto Ossetinskaya” to name their heroes of the year, and then from those you named most often, we tried to choose the winner by editorial voting. But in the end, the editorial vote was divided equally between Alexei Navalny and the scientists and engineers who are working on creating artificial intelligence.

These results can be called obvious, but if you think about it, they will turn out to be very life-affirming: despite the cynicism and all the horrors of recent years, we still believe in heroes and remain open to the future.

Why is Alexei Navalny so important to us? He proved by his example that it is impossible to turn the hero’s path into a farce, even at a time when ordinary human values ​​are being successfully eroded. One cannot help but respect the determination of Navalny, who was devoted to his country and, despite enormous pressure, did not give up his convictions. Unfortunately, he went this route to the end. But even after death, he remained that real and worthwhile thing that you can rely on.

Faith in artificial intelligence is the same faith in the wisdom of humanity and the power of common efforts. We look forward to breakthroughs that could help reduce suffering, from curing cancer and humanistic solutions to political problems to fighting poverty and global warming. Perhaps, and even for sure, this is excessive techno-optimism, but this is what we all want to hope for together.

There were several more candidates on our shortlist that I would like to talk about. This is Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who survived sexualized violence but was not afraid to make her story public. This brave woman drew attention to the unkillable problem of domestic violence and its perception in society - and not in a conservative society, but in a seemingly advanced European one. Through her example, she gave strength to many women who suffered from violence to break the vicious circle of silence and not feel guilty.

Javier Miley is a libertarian economist and right-wing populist who came to power in Argentina in 2023 and has been called a “mini-Trump.” As president, he launched the most radical attempt to bring back the free market since Thatcherism (as The Economist puts it). Upon taking office, he abandoned radical measures and populist promises like dollarization, made the budget surplus for the first time in years, reducing spending in real terms by 30%, carried out large-scale deregulation and reduced inflation by 1.5 times. At the same time, he was able not to lose the support of the Argentines; his rating is still very high. Against the backdrop of the record failure of ruling parties around the world, Miley's success gives hope that many other countries in need of pro-market reforms will want to repeat it.

And you also voted for one and a half thousand volunteers and rescuers who today are literally cleaning up the coast of the Krasnodar Territory with their own hands, eliminating the consequences of an environmental disaster after the crash of two tankers and a fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait. Among other things, this is a good example of how Russians can unite if a common goal seems important, and no one puts a spoke in people’s wheels.

The year 2024 was terrible: the bloody war continued, with the death of Navalny, many lost hope for changes for the better, the authorities continued to tighten the screws, and life - both in Russia and in exile - did not become any easier. But all this is opposed by caring people, whose efforts should not be devalued. These include volunteers who help conscripts avoid being sent to war, human rights activists, political prisoners, groups of scientists who have achieved breakthroughs in the development of drugs for HIV and cancer, and opinion leaders who have allowed many to maintain sobriety and hope (most often in their Among them you named Ekaterina Shulman, Monetochka, Maxim Katz and Yuri Shevchuk).

And separately, we are very pleased that many readers and viewers believe that independent journalists change lives for the better. Among other heroes, you voted for Ekaterina Gordeeva, Yuri Dud, “Editors” and Alexey Pivovarov, Alexey Venediktov, Dmitry Muratov, Vitya Kravchenko and our small editorial team. Thank you! It is very important for us and our colleagues that our work is not in vain - and this is a huge incentive to continue.

And now to the wishes for 2025. And then we turned to our audience again with the classic question of our video blitz: if you had a magic wand, what is one thing you would change in people or in the world. And so many of you responded that you would like to add a little empathy to this world. We think this is a great wish for 2025: that we all have a little more empathy, and then perhaps the war will end sooner, we will stop arguing over trifles, and our children will grow up happy. Happy New Year!

We'll stay with you.