"it's the russian version of being a superhero": free pussy riot;

“it’s the russian version of being a superhero”: free pussy riot;

August 3, 2012 · by · in , ,

Three members of feminist punk collective Pussy Riot discuss their motivations and the symbolism of their trademark balaclavas in an interview with the Observer.

There are many things that disturb me about the case of punk band Pussy Riot, three members of which are currently on trial in their native Moscow. It disturbs me that they are on trial for blasphemy, hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, in what is nominally a secular state; trapped in a court system in which fewer than 1% of the cases that go to trial end in a “not guilty” verdict. It upsets me that, according to reports, the three young women are being deprived of food and sleep by the Russian authorities, and it frankly appalls me that the court apparently refused to hear most of the defence witnesses during this week’s trial.

But you know what heartens me? The fact that we’re reading about it at all. The fact that there’s something about Pussy Riot, whether it’s brightly coloured balaclavas and sloganeering or genuinely rooted in concern for erosion of the universal right to legitimate political protest, that has captured the imagination. The fact that the latest news about the case has appeared in the news feeds I scan every morning all this week, in outlets from the Guardian to the Telegraph. Somebody on Twitter said earlier in the week that David Cameron, never one to turn down a bandwagon that has already been backed by many of the biggest names in UK music, expressed his concerns to Russia’s President Putin over a cup of tea during the latter’s state visit this week. I might have added in the tea bit, but the point remains.

It was Everett True, writing as he does now over at the Australian music magazine Collapse Board, who brought Pussy Riot to my attention with this post back in February, before their now infamous “punk prayer”. In the months leading up to the trial, when I read about the band it was through him or through other similarly-minded music or feminist sites. This could so easily have been just another one of those things that the online social justice community got itself into a flap over while the rest of the world remained oblivious. Instead, the eyes of the world are on Moscow.

Read some background to the case at freepussyriot.org, sign Amnesty International’s petition in the US and the UK and donate to help with the expenses of both the band members and the children of Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

Oh, and go read Suzanne Moore’s excellent column from earlier in the week:

Pussy Riot are essentially conceptual artists. This is what makes them threatening – it is not possible to imprison a concept.

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