I woke up in a bad mood this morning and it got darker when I read that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich of Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years jail. I make no secret of the fact I am a rampant leftie and am truly lucky that I can make 'outrageous' political statements like Tony Abbott is Satan and George Bush is a war criminal without going to jail. Sure, I might get beat up in the wrong crowd but incarceration, that's a whole other thing. The thing is, whether you're left, right or indifferent, you should be outraged by this because my crazy opinions are probably no more crazy than yours but at least (I assume), you're free to make them.
I can't begin to understand the complexity of life in Russia and while Putin pretends that it's a democracy (it isn't) and not a police state (it is), the sentence is an attack on both political activism and art. Were these women being disrespectful to the Church? Not at all. To Putin? Obviously and whether there were words to the judge or she just knew the 'right' thing to do in a tyrannical state, these three young women (aged 22, 24 and 30) will most likely serve two years in jail no matter what Bjork thinks. This will be the rub for me, once the initial outrage dies out they will languish in a Russian jail (which in my imagination does not sound like a holiday camp) without the ongoing support, activism and advocacy they deserve. I'm not sure how it can be sustained but I liked Kathleen Hanna's idea of the world being filled with Pussy Riot bands (Pussy Riot NYC, Pussy Riot Sydney, Pussy Riot Tokyo etc...) Whatever the answer is I'm on board.
Imagine if every punk band in Reagan's 80's faced similar consequences or if Riot Grrl had been violently crushed? This is as much about music, art and expression as it is about politics and if this doesn't make your blood fucking boil, then stop reading my fucking blog.
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I can't begin to understand the complexity of life in Russia and while Putin pretends that it's a democracy (it isn't) and not a police state (it is), the sentence is an attack on both political activism and art. Were these women being disrespectful to the Church? Not at all. To Putin? Obviously and whether there were words to the judge or she just knew the 'right' thing to do in a tyrannical state, these three young women (aged 22, 24 and 30) will most likely serve two years in jail no matter what Bjork thinks. This will be the rub for me, once the initial outrage dies out they will languish in a Russian jail (which in my imagination does not sound like a holiday camp) without the ongoing support, activism and advocacy they deserve. I'm not sure how it can be sustained but I liked Kathleen Hanna's idea of the world being filled with Pussy Riot bands (Pussy Riot NYC, Pussy Riot Sydney, Pussy Riot Tokyo etc...) Whatever the answer is I'm on board.
Imagine if every punk band in Reagan's 80's faced similar consequences or if Riot Grrl had been violently crushed? This is as much about music, art and expression as it is about politics and if this doesn't make your blood fucking boil, then stop reading my fucking blog.
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While I definitely don't think these women belong in jail, I don't understand why so many are being satisfied by so little. Rather than trying to get them out, I think they'd be happier, and it'd be more just if the whole world were trying to get Putin out. Rather than Free Pussy Riot, why not Fire Putin, Russia?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good point Matt and one I support but at a minimum I want the members of Pussy Riot released. The problem of pursuing Putin is that while the State Department, the UN and the UK have condemned this, there is no political will to move against him (and the US and the UK can hardly take a moral high ground here with the threat of riot police storming the Ecuadorian embassy to get Assange among their long history of suppression and censorship). As Russia is not a functioning democracy there is no form of action for impeachment or sacking a government so how getting rid of Putin would happen is a bigger question. As I said, my knowledge of the Russian political system is limited but I don't think he's going anywhere soon. If anyone has an idea of how to achieve it, I'll be happy to join in.
ReplyDeleteI thought their closing statements were some of the best things I've read online in a while. Very direct, right, and human. http://nplusonemag.com/pussy-riot-closing-statements
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you read some of the court procedures? Every dodgy trick in the book, offset by rampant 16th-Centure-style orthodoxy and baiting. Insane excuse for a non-trial whose outcome was decided well in advance by the Big Put. The judge: 'The question is struck! The question is struck!' to every defence line.
The Big Put knows his powers is precarious and so he's shoring up numbers by reviving the church, is the argument. It's the most criminal system of any world government. Thugocracy.