My maternal grandmother was born in Russia, 1905. A Jewish girl, she was chased through the hardship-splattered streets of her shtetl by a wild pig. To add angst to injury, when she hit adolescence, she and the family were run out of the country by pogrom-happy bands of Jew-bashing soldiers. My grandmother went on to live a long life, full of fear. Despite all her years nestled in the bosom of Canada, I don’t think she ever really felt safe.
It is the burning, age-old question of human rights mixed up with my devotion to the arts and hot Russian blood that draws me to the epic tale of the Russian, feminist punk-rock collective Pussy Riot. This past February at Christ the Saviour Church in Moscow, a masked gang of defiant, day-glo-mad artists shouted a political, punk prayer, proclaiming: Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist! Put Putin out! Fed up with a sexist, racist, patriarchal regime, a toxic political system and religion gone-bad, these bold, riotous women dared to risk their already limited freedom, get creative and rock out against Vladamir Putin and the institutionalized evil of his regime. That’s what I call pussy power.
Check out the remarkable womanifesto and closing statement of one of the three jailed artists- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova – at their outrageously totalitarian trial. They are charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. Prosecutors are asking for a sentence of up to seven years, arguing that the women were insulting all of Russian Orthodoxy and denying that it was a political protest. The verdict will be delivered in a few days on August 17 and we need your help. Please join the global demonstration, send money, pressure the government and church. Join Bjork, Yoko Ono and Madonna and speak out. World-wide. We’re all in this together.
Wild Pig Photo by Timm Schamberger: DDP
Pussy Riot in a Box by Andrey Stenin, RIA Novosti
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12 Responses to Pussy Riot Power
Nicely put, Brenda! This whole mock trial really highlights the wheezing gasps of bad-news policies/politics. I’m heartened by the international outcry and attention. And these girls…damn…they are so righteous.
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Hey Brenda!
The Soviet Union fell in 1991. Prior to that the church in Russia, including the one Pussy Riot was protesting against, the Russian Orthodox Church, was suppressed, as were all religions in a communist state. In 2002 I went to St. Petersburg Russia, and asked a friend of mine there, “where are all the monuments to communism?”. She was surprised, “that was so long ago.”
Meanwhile, during that same visit, where most people seemed to be making a living through the underground economy of the black market, all over the city monuments to the previous Czars and Princes and patriarchs, that had originally oppressed all the people and led to the Russian Revolution, were all being restored.
With a short attention span for history, it appears that things have turned 180 degrees, and like many leaders from the past seeking absolute power, Putin has been working every angle, including seeking legitimization from a church that can be bought. He must have thought to himself , the Russian Orthodox church’s Patriarch Krill has called me “a miracle from God!” So now I have a religious leader’s endorsement to go along with all my action man photos (see following link, he also shot a tiger, but that one is not included).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/sep/26/vladimir-putin-russia
So now we have a bunch of fairly pious and devoted Catholic Nuns, LCWR, the Leadership conference of Women Religious (who represent about 80% of the US nuns), refusing to return to the fold as demanded by the Vatican’s sanctions on their positions on Gay Rights, abortion, and radical feminism, and a punk ban, Pussy Riot, fighting the Russian Orthodox Church on their nepotism and support for the undemocratic and totalitarian Putin! Wow! That’s a pretty broad swath of viewpoints in full protest mode!!!!!!
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!!!!!!!
Michael
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Thanks for this, Michael. Adds some depth to the picture. The Pussy Riot verdict sucks but their story is far from over.
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Brenda,you were born to write,great work.I recall in 1987,visiting Jews in Moscow,as part of a CJA mission,using slate boards, when talking with Jewish families, because their homes were bugged.A hundred plus years later,the harassment,the lack of freedom,continues.God bless Aunt Minnie,she was one of a kind and I loved her dearly.
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nicely done, brenda! i read about this last week. good on ya for spreading the word.
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Looks like the usual “Russian bashing” here again.
With the behaviour of todays Oligarchs like Gusinsky and Berezovsky, people of a certain background are not looked at favourably in the former E Bloc.
Then again its a cozy little club not to be questioned in circles outside Russia, certainly not in the West.
As for this “band” you are wide of the mark. They are part of an anarchist performance art group which has carried out some pretty offensive public stunts. In a CONSERVATIVE country like Russia, this will not be welcomed, particularly after the hell of the 90’s.
Tolokonnikova took part in a public orgy only 4 days before giving birth to her child, while another band member carried out public acts of masturbation in such locations as a Supermarket in view of other shoppers.
These people are attention seekers and not heroes.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on this though i doubt you will even allow them to stand, afterall i believe you are for freedom of speech 😉
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Btw as for Putin. what choice has he got other than to be a “strongman” ?
The oh so Democratic and freedom loving Western Governments who love “human rights” (See treatments of Juian Assange, Occupy Wall Street protestors to name but two) have been pushing the borders of NATO up to the egdes of Russia ever since the fall of the wall despite promising otherwise. Thats not to mention the proxy wars against Russian allies like Syria and Iran being carried out as we speak.
The way the US Gov behave is aggressive to say the v least. In the face of such aggression, you have to keep control of your country to survive. Russian people have never forgttten the chaos of the 90’s and are comfortable with a strong leader and not a puppet who has been foisted on them with $$ from the US Gov. This type of news is never reported in the “free, fair and balanced” Western media.
The Western Gov and they who they represent should stay out of others business.
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Thanks for your comments. Indeed I am for freedom of speech, particularly when differing thoughts and feelings are shared in a non-abusive and even compassionate way. If we can’t share our differences and hopefully learn something from each other, then there is no hope for peace.
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Your (v pragmatic) answer is appreciated 😉
This whole thing has been politicised by the spin machine the Western Gov operate (everybody is on message). The game is to make the Russian Gov seem very intolerant while at the same time trying to bury the Assange/ Bradley Manning story.
For me it is the US Gov who seem to be the most intolerant, they cant seem to tolerate any leadership of any country that wants to remain independent of them. American people are not a problem, but the politicians and those they represent behind the scenes are frightening for the rest of the world.
The punishment Pussy Riot received may seem harsh to some, but they knew what they were doing when they played with politics in Russia. I believe a significant number of people in the US were prosecuted for peacefully protesting in Churches about the Iraq war.
I also found Madonnas comments about not believing in censorship especially ridiculous considering she is on record as censoring her own children from watching TV . . . .
The whole thing is a PR dream for politicians and other attention seekers.
You seem too smart to be taken in Brenda.
Peace 🙂
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Its not Art,more like FART…they cant even play a single instrument or sing a single note between them and they have never released a song,lol.Its hard to undermine the Russia Christian church in this way when in China or any Islamic country or in Israel they would have probably been killed or just taken away and never seen again.If anything you should be praising the way Russia has dealt with this,obviously they don’t feel threatened by these idiots.
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[…] Hear Me Roar Vagina Dialogues […]
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Russia is not the problem, its the USA and EU who install the real FASCISTS!!
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