Pussy Riot: an aesthetic protest

Did you hear about the band that embarrassed Putin by singing songs about him being a chicken in Red Square?

Pussy Riot is a fairly unique protest movement that has sprung up in Russia, although these protestors I spoke to recently, returning from a dance-off in front of the Embassy in London, said that it is more popular abroad because the level of repression they face in Russia is so formidable.



The three women whose photographs they're holding are alleged to belong to 'pussy riot' and are currently jailed with their lawyer fighting for their release.

The arrests ostensibly resulted from an 'illegal' gig in a church in which they prayed to the Virgin Mary to deliver them from Putin. Just looks like a nice party to me:




But the activists I spoke to feel this was just an excuse, and the most important protests Pussy Riot did were in February, in Red Square. They explained that Pussy Riot (and I would stress that the imprisoned girls, pictured, are only ALLEGEDLY from Pussy Riot) are "Politzeki: political fighters, for freedom of the culture".

I asked if this is mostly a feminist movement?

He said 'it's full of all kinds of people'.

The girl on the left explained: "It's more often led by feminist ideas, for [the girls who held a gig in a church], because they stood for eligibility and for feminism - they are really amazing in that way. It's one of the reasons for why they are mistreated. But in Russia  you would see all the different people for different groups."

I knew that these three pussy riot members had been imprisoned for a gig they held in a church, but asked how they could be identified, given that band members wear neon balaclavas?

The girl on the right said: "They can't prove anything! They say maybe they were identified from their mouths, but they can't prove it. I think everybody has just accepted that those three girls are the girls in the church."

The man (middle) said: "I think they [the government] were just waiting for another moment for Pussy Riot, to arrest them. Because actually, my theory is that he [Putin] wanted them arrested after they went to Red Square in February.

"In February they went to Red Square, in front of the Kremlin, and sang a song that went: 'Chicken-coward, get from the Kremlin, you have to go'. So he wanted to get to them directly, to get rid of them, but he couldn't, because he will look like he is a weak person - that he is afraid of the song."

"Because of the elections you know," one said "he couldn't arrest them at this time."

They showed me these pictures of other activists who have been arrested.

This month, reportedly 13 activists were also detained outside the courtroom where the three women were trialled.

For background, I like Peter Savodnik's summary in BusinessWeek:

'The rise of Pussy Riot is but one of many recent manifestations of public disapproval of the Kremlin. Discontent had been building for more than a year when demonstrations erupted in December after legislative elections whose results the authorities had clearly tampered with; widespread anger spearheaded by Russia’s youth focused on the United Russia party and its leader, Putin. Alexey Navalny, the most prominent opposition leader, is just 35. Among the more visible protest factions is FEMEN—which, like Pussy Riot, is an all-girl group that uses shock value to protest the regime. Unlike the punk-rock ensemble, members of FEMEN are known for taking off their tops and screaming angry, anti-Kremlin chants.

[...]  Punk rock icon Kathleen Hanna, who posted a video online voicing support for Pussy Riot, said: “These are the punk rock feminists that would be our friends if they lived down the corner, up the block, in our neighborhood, around Bushwick—wherever. These would be the cool girls we hung out with.”'