18 May 2012
Pussy Riot's Show Trial

Prospect Magazine
by Tomas Hirst
MAY 17, 2012
Ten days after the initial arrests, Olga Allenova, a journalist working for the liberal business daily newspaper Kommersant, wrote:
“I am a person of liberal views, but this action [by Pussy Riot] has angered me…[Yet] in my opinion, it is worth limiting administrative detention and letting the women go home to their children. Then this episode will be forgotten in a couple of days.”
That was written more than two months ago. Last month a Moscow court ruled that the women could be held in detention until 24th June as they “could become the targets of criminal acts.”
Few in Russia give much credence to the idea that they are being held in jail for their own protection. Yet with police appearing to launch a crackdown on street protests following Vladimir Putin’s inauguration there are growing concerns that the band could become a model for dealing with high-profile dissent.
Read Full Article:http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blog/pussy-riots-show-trial/

16 May 2012
Punk band’s arrest at heart of growing feud over Putin and Russian Orthodox Church

By Associated Press, Published: May 13
MOSCOW — The skinny dissident is thrown headfirst into a police van by camouflage-clad officers. Nearby, a dozen bearded men bearing Russian Orthodox crosses and wearing skull-and-crossbones T-shirts cheer on the cops.
 
It’s the latest flare-up in a growing feud pitting supporters of the influential church, which sees itself as the nation’s spiritual guide, against opponents who say the church has sold out to Vladimir Putin — becoming an arm of his regime more interested in gold than souls.

Read Full Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/punk-bands-arrest-at-heart-of-growing-feud-over-putin-and-russian-orthodox-church/2012/05/13/gIQAJVH8LU_story.html?tid=sm_btn_fb

16 May 2012
Russian punk collective Pussy Riot speaks exclusively to Index

Index
UNCUT Free Speech on the Frontline
MAY 15, 2012
BY ELENA VLASENKO
Members of Pussy Riot who have not yet been arrested are now in hiding. They gave this exclusive email interview to Index on Censorship.

- Did you expect these consequences — arrests, criminal proceedings, your supporters being beaten and insulted by radical nationalists — when you planned your cathedral performance? Would you repeat the performance if you knew how this would end?

– We didn’t expect the arrest. We are a women’s group which is forced to consume the ideas of patriarchal conservative society. We experience each process that happens in this society. Besides, we are a punk band, which can perform in any public place, especially one which is maintained through our taxes. That’s why we would definitely repeat our prayer. It was worth it: look at the awakened pluralism — political and religious!

Read Full Interiew: http://uncut.indexoncensorship.org/2012/05/pussy-riot-russia-protest/

13 May 2012
Autocrats step in as the west's money runs out

Nick Cohen
The Observer
Saturday 12 May 2012
For a moment at the Oslo Freedom Forum, it was possible to believe that Pyotr Verzilov was the coolest guy on the planet. Breathless and unshaven, the young performance artist arrived in Norway from the street protests in Moscow. With the élan of an exultant radical, he explained the personal and political reasons for taking on Putin's kleptocracy.
He had been lucky enough to persuade a member of Pussy Riot to be his wife. The celebrated feminist collective had been outraged when Patriarch Kirill continued the Russian Orthodox Church's subservience to whatever autocrat occupied the Kremlin by announcing that Putin's leadership had been a "miracle of God", and adding for good measure that the regime's opponents were a degenerate minority in love with western culture.
Read Full Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/13/nick-cohen-democracy-russia

13 May 2012
Oslo Freedom Forum, 9 May 2012: "In Putin's Shadow"

Oslo Freedom Forum 
7,8,9 May 2012 

Session 6: In Putin’s Shadow

A panel discussion about the recent Russian elections, accompanying protests, and the future of democracy in the region.

Introduction: Eli Lake
Moderator: Jamie Kirchick
Denis Bilunov
Garry Kasparov
Natalia Pelevine
Pyotr Verzilov (husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, member of Pussy Riot)
 
Eli: Thank you and welcome this morning. This discussion comes at a particularly dark time, as this week we’ve witnessed a consolidation of power in Russia, in country where only 20 years ago we had high hopes for democracy.
[...]
Pyotr: We’re all a bit sleep deprived at the moment, as you might be able to tell. There are people who are out in the streets in Moscow at this moment, maneuvering against the police. And we’re trying to help in whatever way we can, but of course, this doesn’t really fit with getting much sleep, let alone the 8 hours of recommended sleep.
It’s not me who is a famous political operative, but I’m here to represent the Voina group, of which I am a founding member. And then of course, to represent the feminist punk band, Pussy Riot. You may be familiar with the latter, since it has had a bit of media attention lately. And it’s quite humorous to hear conservative American radio announcers try and say Pussy Riot 15 times in a two minute segment.
 
Read Full Transcript of the Session "In Putin's Shadow": http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/blog/2012/05/09/session-6-in-putins-shadow/

03 May 2012
A (Pussy) Riot of Our Own

Dissident Voice
by Alexander Billet
May 2nd, 2012
 
Hand-in-hand with this is the international profile that this case has received. Amnesty International has called Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich“prisoners of conscience.” April 21st, an international day of solidarity called by Pussy Riot’s supporters, saw actions from Mexico to the Czech Republic to Australia.
In my own city, at a march of a thousand people organized by Occupy Chicago on April 7th, I was randomly handed a button that read “Free Pussy Riot!” The button had been designed and made by local activist who I had never met before. Something is in the air with this case. And when something is in the air, it can travel across oceans.
Read Full Article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/a-pussy-riot-of-our-own/

02 May 2012
Free Pussy Riot

The Nation
Katrina vanden Heuvel

May 2, 2012 - 9:18 AM ET
Muckraking blogger, lawyer and protest leader Aleksei Navalny called the arrests “senseless and horrible cruelty, which is much worse than their very stupid but small offense”—an offense which he said “obviously cannot be punished harsher than five days of arrest.” He noted a recent case of an election commissioner’s daughter who “ran over two people,” one of whom died and the other was “maimed.” The sentence was three years “in a settlement colony”—and it was suspended for 14 years because the woman is the mother of a young child.

Read Article: http://www.thenation.com/blog/167647/free-pussy-riot

02 May 2012
In the spotlight: Dishing the dirt on Pussy Riot

Published: May 2, 2012 (Issue # 1706)
Last week, Rossia channel came out loud and clear with its position on the Pussy Riot punk group, airing a talk show called “Provocateurs” with a weeping nun and ominous graphics of snakes slithering over the screen.

01 May 2012
Pussy Riot and the Russian Orthodox Church: will the wound heal?- Translated Summation

Translated Summation of the article: Pussy Riot и РПЦ. Затянется ли ранка 
April 30, 2012
Newsland.Ru
by Павел Быков

Too harsh of a reaction to the outburst of feminist group Pussy Riot in the Temple of Christ the Savior brought the Russian Orthodox Church more disadvantages than advantages, said a well-known Orthodox missionary Deacon Andrei Kuraev. This reaction contradicts the efforts of Patriach Kirill three years ago aimed at attracting young people, students, and intellectuals to the Church. It also goes against the positions of some officials. For example, Valentina Matvienko -- the chairman of the Federation Council -- said that, if it was up to her, she would let the girls go; although they have acted mischievously, she would have forgiven them. Also, the Minister of Justice Konovalov -- a graduate of the University of the Orthodox -- stated that, as a lawyer, he did not see any prospects for a prison sentence.

According to Kuraev, in light of these recent statements, the silence of the official Orthodox Church speakers is very loud; it illustrates a clear difference between the positions of the Government and the Church. Kuraev concluded that the Patriarch, the society, and the State share the common expectation from the Church: an active social position and compassionate service. Good charity cases on behalf of the Church would block the effect of the feminist actions. However, the Church acted exactly the opposite so far: it spoke not about the gifts, but the money-grubbing. Kuraev stressed that Church should respond to the critique against it not only with words, but also with good deeds. For, looking up from the Internet, people have seen that in real life, Christians are able to forgive, have compassion and sacrifice.
 
Read Actual Article (In Russian): http://www.newsland.ru/news/detail/id/947966/ 

27 Apr 2012
Punk’s cultural revolution

Salon
A.M. Gittlitz 
Aprirl 27, 2012
 
Pussy Riot's masked women have become icons of Russia's anti-Putin movement -- and turned the genre on its head
Perhaps part of the reason punk has begun to lash out so effectively in the former Soviet Union is the nature of the extreme oppression in Russian society. I spoke to Moscow anti-fascist Kostya about the dual dangers to the Russian anarchopunk — the right wing and the State:
I came up with the scene when it was possible to organize a strictly antifascist show, and you could be sure that only the right people will visit it. But still there was a danger of being attacked by Nazis before or after the show. Today it continues, but the situation is even worse. First of all, nobody fights with the fists, you’re more likely to be stabbed or shot with a traumatic gun. Secondly, and what is worse, there is strong oppression from the state and police. The situation in Russia isn’t stable, that’s why the government tries to control all the young people who can be dangerous today or in the future. They always try to put the same number of Nazis and anarchists in prison.

This piece was originally posted on The New Inquiry.

Read Full Article: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/27/punks_cultural_revolution/singleton/