11 Apr 2012
CHERNOV’S CHOICE
By Sergey Chernov
The St. Petersburg Times
Published: April 11, 2012 (Issue # 1703)
The women arrested for allegedly belonging to Pussy Riot have been supported by Amnesty International and Estonia’s president and parliamentary deputies, but without knowing the background, some readers appear slightly confused about why an anti-Putin protest had to be held in a church. So why in a church? First of all, the song and video, both entitled “Holy Madonna, Drive Putin Away” was technically a prayer, a desperate action undertaken by the group after seeing that 100,000-strong peaceful demos have no effect. The group was protesting not only against Putin, but also against Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his support of Putin and his criticism of protests. It was also against the anti-constitutional merging of the state and church in post-Soviet Russia. Days before that, Patriarch Kirill publicly supported Putin during the presidential election campaign, describing the Putin era as a “miracle of God,” and dismissed protests against the massive violations and unlawfulness that passed as elections, but were a de facto reappointment of Putin.
Read Full Article: http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=35464
07 Apr 2012
Maisuradze, Artaud and Pussy Riot - New Discourse of Liberation
ARCADE
Stanford University
By Irakli Zurab Kakabadze 04.06.2012
Here we are in the 21st century and there is a new revolt in the former Soviet Space. Both Giorgi Maisuradze and Russian Punk Rock group Pussy Riot come from the former Soviet Empire. They do not miss Lenin nor Stalin. Maisuradze might be Trotskyite and Pussy Riot is Anarcho Feminist, making Kropotkin Vodka and offering it to different postmodern authoritarian leaders. But they are for sure not very thrilled with the bourgeois lifestyle – the NEW LIFE that Russia, Georgia and other former Soviet republics have embraced after 1992. Twenty years have passed and I can already see some new vision in different philosophers and artists. They are the ones who dare to say something different from an established narrative and metanarrative. They are the ones who can contradict the neoliberal metanarrative of our day. It is so interesting to watch.
The column of guerillas approach the Kremlin
In offices of FSB windows explode
Bitches pee in their pants behind Red Walls
Riot is declaring “Abortion to System”
Revolt in Russia – Charisma of Protest
Revolt in Russia – Putin peed in his pants!
Revolt in Russia – We do exist,
Revolt in Russia – Riot, Riot!
Come out on the street,
And start living on Red Square!
And show me the freedom
Of Citizen Wrath!
Read Full Article: http://arcade.stanford.edu/maisuradze-artaud-and-pussy-riot-new-discourse-of-liberation
05 Apr 2012
Plight of punk rockers turns Russians against Church
The Independent
Shaun Walker
Thursday 05 April 2012
There has been criticism from many quarters that the Church has not taken a more humane approach to the case. The band recorded a brief song in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the run-up to presidential elections in March, calling on the Virgin Mary to "chase [Vladimir] Putin out".
They themselves were then chased out of the cathedral by security and were later arrested. Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samusevich could all be jailed for up to seven years if they are found guilty of hooliganism charges.
Amnesty said the arrest is "not a justifiable response to the peaceful (if, to many, offensive) expression of their political beliefs" and called on Russia to release the three women.
Read Full Article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/plight-of-punk-rockers-turns-russians-against-the-church-7619191.html
04 Apr 2012
Amnesty International recognizes Pussy Riot members as prisoners of conscience
Gazeta.ru
4/4/2012
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has recognized jailed members of punk band Pussy Riot as prisoners of conscience and demand their immediate release.
"Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the three young women arrested by the Russian authorities as members of the punk group 'Pussy Riot' who staged a protest song in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral on 21 February," the organization published in a statement on their website.
Amnesty International states that the jailed Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich admit that they are members of Pussy Riot, but deny performing in the Cathedral.
Read Full Article: http://en.gazeta.ru/news/2012/04/04/a_4122437.shtml
04 Apr 2012
Russian Church: under attack after backing Putin
31 Mar 2012
For what should Pussy Riot be responsible and how?
29 Mar 2012
Pussy Riot, offshoot of Russian anarchist art group Voina, pisses off both church and state
Death and Taxes
By DJ Pangburn
March 28, 2012
One, of course, has to situate Voina and Pussy Riot within the context of Russia’s so-called democracy. While many artists are politically-neutered or spade, so to speak, Voina and Pussy Riot put their lives on the line with their radical art and calls for liberty. Their work preceded both the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, and one could seriously argue they helped give birth to a new radical sentiment in Russia. It’s art at it’s finest: something worthy of early 20th century art movements like Dada, Surrealism and Futurism.
Read Full Article: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/181065/pussy-riot-offshoot-of-russian-an...
29 Mar 2012
Putin, Punk Rock and Russian Orthodoxy: Leonid Bershidsky
Bloomberg News
By Leonid Bershidsky
Mar 28, 2012 11:58 AM ET
It took slightly more than a month for Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, to react to the “punk service” held on Feb. 21 in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior by a group calling itself Pussy Riot.
Members of the radical feminist band choose all sorts of unlikely locations to play shrill protest songs with a hardcore punk sound: A subway station, a posh boutique, Red Square, the roof of a detention center. The performances are filmed, edited, overlaid with a studio-recorded soundtrack and published on YouTube.
This time they arguably went too far. In the majestic cathedral where the Patriarch himself holds services on major holidays, several young women got into the ambo area where only priests are allowed. Wearing their trademark brightly-colored balaclavas and tights, they danced, genuflected, crossed themselves and chanted: “Virgin Mary, please chase away Putin.” Two of the women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were detained after the performance and faced charges of “group hooliganism,” carrying a possible sentence of two to seven years in prison.
Read Full Article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/putin-punk-rock-and-russian-ort...
28 Mar 2012
The Russian Church Lashes Out at Pussy Riot ...the band is now accused of having the power of "money and arms"...
28 Mar 2012
Editorial: New Russian schism
Gazeta.ru
27.03.12 22:36
Editorial Board
The story of Pussy Riot feminist punk group, who performed a punk-prayer in Christ the Savior cathedral and have new scandalous declarations appearing daily, showed how split Russian society is. Not on political front, but on moral one: citizens, secular and spiritual bosses all understand quite differently what is good and what is bad.
Pussy Riot activist Maria Alekhina's letter from jail agitated both the supporters and the opponents of the punk-feminists pre-trial arrest. She complains that it's cold in the cell, and the jailers don't let her read. The compassionate are upset; saying it's torture. Experienced people and the Federal Service for Execution of Punishment say: how can +16 Celsius be torture? The holes in the windows are made for the prison "black market", the blankets need to be tucked in with skill, and soon our penitentiary system will be just as in Europe.
Read Full Article: http://en.gazeta.ru/opinions/2012/03/27/a_4108137.shtml
