THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Late last week, a member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot agreed to chat with the Financial Times on Skype.

Famous for pulling stunts such as performing the song “Putin wet his pants” in the middle of Red Square, and “Holy Mother, Blessed Virgin, Expel Putin!” next to the altar at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the band has recently gone to ground after several members were arrested this month. Two are in jail awaiting trial for alleged “hooligan behaviour” in the cathedral stunt; a third member of the group was arrested on Friday, according to their lawyer.

So who are Pussy Riot?
They’re a militant feminist punk band who stage unsanctioned guerrilla concerts at various public venues in protest at Vladimir Putin’s rule. They describe themselves as a mix of leftists, liberals and anarchists united by a wide range of causes: feminism, the promotion of civil society, human, civil and LGBT rights, opposition to political centralisation and “the evil crooks of the Putinist junta”. They cite Simone De Beauvoir, Andrea Dvorkin, Emily Pankhurst, Shulamith Firestone, Judith Butler and Rosi Braidotti as intellectual inspirations.

read whole article : http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2012/03/qa-pussy-riot-the-punk-band-challe...

novayagazeta.ru
While the former student Andrei Zubov, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin (he studied at the Moscow Theological Academy in the late 1980s), making harsh statements in connection with the blasphemous acts in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour - Professor realized that he could not remain silent. A judicial authorities demonstrate solidarity not with the professor and his student in their career success ...

Feminist punks smash taboos
by Yulia Ponomareva at 15/03/2012 21:37
Photo © RIA Novosti. Andrey Stenin

Pussy Riot are one of the numerous self-organized feminist groups in Russia. In just two outlandish protest performances, the members of punk band “Pussy Riot” have put feminism firmly back on Russia’s political agenda – and it may cost them their liberty.

“We didn’t mean to insult believers, we protested against the Patriarch calling on Christians not to go to opposition rallies denying them the right to participate in politics,” one of the members of Pussy Riot, who called herself Vozhzha, told The Moscow News in an audio interview by Skype on Wednesday.

Pussy Riot, some of whose members say they are Orthodox believers, claim that Christ the Savior Cathedral has been desecrated by the Church. “The Cathedral is more like a business center, with all these halls rented out for profit, dry cleaning facilities, and machines generating snow, smoke and bubbles,” Pussy Riot wrote in their blog.

Orthodox Christians seem to be divided over the issue of prosecuting Pussy Riot members. Condemned by the Church for committing “blasphemy,” Pussy Riot received a storm of curses and threats on their blog.
Meanwhile, public activists collected 5,739 signatures online, including 23 from Orthodox priests and 1,955 from other people who identified themselves as Christians, under an appeal to Patriarch Kirill calling for mercy toward Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova.

Meanwhile, Pussy Riot insist that they mean no harm to anyone through their protests. “Our main aim is to develop the feminist movement, invigorate and politicize it, and fight for gay rights,” Vozhzha said.
Pussy Riot’s ideal state is one in which the government is fully accountable to people. “There should be no authoritarianism or power verticals, all people are intelligent enough to sort out their problems themselves,” Vozhzha said.

Another means to promote their ideas is education, she said. “The state manipulates people through education, especially through the subject called History of Orthodoxy,” Vozhzha said. “If there were other subjects like History of Feminism or History of Fight for Gender Equality teaching about American feminism and Russian suffragettes of the early 20th century, it would make a difference.”

read full article: http://themoscownews.com/news/20120315/189538887.html

Digital Journal

What's more troubling is that the judge who authorized the arrests is seen by Pussy Riot's lawyers as being also politically motivated and probably offended as well by the group's choice of song. They point out that judge Svetlana Aleksandrova was involved in July 2010 in the case against organizers of an exhibition called "Forbidden Art". They were found guilty of inciting religious hatred.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/321305#ixzz1pKooxzss