A Sense of Doubt blog post #2288 - Pussy Riot - Musical Monday for 2105.24
I have been sitting on this entry for some time about the wonderful and much in need of your support, of all our support, band PUSSY RIOT. I had intended to do much more with this entry, but for now, I just want to get it posted, and maybe I can do a part two. Not maybe. I can do whatever I want. It's my blog.
FROM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot:
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest punk rock and performance art group based in Moscow. Founded in August 2011, it has had a variable membership of approximately 11 women [1] ranging in age from about 20 to 33 (as of 2012).[2] The group staged unauthorized provocative guerrilla performances in public places, performances that were filmed as music videos and posted on the Internet.[3] The group's lyrical themes included feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies,[2] and Putin's links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.[4]
The group gained global notoriety when five members of the group staged a performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21, 2012.[5][6] The group's actions were condemned as sacrilegious by the Orthodox clergy and eventually stopped by church security officials. The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leaders' support for Putin during his election campaign. On March 3, 2012, two of the group's members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Denied bail, they were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred", and each was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.[7][8] On October 10, following an appeal, Samutsevich was freed on probation and her sentence suspended. The sentences of the other two women were upheld.[9]
The trial and sentence attracted considerable attention and criticism,[10] particularly in the West. The case was adopted by human-rights groups, including Amnesty International, which designated the women as prisoners of conscience,[11] and by a number of prominent entertainers.[12] Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards them.[13][14] Having served 21 months, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were released on December 23, 2013, after the State Duma approved an amnesty.[15]
In February 2014, a statement was made anonymously on behalf of some Pussy Riot members that both Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were no longer members.[16] However, both were among the group that performed as Pussy Riot during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where group members were attacked with whips and pepper spray by Cossacks who were employed as security guards.[17] On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were assaulted and sprayed with green dye by local youths in Nizhny Novgorod.[18]
Speaking as much to western European and North American audiences as to Russian audiences, in 2016 Pussy Riot anticipated Donald Trump's victory two weeks before the outcome of the 2016 United States presidential election was declared and released "Make America Great Again", depicting a dystopian world where President Trump enforces his values through beatings, shaming, and branding by stormtroopers. In describing the video, Rolling Stone magazine noted that "jaunty, carefree music contrasts with the brutal events depicted on screen."[19]
https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/who-are-pussy-riot-russia-activist-group-world-cup-final-pitch-invasion-2354987
Who are Pussy Riot? A guide to the Russian activist group who crashed the World Cup Final
Four members of the group invaded the pitch during the 2018 World Cup Final for their latest high-profile demonstration
Pussy Riot certainly know how to draw the eyes of the world to their cause. The Russian activist group made their latest large-scale protest during the 2018 World Cup Final between France and Croatia, with four of their members running onto the pitch during the second half.
Given the controversial staging of this year’s tournament in Russia, it seemed almost inevitable that a Pussy Riot protest would take place at some point – and it just so happened that the group chose the final game, which was staged at the Luzhniki Stadium in their home city of Moscow, to make their presence felt. After the protest – which was screened to an audience of millions across the world – the group claimed responsibility for the stunt, confirming that it had taken place in protest of human rights abuses in Russia.
As of July 16, all four members have been charged by Russian authorities, with the group claiming that the four defendants have been denied access to a lawyer.
This latest show of defiance from Pussy Riot follows on from a string of high-profile protests the group have staged, which have seen members jailed for speaking out against the government. Here’s a quick guide to what the group are all about, along with a closer look at some of Pussy Riot’s eminent members.
How did they get famous?
Pussy Riot was founded in August 2011 in the Russian city of Moscow. They began to gain momentum after two members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich – who used to belong to another anarchist art collective called Voina – played a recording of Pussy Riot’s song ‘Ubey seksista” (‘Kill the Sexist’) at a lecture on feminist punk. Over the following months, Pussy Riot staged a series of public performances. Their first, in November 2011, was called ‘Release the Cobblestones’. Sampling Angelic Upstarts’ 1978 track ‘Police Oppression’, masked members of the group performed on top of scaffolding on the Moscow subway, tearing open feather pillows and hurling the contents onto the track.
The Russian media paid close attention to the performances that followed. Later in 2011, Pussy Riot performed on top of a garage next door to the Moscow Detention Center No. 1, which was holding activists arrested a week earlier at the mass protests against the results of the recent State Duma elections. At the beginning of 2012, Pussy Riot gained further notoriety after two members were arrested for their ‘Putin Zassa’ performance at Moscow’s Red Square. Translating roughly to ‘Putin Has Pissed Himself’, the group let off a smoke bomb, and Galkina and Schebleva were later found guilty of breaking the rules around conducting rallies and pickets. Both were charged 500 rubles (about £6) each. Their next performance after this, ‘A Punk Prayer’ – attracted widespread international attention.
What is ‘A Punk Prayer’?
After Vladimir Putin’s re-election in 2012, accusations of electoral fraud and vote-rigging were widespread, and numerous large demonstrations – some involving thousands of protesters – took place around Russia before and after Putin’s controversial re-election. Pussy Riot’s ‘A Punk Prayer’ quickly become one of the best known political protests at that time.
For the performance, five women disguised in winter clothes entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. Pulling on the group’s trademark coloured balaclavas, they jumped around the church’s altar, punching the air, and lay prostrate on the floor imitating prayer. Borrowing the melody of ‘Ave Maria’ (or ‘Hail Mary’) the song urged the Virgin Mary to help get rid of Putin. The lyrics also highlighted the close relationship between the church and Russian intelligence service the KGB, criticised the anti-feminist traditions of the church, and used the crude slogan “Sran Gospodnya” (translating to “shit of the Lord”).
Three of the group were jailed, charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. One member, Samutsevich, was later freed on probation, but Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova’s sentences were upheld, and they were sent to prison. Both women asked to be imprisoned near Moscow in order to be closer to their family; instead, they were sent to separate Gulags (labour camps) many hundreds of miles away.
The harsh sentence attracted international criticism, with Amnesty International calling the women “prisoners of conscience”.
Have they played gigs?
Besides their protest performances, Pussy Riot have played some more conventional gigs; in 2014, after their release from prison, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova both performed with Madonna (who has vocally supported the collective) at an Amnesty International awareness concert in Brooklyn. They have also played a number of music festivals, appearing on Glastonbury’s Park Stage in 2015 atop a military truck.
Pussy Riot played their first official U.S. concert in December 2017, and are currently on tour. They describe the shows as a “subversive mix of activist art and live set.”
Have they put an album out?
Not in a traditional sense. However, most of Pussy Riot’s songs are freely available to download, under the collected name ‘Ubey seksista (“Kill the sexist”)’. The collective also released ‘In Riot We Trust’ - a limited edition cassette tape containing eight songs – in 2017, and recorded the track ‘Straight Outta Vagina’ for Adult Swim the previous year.
Who are the Members of Pussy Riot?
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
“Nadya” Tolokonnikova, 28, was one of the three women to be imprisoned for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012. Nadya was sentenced to two years in prison but was released early – a move she has called a cynical act on Vladimir Putin’s behalf, as it came as part of a new amnesty bill just months before Russia was due to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Pussy Riot isn’t the first time Nadya has been involved with controversial art performances. She was a part of the Voina group from 2007 and took part in a series of stunts named Operation Kiss Garbage in 2011, which included female members kissing policewomen on the streets of Moscow.
Maria Alyokhina
Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, 30, was also arrested and imprisoned for her part in the Punk Prayer performance and was released at the same time as Nadya. She is a poet and has previously been involved in activism for Greenpeace, and acted as cross-examiner of witnesses in Pussy Riot’s trial. In a speech during the trial, she told the court: “Nobody can take away my inner freedom.”
Masha has also shared her experience of Russian jails in the play Burning Doors. The piece tells the story of three political prisoners’ experiences – her part includes her head being submerged underwater by authorities for increasingly long periods of time.
Yekaterina Samutsevich
Yekaterina “Katya” Samutsevich, 35, was the third Pussy Riot member to be arrested after Punk Prayer but managed to win an appeal against her own two-year sentence. Katya’s lawyer argued that she should be released because the guards at the cathedral had stopped her before she had been able to take her guitar out of its case. The court agreed, freeing her on a suspended sentence. Katya was also a member of Voina, alongside Nadya.
Nika Nikulshina
Nika Nikulshina, 21, was reportedly the first of four Pussy Riot members to be sentenced after invading the pitch during the 2018 World Cup final. She, like her colleagues, was sentenced to 15 days “administrative arrest” for “violation of spectators’ rights” and illegally wearing law enforcement symbols. She was also banned from attending sports events for three years, and was allegedly denied access to a lawyer before the meeting.
An economics student and model, Nika was the protestor who was given a double high-five by French footballer Kylian Mbappe.
Olga Kurachyova
Olga Kurachyova, 31, was also among the World Cup protestors. After the group were detained, she told the press the protest was designed to promote freedom of speech, as well as highlight FIFA “being friends with heads of states who carry out repression [and] violate human rights.” A journalist, she has worked for BBC Russia and is an LGBT activist.
Olga Pakhtusova
Not much is known about 25-year-old Olga Pakhtusova, who was the third women sentenced to 15 days “administrative arrest” and given a ban from sports events. In a video posted to Pussy Riot’s YouTube channel, which also featured Nika and Olga Kurachyova, she appeared in a pastel pink balaclava throughout.
Pyotr Verzilov
Pyotr Verzilov, 30, is a Russian-Canadian artist and the husband of Nadya Tolokonnikova. He was a member of Voina alongside his wife, and acted as spokesperson for Pussy Riot after the Punk Prayer arrests. However, in October 2012 the group disowned him, claiming he had “seized representation and decision-making of Pussy Riot” and had misrepresented their views.
Pyotr was the only man to participate in the World Cup final protest.
Verzilov has since been hospitalised in Moscow, where he remains in a critical condition. He fell ill after attending a court hearing for Veronika Nikulshina, and after initially passing out, he reportedly woke up and realised that he was losing his sight. Friends and family of the outspoken Putin critic believe that he was poisoned.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/pussy-riot
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| https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/pussy-riot-european-court-of-human-rights |
Police State - Pussy Riot
Straight Outta Vagina - Pussy Riot
Know Your Vagina (Bands)
An Illustrated Guide to the Best Bands Named After Female Anatomy
https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/know-your-vagina-bands/Content?oid=19605110
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| https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/pussy-riot-co-founder-talks-politics-prison-time-and-summer-protests-swept-america |
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| https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303701304579552211016626556 |
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2105.24 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2152 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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