Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is not known for his forgiveness or openness to opposition. Many journalists who have spoken out against Putin have wound up dead under suspicious circumstances, as have his adversaries in the political arena. He doesn’t take any kind of criticism lightly – the man has banned an image depicting him as a “gay clown” within his country. Putin has been in power now for 17 years. Although state media claims his approval ratings have never been higher, there is a groundswell of protests in a country where protesting can get you killed to ensure that Putin steps down, or does not run for re-election in 2018.
The power of protest can be truly remarkable, and it can spark social upheaval and change when executed correctly. Back in 2012, the world’s eyes turned to Russia and its treatment of protesters thanks to the Russian punk collective Pussy Riot. The group staged a guerrilla performance at the Christ The Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. Clad in flamboyantly coloured balaclavas, Pussy Riot performed what they called a “punk prayer,” criticising Putin with lyrics such as “holy mother, blessed virgin, chase Putin out.” Three members of the group were arrested in the weeks following the performance, and they were charged with “premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility.” After a heavily scrutinised trial three band members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina were sentenced to prison, much to the behest of the international community.
After the sentencing, Tolokonnikova stated that “our imprisonment serves as a clear and unambiguous sign that freedom is being taken away from the entire country.” Their lawyer stated that the group would not seek a pardon from Putin, noting “they will not beg and humiliate themselves before such a bastard.” Each member served two year sentences, and the whole event drew Russia’s treatment of protesters and their ongoing muffling of free speech into the light. World leaders condemned the sentencing. The musicians were due for release in March 2014, but in December of 2013 Putin announced that two of them would be freed under amnesty. The announcement was accompanied by other high profile release announcements, including political prisoners and members of Greenpeace. This gesture turned out to be largely symbolic. Russia’s views on public protest have not weakened, and Putin’s treatment of those who oppose him has by no means softened.
In the Pussy Riot camp, things took a strange turn after the prison sentences were served. It is understood that the band does not have a fixed line up, but rather that they are a revolving group of members with unified political views. In February 2014, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina participated in an Amnesty International concert in New York City, performing with none other than Madonna. On the same day, another group of Pussy Riot members who had avoided prosecution published a letter condemning the performance. They were angry that the two had betrayed the core values of Pussy Riot by engaging in a paid, public performance.
“We belong to leftist anti-capitalist ideology—we charge no fees for viewing our artwork, all our videos are distributed freely on the web, the spectators to our performances are always spontaneous passers by, and we never sell tickets to our “shows.” Our performances are always ‘illegal,’ staged only in unpredictable locations and public places not designed for traditional entertainment. The distribution of our clips is always through free and unrestricted media channels. We are anonymous, because we act against any personality cult, against hierarchies implied by appearance, age and other visible social attributes. We cover our heads, because we oppose the very idea of using female face as a trademark for promoting any sort of goods or services. The mixing of the rebel feminist punk image with the image of institutionalised defenders of prisoners’ rights, is harmful for us as collective, as well as it is harmful for the new role that Nadezhda and Maria have taken on.”
In response, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina released a statement saying, “When we were jailed, Pussy Riot immediately became very popular and widely known, and it turned from just a group to essentially an international movement. Anybody can be Pussy Riot, you just need to put on a mask and stage an active protest of something in your particular country, wherever that may be, that you consider unjust. And we’re not here as the leaders of Pussy Riot or determining what Pussy Riot is and what it does or what it says. We are just two individuals that spent two years in jail for taking part in a Pussy Riot protest action.”
Pussy Riot are still an active force in some capacity, having released a song in October last year in response to Donald Trump’s candidacy entitled ‘Make America Great Again.‘ The high budget glossy video, visible faces, and pop nature of the song published on an “offical” YouTube channel with associated hashtags in tow seems to fly in the face of everything that Pussy Riot meant in the first place.
This seems to be the commercialised, sexualised, money making, mass appeal incarnation of Pussy Riot that Pussy Riot never wanted.
