{"id":44,"date":"2015-04-30T10:51:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T14:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/?page_id=44"},"modified":"2015-05-02T13:55:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-02T17:55:06","slug":"pussy-riots-rise-to-fame","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/pussy-riot-and-the-censorship-of-political-activism-in-russia\/pussy-riots-rise-to-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Pussy Riot&#8217;s Rise to Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Pussy Riot Origins\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/PussyRiot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-52\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/PussyRiot-300x191.jpg\" alt=\"PussyRiot\" width=\"459\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/PussyRiot-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/PussyRiot-1024x652.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/PussyRiot.jpg 1650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pussy Riot, founded in 2011, is a Russian feminist punk protest group with variable membership of around 11 women. They stand for feminism and LGBT rights and are in opposition to Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime and the power of the Russian Orthodox Church. The groups believes in many democratic values such as freedom of speech, and the right to protest the government as well as the freedom of the press. They also are against capitalism and the selfish values that go along with a capitalist system. Pussy Riot\u2019s method of protest is to perform guerrilla concerts in public places singing songs of protest in the punk style. The now famous costumes are meant to spread joy with their bright colors, hopefully inspiring others to rise up and protest with them.<\/p>\n<p>Pussy Riot\u2019s goal is to establish a more democratic society in Russia, free of the reign of Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian tendencies. Their first performance that received a lot of attention throughout Russia was in Red Square in Moscow where they performed \u201cPutin Zassel\u201d, roughly translating from Russian to \u201cPutin Has Pissed Himself\u201d on January 20, 2012. One member speaking to the press said that the performance was inspired by the protests against Putin in December of 2011 in which Russian Security Forces confronted over 100,000 protesters, which turned very chaotic. She told the\u00a0<em>Financial Times:<\/em>\u00a0&#8220;We saw how troops were moving around Moscow, there were helicopters in the sky, the military was put on alert. The regime just wet its pants on that day. And the symbol of the regime is Putin.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pussy Riot On Red Square song: Putin Zassal\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Momp_86eb1E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">&#8220;Putin Zassel&#8221;- Pussy Riot<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Column of rebels is moving towards Kremlin.<br \/>\nWindows of FSB\u00a0rooms are exploding.<br \/>\nBitches are pissing their pants behind red walls.<br \/>\nRiot announce Abortion of the System!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Attack at dawn? I have no objection.<br \/>\nFor our freedom and yours\u00a0I punish them with my lash.<br \/>\nMadonna in glory will teach you how to fight.<br \/>\nFeminist Magdalene went to protest march<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Riot in Russia &#8211; charisma of protest<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; Putin pissed his pants<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; we exist<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; Riot, Riot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Go out to the streets,<br \/>\nLive on the Red,<br \/>\nShow the freedom<br \/>\nOf civic anger<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Discontent with the culture of male hysteria<br \/>\nSavage cult of the leader devours your brain<br \/>\nOrthodox religion of hard penis<br \/>\nPatients are offered treatment by conformity<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">The regime is moving towards censorship of dreams<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s about time for blasting confrontation<br \/>\nPack of bitches of the sexist regime<br \/>\nBegs the feminist wedge\u00a0for forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Riot in Russia &#8211; charisma of protest<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; Putin pissed his pants<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; we exist<br \/>\nRiot in Russia &#8211; Riot, Riot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Go out to the streets,<br \/>\nLive on the Red,<br \/>\nShow the freedom<br \/>\nOf civic anger<\/p>\n<p><strong>Punk Prayer Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the morning of February 21<sup>st<\/sup> 2012, five young women walked into Moscow\u2019s Cathedral of Christ and Savior. Wearing their signature, sleeveless dresses, neon tights, and balaclava ski masks, they jumped onto the sacred alter, took out electric guitars and started to perform \u201cPunk Prayer\u201d. The song was a mix of punk music and traditional orthodox chant with words about the close relationship between Putin and the Orthodox Church. It criticized the Church\u2019s conservative anti-woman and anti-LGBT stances and addressed the Mother of God directly telling her to \u201coust Putin\u201d and \u201cbecome a feminist\u201d. The performance was shut down in a matter of minutes but it managed to make a huge impact on Russian politics and the world. Three \u00a0women were arrested right then and there, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alykhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich. They were denied bail and held in custody until their trial in late July. They were convicted of &#8220;Hooliganism motivated by religious hatred&#8221; and sentenced two years in prison. In the appeal Samutsevich was released because it turned out that she never made it to the alter and committed what she was being charged for. The other two lost the appeal and were sent to two separate Russian prisons.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pussy Riot - Punk Prayer &quot;Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away&quot; (English Subtitles)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lPDkJbTQRCY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">&#8220;Punk Prayer&#8221;- Pussy Riot<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">Black robe, golden epaulettes<br \/>\nAll parishioners crawl to bow<br \/>\nThe phantom of liberty is in heaven<br \/>\nGay-pride sent to Siberia in chains<br \/>\nThe head of the KGB, their chief saint,<br \/>\nLeads protesters to prison under escort<br \/>\nIn order not to offend His Holiness<br \/>\nWomen must give birth and love<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">Shit, shit, the Lord\u2019s shit!<br \/>\nShit, shit, the Lord\u2019s shit!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">(Chorus)<br \/>\nVirgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist<br \/>\nBecome a feminist, become a feminist<br \/>\n(end chorus)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">The Church\u2019s praise of rotten dictators<br \/>\nThe cross-bearer procession of black limousines<br \/>\nA teacher-preacher will meet you at school<br \/>\nGo to class &#8211; bring him money!<br \/>\nPatriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin<br \/>\nBitch, better believe in God instead<br \/>\nThe belt of the Virgin can\u2019t replace mass-meetings<br \/>\nMary, Mother of God, is with us in protest!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\">(Chorus)<br \/>\nVirgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away<br \/>\nPut Putin away, put Putin away<br \/>\n(end chorus)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_54\" style=\"width: 447px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/on-trial.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-54\" class=\"wp-image-54\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/on-trial-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"on trial\" width=\"437\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/on-trial-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/379\/2015\/04\/on-trial.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 437px) 100vw, 437px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-54\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pussy Riot members on trial<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Their\u00a0trial became a symbol of Putin\u2019s authoritarian tendencies and the censorship of political ideas in Russia. While the Russian government continues to deny the political aspect of the performance and the arrest, there is no question that the criticism of the Russian government, Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church was an important reason why they were arrested and tried so harshly. There was wide criticism of the government following the arrest from supporters of Pussy Riot around Russia and the western world. Within Russia there was also a large group that was highly supportive of the arrest and were offended by the performance at the alter. Many of these people were highly religious and supportive of Putin\u2019s reign. If there was any consensus in across the diverse political and social spectrum in Russia, it was that Pussy Riot sharply divided society. There were those that thought that the Pussy Riot arrest was outrageous, unfair and another symbol of Putin\u2019s oppressive government. On the other side there were those that thought that that the women were not receiving enough punishment. There was talk of bringing back corporal punishment, from flogging and birching to tarring and feathering.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[2]<\/a> Many of these people interpreted these women as a threat to the Russian state. A threat to the order that their beloved Eastern Orthodox Church and Putin provided. Within Russian politics there was criticism from all sides. Even outspoken critics of the Putin government criticized the\u00a0women. Boris Nemtsov, a leader of the liberal-democrat coalition and a regular critic of Putin spoke outside the courthouse. \u201cIf I could get my way, I would spank these girls and let them go. Whats going on here is sadism and cruelty.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[2]<\/a>\u00a0Criticizing the Pussy Riot women unwittingly united the Russian Left, Right and centrists all. In Bernstein\u2019s article on the Pussy Riot affair, she points out the sexist aspect to all these comments about violent actions towards the women\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><b>Reaction From The West<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The reaction from the west, unlike in Russia, was almost completely positive. Pussy Riot became a symbol for the freedoms that western democracies stand for: the freedom of speech and the freedom to protest and criticize the government. Many famous voices stood behind Pussy Riot including artists and musicians, politicians and business people. There was an international uproar against the Russian government and its oppressive policies. It became the perfect opportunity to criticize the Putin government, something the west loves to do as a leftover sentiment from the Cold War. It was unusual how much people, outside of Russia, paid attention to the arrest and trial. There have certainly been other outrageous arrests of political activists in Russia and all over the world that did not gain that much attention. The members of Pussy Riot that were arrested were popular because they held attributes that other activists didn\u2019t. They were young, beautiful women, that were well spoken and they loved the attention. They had the celebrity quality that people from the west love.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after the arrest and during the trial, Madonna had a concert on Russia. She spoke in support of Pussy Riot and how brave they were for fighting the Russian government. After the women were released shortly before the 2014 Winter Olympics, the women took a tour of the U.S., making speeches and appearances. The women were invited to perform at the Grammys with Madonna and invited to many other performances. The women refused, saying that they only perform political protests and they will never perform in which people have to pay for tickets to see them. Pussy Riot\u2019s values are in many ways, way more radical then many of the famous celebrities that spoke in favor of them. Pussy Riot may be against the values of the Russian government but they are also against capitalism. Capitalism is one of the values most celebrated in the U.S and other western democracies. The outpouring of support was in some ways superficial in that many of the supporters did not support their values but simply supported their right to protest against the Putin government.\u00a0It also seems that the west is all too happy to criticize the Russian government any chance they get. It is certainly a remnant of the Cold War era, in which everything the Soviet Union did was pure evil. There are many governments around the world that are more oppressive towards their citizens then Putin is. The reason this got some much attention and many other missteps by Russia, definitely comes from sentiments of the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>In the next section, I speak about the importance of the Cold War era when talking about democracy in Russia today. Not only does the Soviet era affect relations with the the west, it\u00a0lays a heavy curtain over the version of democracy that exists in Russia today.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a>\u00a0Clover, Charles. (2012) \u201cPussy Riot Dig Claws into Putin\u201d. Ft.com\/world. Financial Times.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[2]<\/a> Bernstein, Anya. An Inadvertent Sacrifice: Body Politics and Sovereign Power in the Pussy Riot Affair. <em>Critical Inquiry. <\/em>2013<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pussy Riot Origins\u00a0 Pussy Riot, founded in 2011, is a Russian feminist punk protest group with variable membership of around 11 women. They stand for feminism and LGBT rights and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":0,"parent":30,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-44","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musc210-cgr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}