As mentioned in Good Morning News, the Russian punk band Pussy Riot has been found guilty of “hooliganism driven by religious hatred” for performing an anti-Putin song in a cathedral and sentenced to two years in prison. Today has been declared worldwide Pussy Riot day and there’s a solidarity protest today in Pioneer Square at 3pm. There’s also a Pussy Riot reading and, of course, solidarity bike ride tonight.
Right after handing down the guilty sentence, the judge droned on for two and a half hours about everything the women had done wrong. It’s total bullshit.
First piece of bullshit: The judge says the band is spreading “homosexual propaganda.” I guess singing about gender counts as hooliganism?
Second piece of bullshit: The judge read aloud a detailed description from the churchgoers who were offended by Pussy Riot’s performance in the cathedral, noting that the band had uttered words that were offensive to Orthodox believers—some witnesses at the trial weren’t even in the cathedral at the time, they just watched a clip of the performance on YouTube and felt offended.
Third piece of bullshit: The judge also called out how the women’s short, colorful skirts were “not appropriate” for church.
Fourth piece of bullshit: The judge said Pussy Riot’s punk performance “imitated demonic attacks.”
Fifth piece of bullshit: This entire trial! Of course, the whole thing is a sham—a way to crack down on young, motivated, political people who are mad at Russia’s ruling regime. As human rights groups around the world have pointed out, this was a politically-motivated trial through and through, so it would be expecting too much to hope that the verdict would have some bearing on reality, rather than imprisoning people essentially for wearing short skirts and and saying offensive words.
It’s amazing to recognize that a three-person punk band can still have this kind of power. Russia has been the site of gross human rights abuses for years and polls show the country is hostile to feminism (only seven percent of women in the country identify as “feminists”), but that usually comes through in less flashy, more insidious ways, like extremely high domestic violence rates. I’m in awe that three ladies with balaclavas and guitars were able to bring Russia’s issues into a harsh spotlight.
Now let’s get these ladies out of prison and back to their kids and music.
They are amazing — so brave. I hope the White House flexes some diplomatic muscle over there.
GOOD JOB, PUTIN. YOU JUST CREATED A BUNCH OF MARTYRS. THE BEST METHOD FOR A DESPOT TO SILENCE THEIR CRITICS IS TO IGNORE THEM.
I hope Cat and Beard is right. It would be nice if the White House did do something, or care, and it might protest, just to show how concerned they are about human rights, but this is the governemnet that is also at the service of the rich and powerful, that murders civilians all over the world via drones, that is going after Assange and Manning and that is headed by a president that signed a law allowing for the jailing of US citizens without trial
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/14-6
It’s sad and all but if you act like an idiot in a lame country you gotta expect consequences.
And seriously, their music SUCKS. They were out looking for attention and they sure got it, but it’s hard to feel sympathy. Play with fire, get burned. People speak out in Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc every day and get killed for it, these girls get 1.5 years and suddenly it’s front page news. A Portlandia sketch in the making.