Pussy Riot

[monk222]

Pussy Riot is a band. Russian, I take it. And they are in a political showdown with Putin.

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Pussy Riot has skewered Putin on the horns of a dilemma: Either his government convicts the band and martyrs it even further, or it backs down and concedes that prosecuting the masked trio for a cacophonous musical protest at Christ the Savior Cathedral that called attention to the Russian church's alliance with the Putin regime was always a mistake. Three of the five band members now face the prospect of seven years in prison, which has prompted an unlikely international outcry. On Thursday, Aug. 2, ahead of a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Putin indicated he'd prefer to back down.

-- Sully's Dish

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Who says there is no progress in Russia? Not so long ago, that could have been a straight, one-way ticket to the gulag.

Comments

[rascasse.livejournal.com]

have you seen them? pretty girls.
State's prosecutor demands 3 years of prison for each of them.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I have heard of them. Googling them, though, I see they are pretty hardcore into political activism, which sounds great, but I am afraid I can see why Putin may want to set an example - too much freedom can be a dangerous thing.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

BATTLING the sweaty crowd at the Khamovnichesky court to hear the closing statements in the Pussy Riot trial, I couldn’t shake off the odd feeling that I was in the presence of genuine celebrity. My current job requires me to bump into famous Russians regularly, but I haven’t felt like this once. Yet here, staring at three young women in that absurd glass cage in which the Russian courts insist on keeping defendants, I was star-struck.

The fate of Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, each charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after lip-syncing to a punk song in a church for 40 seconds, has become a certified international cause.

The United States government expressed concern, Amnesty International deemed the women “prisoners of conscience,” and a dozen Western stars — like Madonna, Bjork and even Danny DeVito — sang, spoke, wrote and tweeted their support.

But the hometown opinion on Pussy Riot is mixed at best. Even the liberal response has involved language like “They should let these chicks go with a slap on the ass.” Despite the rapid Westernization of the city elites, the rise of the vaunted “creative class” and the widespread distrust of the state-coddled Orthodox Church, Russians remain distinctly uncomfortable with activist women.

-- News-LJ (http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/9908285.html)