This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Artist News Legal Top Stories
Free Pussy Riot members speak out
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 15 August 2012
The members of Pussy Riot who have so far evaded capture by Russian authorities have gone on a PR offensive as a ruling in the cases of their bandmates Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich, expected on Friday, draws closer. The remaining members of the group have been relatively quiet since the arrests in March, but recently met secretly with journalists from a variety of publications for a series of interviews.
As previously reported, the three accused women – better known as Masha, Nadya and Katya – were arrested earlier this year amidst allegations they were amongst the five members of the ten strong band who performed a “punk prayer” against president Vladimir Putin on the altar of the Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour Of The Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Speaking to the BBC, one other member of the band, named only as Button, said “[They are not on trial] because they did something wrong but just because somebody decided to show us his power. But it’s not real power, it’s fake power”.
Another, going by the name Pussy, added: “The government can arrest some people, but it can’t arrest the whole idea”.
Interviewed by The Guardian, Button said: “Three wonderful girls who were an inspiration for this group are in prison right now. It is hard for us without them. We feel it. But it means only one thing – that we should become even stronger, maybe even bolder”.
Another unnamed member of the group said: “Of course there is danger and we feel it. Obviously we would like to avoid any unpleasant situations in the future, but I am afraid every one of us is ready for such instances and it’s quite awful. [We are] ready to reveal our names and faces to some unpleasant public stories”.
Meanwhile, The Guardian also reports that English translations of the testimonies of Masha, Nadya and Katya will be read by British actors at the Royal Court in London on Friday as part of a global day of action in reaction to the case.
The event was proposed by playwright EV Crowe, who said: “What Pussy Riot does is take a stand, through art, and then maximise its impact through social media. They are women who make me want to understand the world I’m living in, to write about it, and to be brave whatever the cost”.
The Royal Court’s Artistic Director Dominic Cooke added: “The Pussy Riot trial is of concern to those who believe that the right of artists to question the actions of the state is central to an egalitarian society. As a London home for theatre artists to ask challenging questions, the Royal Court feels like the obvious place for the women’s words to be heard in English”.
The artistic protest in London follows a short demonstration at the Edinburgh Fringe yesterday, orchestrated by Amnesty International. Performers flyering the public for their shows on the city’s Royal Mile took ten minutes off from their promotional duties to don fluorescent balaclavas in support of the accused Russian musicians. The specific protest precedes Amnesty’s annual Stand Up For Freedom show at the world’s biggest cultural festival tonight.
Amnesty International Scotland Director Shabnum Mustapha told our sister publication, Edinburgh Festival magazine ThreeWeeks: “The Pussy Riot women were simply exercising their right to peaceful dissent and three years [in jail] for a song is utterly ridiculous. We’ve always had great support from comedians, who value the right to free speech more than most, and it was wonderful to see so many festival-goers and workers drumming up support [yesterday] for the right to speak freely. It’s fairly hard to shock on the streets of Edinburgh [during the Festival], but we did it [with this protest], people were actually approaching the flyerers for a change, out of curiosity”.
In other Pussy Riot news, Björk wasn’t the only musician showing support for the Russian punk band last week. On Thursday, Blood Red Shoes also got in on the action, though their protest wasn’t met with quite the same enthusiasm. To be fair, they did pick a tougher crowd – the duo were performing at the ICA in London for the Russian Olympics team, at a show sponsored by a Russian sports brand.
Drummer and vocalist Steven Ansell explained: “After dedicating a song to the girls in Pussy Riot, they fucking pulled the plug on us! We were then told to get out by a bunch of massive Russian security guards. We grabbed our gear into a van and got out pronto”.
As previously reported, Björk dedicated her song ‘Declare Independence’ to Pussy Riot when she headlined Finland’s Flow Festival on Sunday. Feist also appeared at the same festival earlier the same day sporting a “Free Pussy Riot!” banner. And last week Madonna praised the three women for being “courageous” at a show in Moscow, for which she was called an “ex-whore” by the country’s vice president.
Finally for today, music merchandise company Back Street Merch has announced a line of ‘Free Pussy Riot’ t-shirts and bags, with all profits donated to the Free Pussy Riot legal fund.
