On February 21st, 2012, the Russian band Pussy Riot put on and videoed a performance on the soleas (an extension of the sanctuary platform in an Eastern Orthodox temple or church building) of the Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour in Moscow. The video of the performance was called “Punk Prayer – Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!”. Sadly vile dictator Putin is still in place. The band said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leader’s support for Putin during his election campaign. After a very brief performance, the almost deserted cathedral was raided and members of Pussy Riot were arrested. A few weeks later three of the band were charged with hooliganism. They remained in custody until their trial in July. They were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” (seriously? WTAF!), and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment. One of the band was given a suspended sentence and the other two remained in jail until December 2013. Their imprisonment drew support from many human rights organisations including Amnesty International. Members of the band are still bravely and defiantly active, showing support for the cause of the assassinated political prisoner Alexei Navalny earlier this week.
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It’s been a long time coming and yes I too believe that it is a cynical and calculated PR move from Vladimir Putin; but at last Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot have been released. Clearly Putin is trying to cover the appalling abuse of human rights that he is responsible for before the winter olympics kick off in Russia early next year. After being released Nadezhda shouted ‘Russia without Putin” and asked other countries to boycott the Winter Olympics. Click here to read the story on the NME website. I first posted about Pussy Riot back in August 2012, click here to read that post.
I’m not sure where this picture was taken but the green placard says it all for me! FUCK PUTIN!
I am sure that by now many of you are aware of the plight of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich from the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. The three women are now on trial in Russia on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility. In effect what they did back in February this year was to perform an anti Putin song (a one minute punk prayer) in Moscow’sChrist the Saviour Cathedral a Russian Orthodox church. I suspect that the underlying charge is that they simply pissed off Vladimir Putin, who clearly has an ego the size of a small planet. His behaviour in my opinion makes it seem that glasnost never existed.
One of the many things I love about being a Brit is my right to exercise free speech, which is really all Pussy Riot were doing. Clearly free speech doesn’t exist for Putin, unless it’s him speaking! A group of western rock musicians have written to the Times this week to ask Putin to make sure that the three members of Pussy Riot get a fair trial. they could face up to seven years in jail for their ‘so called’ offence.
I would like to take this opportunity to applaud all the signatories of the letter who include; Jarvis Cocker, Pete Townshend, Martha Wainwright, Neil Tennant (off of the Pet Shop Boys) former Smith Johnny Marr, Kate Nash, Corinne Bailey Rae, Alex Kapronos (off of Franz Ferdinand), Cornershop and The Joy Formidable. I urge you to write to the press, your politicians and Putin himself to protest against this travesty of justice. Alternatively pop along to the nearest Russian Embassy and play your collection of Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts and Bikini Kill tunes at maximum volume until they see sense. Why those three artists? well Pussy Riot have referred to them as some of their many influences.
In a Levada poll 43% of Russians said that they thought the potential punishments wer far too harsh whilst only 17% said that the punishments fit the crimes. I presume that means that 40% are either too stupid or too scared to have an opinion or they are related to Putin. How can you trust a man who clearly plays the system in any way he can to make sure he stays in charge indefinitely. On top of that he has allegedly had Botox injections to keep his ‘youthful’ appearance along with his unappealing habit of stripping to the waist to show how masculine he is! The old story of the Emperor’s New Clothes springs to mind here!
Maybe he needs to get Pussy Riot to record his entry music
In a rough translation of their one minute punk prayer Pussy Riot apparently said something like’ pray to the mother of god to chase Putin out’ . They also allegedly changed the words to a christian hymn from ‘holy, holy, holy, Lord God’ to ‘ shit, shit, shit of Lord God’ So I say to Mr Putin ‘Svobodu Pussy Riot’, embrace the modern world, promote freedom honestly, stop being a bully and do it now! Otherwise I believe you will be chased out, probably not by the mother of god but certainly by the majority of the Russian people!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 