Photos by Agah Bahari.
I have never seen the Velvet Underground as packed as it was Saturday night. The waiting audience sat on the floor in front of the stage, eager to listen to local personality and Fucked Up lead singer Damian Abraham talk to Masha and Sasha of the notorious Russian feminist punk protest group Pussy Riot.
The night played out as a discussion interspersed with clips from Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s 2013 documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, as well as news and footage clips from MediaZona, the Pussy Riot-launched independent news outlet. The outlet, run primarily by new member and journalist Sasha Bogina, focuses on issues of human rights like police violence and the deplorable prison conditions in Russia. Both are issues the members have personal experience with.
In discussing the motivation behind MediaZona, Masha Alyokhina, co-founder of Pussy Riot, elaborated on the need for coverage of the Russian prison colonies. “The public attention,” she says, “is the safety for the life of the prisoner… the life of all of us depends on how many people know about this life.” Masha went on to describe how happy the prisoners would be when they saw the coverage and support of Pussy Riot on television after a long day of work on tasks like making military and police uniforms. She had an obligation, she realized, to use this attention they had been given.
“I’ve seen the eyes of girls who can’t write a letter or get a lawyer,” she continued, “who lack those human rights.”
For those unaware, the group is most famous for the events of February 21st, 2012, when the group preformed in protest at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, an action aimed at Putin and the church’s support of him. This led to the arrest of Masha and co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova. The reaction from their arrest was swift and wide-spread: thousands took to the streets of Russia to protest their arrest, wearing the colourful beanie masks the group sported both for solidarity and to hide their identities. This was met with police brutality and admonishment from the government, who said Pussy Riot was attacking the moral values of Russia. Soon came support from the music community, ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Paul McCartney. After nearly two years in prison and a world of support behind them, Nadya and Masha were released in December of 2013, ready to take on corruption again.
Soon after Damian brought up the situation in America and the election of Trump, a clip from MediaZona was shown of journalists attempting to cover the situation in Chechnya having their bus lit on fire. Many were then beaten, with the driver and others needing hospitalization, all for attempting to report the truth.
“These things,” Masha said, “are not a different world, a different planet… it’s our world.” Now more than ever this is a message we can’t afford to forget, and the importance of supporting the efforts of people like Masha and Sasha cannot be undersold. Explaining the importance of connection between western and Russian independent news outlets, Sasha explained that MediaZona already has a partnership in place with organizations like Vice. Getting the information directly to the public is crucial for the group, and spreading awareness of human rights issues in Russia is the key focus in the continued evolution of Pussy Riot.
In a clip from the documentary, Pussy Riot are compared to the concept of ‘the holy fool’, a figure from Russian literature and religion who acts intentionally foolish to draw attention to the ideas and figures in power. The figure is also associated with deep belief, and I believe this suits Pussy Riot perfectly: they have a deep belief that the atrocities being perpetrated in Russia and abroad must be stopped, and will do whatever and act however necessary to make that happen. If they are indeed our holy fools, then I, for one, say blessed be the Pussy.
