Saturday, 18 August 2012
PUSSY RIOT
There is no doubt that Pussy Riot’s performance in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral was, to say the very least, sacrilegious. The words were quite obscene. Yet I don’t think they deserved a two year prison sentence which was out of all proportion to the crime they committed. A punk rock group that nobody had ever heard of, and a pretty poor one at that, has shot in to becoming world famous. If the Russians had been really clever they wouldn’t have given this mediocre band the publicity they have received by their over-the-top prosecution.
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Some snippets of information I've discovered in the last couple of days, trying to find out what is really going on:
ReplyDelete1) Pussy Riot is not a "punk band". It is a political protest group. It has never given any concerts or released any singles, but it has thrown a live cat off a bridge.
2) The "performance" did not feature anti-Putin lyrics, only obscenities. The anti-Putin lyrics were dubbed onto the video.
3) The Orthodox Church in Russia also believes that the sentence was too harsh and has asked the Court of Appeal to be lenient.
4) Real, genuine punk and nihilist artists have done worse than this and not been punished - because they were real artists and were exercising legitimate freedom of expression.
5) The protest group seriously harmed its cause: the Cathedral of Christ the Savour is seen by Orthodox and atheist alike as a symbol of freedom, and of triumph over Stalinism. The condemnation of Pussy Riot has come from all demographics.
Interesting (but rather long!) links:
http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2012/08/russian-orthodox-church-asks-authorities-to-show-mercy-on-pussy-riot/
http://mercouris.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/pussy-riot-2/
The Russian authorities apparently shooting themselves in the foot.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think that Pussy Riot shot themselves in the foot. The Russian authorities seem not to have done anything particularly egregious. The judge arguably imposed an overly harsh sentence, but that's it.
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