About | Pussy Riots
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk rock protest group based in Moscow. They were founded back in 2011 consisting of 11 women from the ages of about 20 to 33. These women stage unauthorised and provocative performances in unusual public locations, they are edited into music videos and are posted over the internet. Their work within music contains themes including feminism LGBT right and political messages in opposition to Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. They see Putin as a dictator and very much bringing back socialism and the dictatorship rule of Lenin and Stalin back in the early 1900s. Two members of the Pussy Riot band faced imprisonment without bail and were unable to see their young children the entire time that they were there. One of the pair went of hunger strike due to abuse by police while in prison. They were released in December of 2013 due to the Winter Olympics being hosted by Russia in February of 2014. This was done to save unrest and possible protest. This didn’t stop the women, as soon as they were released from prison they went out to make another music video and performed under an Olympic sign only to be pepper sprayed and hit down by police. This just makes the group stronger and give them more to fight for.
Pussy Riot Russian Orthodox Church performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grEBLskpDWQ
Interview with Pussy Riot:
Articles about the Pussy Riots: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/pussy-riot-protest/
Article about Orthodox church and Pussy Riots: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/22/russians-support-orthodox-church-pussy-riot
Researching more into their work I came across this video showing five female members and one male member of the band doing an impromptu performance under a sign for the Olympics. Basically, these members were attacked by police officers, pepper sprayed and whipped. It was actually shocking to me because it is so obviously that these supposed law enforcers were trying to silence these people for standing out and not even doing anything wrong at all. Police brutality is such a huge part of American news reports showing how police are taking their power for granted and abusing it. Yet in Russia I don’t even think that they get any media or news coverage at all because so many people are against their movement and anti-Putin protests.
Article on Pussy Riot’s prison sentencing: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/putins-religious-war-against-pussy-riot
This video is very interesting to me. It is a video where two members of the Pussy Riot are being buried alive and are wearing Russian riot police uniforms during the violent clashes between police and protectors in a fight for change in Russia. Towards the end of the video is also a quote from an American black man who was taken by a police officer and killed. This video emulates police brutality and shows two women actually being buried alive with the expectation that they are just supposed to lay there and allow for them to be buried alive which symbolises the suppression that people are faced with every single day in countries all over the world. This was the Pussy Riot’s first english song to be released and by doing so they have given more room to freely express themselves and branch out to a wider audience especially people living in America where they have made the link near the end of the video with the quote from Eric Garner shortly before his death. I do think that reaching out to other countries like America and Britain the Pussy Riot’s will gain more following and backing as from watching many of their videos and reading comments I have found how backward a lot of Russian people’s views are and how they seem to hate feminism and this band and anything that is anti-Putin or against their beloved orthodox church. This video also helped me to realise how politically driven these women are and how much their work is against their own countries way of life. I think that these women are very strong and courageous to be standing out against what literally everyone else believes in and the fact that they are even going against their leader Putin. I hate that these women have to do stuff like this to be noticed and to try and make a change but I guess nothing will ever change if people don’t stand up and acknowledge that there is a problem and that something needs to change. The two women featured in the video seem to have become the face of the Pussy Riots who were originally supposed to remain faceless yet this had to come after their prison sentence where they were named and photographed without their balaclavas on.
This is another of the Pussy Riot’s music videos showing the brutality they are faced by the police. Their work is strongly politically driven and they remain faceless wearing balaclavas to hide their identities. To me this becomes more of a representation for women so that people follow the movement rather than any individual involved within the movement. This video also shows how these women get physically abused and just take it, this reminds me of peaceful protests made by Ghandi on the rights of the Indian people. It is so strange to see these people being hit down in the streets with passersby just watching and filming, allowing it all to unfold. Police brutality is so known and common in America where black citizens are usually targeted but in Russia the women are targeted and anyone that thinks differently. There are always going to be people that defy your views and people are always going to disagree with you no matter what so protesting is always going to be going on and people are always going to be fighting for change. Peaceful protest seems to work and it makes more of an impact if these people are going about making their music videos and with the police acting violently they are giving them exactly what they want. This is more likely to push for change and get the rest of the world talking about issues such as violence against black citizens for being the colour that they are and against women simply for being born a woman.
Pussy Riot and Femen article:
Madonna’s speech in Russia, Moscow on the rights of human beings:
This is probably the best thing I’ve ever heard Madonna say. I feel that there are so many supporters of the Pussy Riot’s but they are in fear of standing out or showing their support because they will be faced with police brutality and a never ending veil of hatred. Support comes more from those who understand what feminism is. I feel that a lot of Russian people hate the Pussy Riot group because they see their movement as a crime against the orthodox church when in reality they are actually against Putin and the support that the orthodox church has given him in his rule and have almost been taken over and corrupt by Vladimir Putin. Their lyrics are explicitly against Putin and talk about the “virgin birth-giver of God” taking him away and ridding Russia of him. These women weren’t making a music video against the Russian Putin. They are very politically driven and the messages within their music is strong and clear but so many Russians choose to ignore their message and are ignorant to what they are really trying to say. Reading more into the lyrics of this song the women are begging almost the virgin Mary to become a feminist and to take away from the church who praises “rotten leaders”. Their words and lyrics portray Putin as ruining the purity of the church and the Virgin Mary as a feminist who is with those women when they are protesting.
“42 percent of Russians consider the punk prayer an attack on the Russian Orthodox Church.” – Levada Center
Article about Russian Orthodox Church with translated lyrics: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/what-pussy-riots-punk-prayer-really-said/264562/
Pussy Riot story so far: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25490161
Getting inspired | Spring Breakers
A couple of years ago a film came out starring Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and James Franco about a bunch of teenage women who went out on Spring break and things went very differently and wild radical things happened. I haven’t seen the film myself but have researched into it and been told by friends that the film is very radical and crazy with the women attempting a heist and eventually being arrested. Images coming from the film really remind me of the Pussy Riots with the colourful and prominent balaclavas being a huge part of the film as well as an iconic symbol of the Pussy Riot band and movement. I feel like the creators of the film took inspiration from the radical women that are the Pussy Riots and found them so interesting and they really do stand out and have a clear and strong message which the producers and director of the film could want to adopt for their characters. This could be a happy coincidence but the colourful balaclavas are associated with the Pussy Riots and so it does remind me of the film Spring Breakers. Also, in the film Spring Breakers the young women are constantly just wearing bikinis and balaclavas which is also similar to the movement of Femen where the women go out topless with writing all over their bodies in protest. I think that the film Spring Breakers can be related to these two movements within feminism as I think of them when I see images from the film.
Overview | What I Think
It has given me a lot to think about after researching the movement of the Pussy Riot band and it interests me how their world is so different from mine and the fact that they get beaten down and just take it in order to show the world what is going on in their own world and their lives as women living in Russia. This is a really strong movement with a strong group of women who stand up for what they believe in and are unapologetic. Their work shows a different side to police brutality from what I am exposed to as a young female showing that not only police brutality in America against black citizens but also police brutality targets women too. To me this shows how far a country and government will go just to silence people and to try and stop them from going against the norm and for thinking differently. It is crazy the lengths a government will go just to stop people challenging them or becoming opposition to them.
Hate comments
With news coverage and acknowledgement comes hatred and trolls. After watching one of the Pussy Riots videos I scrolled through the comments and found nothing but hate for those women. People were actually saying that they women deserved to be beaten and whipped and were ‘feminazi’. That is such a strong accusation and completely stupid as they women aren’t killing anyone and don’t believe in a superior race, they believe in equality and they are the ones being thrown about and beaten to the ground. I understand that there are many people in Russia and other countries that have been brought up to believe that women are second class citizens and are to be treated less than men but somehow they have lost all sense of respect for others opinions and views. They seem to think that they are the only ones that can feel and they have succumb to thinking in the same way and these women have dared to stand up against that way of thinking and are expressing their own views and those views are for the equal rights of women to men. The main reason these women are hated is because they go against the rule of Vladimir Putin and are seemingly against the Russian Orthodox Church. I get that people can be really strongly religious and keep to their beliefs but others are allowed opposing opinions and should be able to voice those opinions just as those who are religious are. I don’t really know where I stand in this situation as I am completely against the hatred and stupidity of anonymous online accounts yet I do think that disrespecting someone else’s belief’s or religion can be a possible step too far just for some attention and to go against Putin.
