Pussy Riot Art and Protest


Free Pussy Riot! #freepussyriot from Peaches on Vimeo.

Well, it happened. The Pussy Riot verdict has been announced. The girls have each been sentenced to two years in prison for performing their one-minute “punk prayer” in the Christ The Savior Cathedral to protest Russia’s fusion of church and state. “Even though we are behind bars, we are freer than those people,” said Pussy Riot band member  Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from her glass cage on the last day of the trial. “We can say what we want, while they can only say what political censorship allows.”

Protests are happening around the world today. Above, a protest video by Peaches that was released three days ago. The video features performers who support Pussy Riot from around the world, including Kate Nash, The Knife, Lykke Li, Miike Snow, Peter Bjorn and John, Light Asylum, Deichkind, The Hives, Dave Catching(EODM), Screamclub, J.D. Samson, Marshall Crenshaw, Wayne Kramer, Bonaparte, Margaret Cho, Dave Hill, Nick Zinner, Jake Shears, Bun E Carlos, Narcissister, Sheila Chipperfield, Bronson Hankins, John Renaud, Fya Hopelezz, Margaret Saadi Kramer, Miss Guy, Sir Honey Davenport, Saskia Hann, Empress Stah, and Vice Cooler.

Below, a free poster by Molly Crabapple. Download the hi-res here. Print, post, mashup, and share. (Or buy a limited-edition 17″ x 22″ print to support their legal fund from Molly.) FREE PUSSY RIOT!

5 Responses to “Pussy Riot Art and Protest”

  1. Jeffrey Wengrofsky Says:

    Please post updates!!

    Here’s the Pussy Riot myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pussyriot

  2. WildeHuntCorsetry Says:

    Sheesh, I wonder if they will be cellies with Yulia Timoshenko?

  3. Heather Says:

    Timoshenko’s in Ukraine, not Russia. But jail as form of censorship? yes, very much the same.

    Thanks, Coilhouse, for introducing us to Pussy Riot before they even made that video. This is why you’re awesome.

  4. Kman Says:

    Watching this from inside the country, it’s certainly an eerie experience. The entire trial is a farce. It’s so bad, it’s literally embarrassing, and anybody can see that. However, the complete lack of transparency, and the fact that the girls are basically being tried for violating laws that don’t exist, just doesn’t seem to matter to a shocking number of citizens.

    Truth is, not that many people were offended – at least, not at the start. However, the state-sponsored media made such a huge deal out of it – reminding us over and over that all Christians should be offended and horrified – that the prosecution actually got a lot of support from the average Russians who get all their information from television. This is the part that scares me most – people are offended because they’re told to be. People want the girls to burn, because they were told that they want the girls to burn. Backed by the criminals in charge of Russia, the Orthodox Church does as it pleases, and says whatever it wants (such as saying that nonbelievers should be confined to insane asylums), but will not tolerate any backlash.

    We’re seeing a return to the oppression and control of the USSR, but this time the cult of The Great Leader is being replaced with medieval religious views. Unless you’re a conservative Orthodox Christian – and preferably a male one – you have no feelings to hurt, no rights to exercise, no opinion that deserves to be listened to. My plane out of here is in two weeks, and never before have I been so excited about a 12-hour flight.

  5. Meredith Yayanos Says:

    Wow…

    Kman, thank you so much for taking the time to leave the above comment. I have chills. Wishing you a safe and joyful journey out of Russia. Please do keep us posted, if you can!