Pussy Riot on Trial: The Case Against the Anti-Putin Feminist Rockers

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Mikhail Metzel / AP

From left: Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot sit behind bars at a court room in Moscow, July 30, 2012.

Back in 1979, in their song “California Uber Alles,” The Dead Kennedys referenced the former German national anthem to strongly suggest that California Governor Jerry Brown was a fascist. The song, which is sung from Brown’s perspective, declares, “I will be Fuhrer one day/I will command all of you/Your kids will meditate in school.” The song thrilled some who heard it as a call to action, horrified other and caused some people to simply shrug. It is punk rock and, more or less, that’s the reaction it is meant to elicit. Despite the name calling, no one sued the Dead Kennedys. They weren’t arrested. They just stormed back in the studio to stage more sonic protests filled with equally charged lyrics.
Fast forward to February of this year in Russia where three members of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot are on trial for the crime of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility.” The young women—two of whom have small children at home—face up to seven years in prison for performing an anti-Putin song in Russia’s main cathedral. Their arrest and trial has drawn international attention to Putin’s strict anti-protest laws, his seeming desire to crack down on opposition, as well as to the ongoing struggle between church, state, protest and punk rock in Russia.
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“Pussy Riot is an anonymous feminist collective,” explained Bikini Kill member Tobi Vail via email. “Putin can put them in jail, but he can’t destroy their method of protest.” The masked membership of Pussy Riot formed in late September 2011, soon after President Vladimir Putin announced that he planned to run for a third term. The women, who are primarily young, educated and middle class, felt the need to protest what they viewed as Putin’s brutal, corrupt and totalitarian rule. Driven by feminist theories and perceived political oppression, they chose a name meant to raise eyebrows and to fight preconceived notions about women and politics. One of the group’s members explained their moniker to Vice, “Sexists have certain ideas about how a woman should behave, and Putin, by the way, also has a couple thoughts on how Russians should live. Fighting against all that—that’s Pussy Riot,” said member Garadzha. With their cleverly seditious name selected, the women took to the streets, part Guerilla Girls, part Riot Grrl, wearing Crayola-colored ski masks to stage their music-driven protests in loud anonymity.
The masks serve to not only hide their faces, but to allow for amorphous membership. “[The mask] means that really everybody can be Pussy Riot… we just show people what the people can do,” said a member calling herself Sparrow when speaking to The Guardian. They can do a lot. Their so-called actions involve forming flash mobs in public places and singing songs of protest. They took to the roof of a Detention Center in Moscow to sing “Death to Prisons—Freedom to Protest.” In January of this year the group invaded Red Square, a locale used during czarist Russia to announce government decrees, and performed a song titled “Putin Chickens Out.” All eight members of that group were arrested for illegal protesting. They were ultimately freed and a video of their performance went viral, drawing international media attention to the group, and bringing the women into contact with the Western artists who had inspired them—including 1990s-era Riot Grrrl U.S. feminist punk movement legends Bikini Kill and Le Tigre.
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Then in February, five members of Pussy Riot donned their balaclavas and brightly colored outfits, snuck on to the main altar of Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral—a site reserved for the male priests—and sang a song denouncing the ties between Putin’s government and the dominant Russian Orthodox Church. (Putin’s campaign to return to the presidency was backed “clearly, if informally,” by the leader of the church, Patriarch Kirill.) The cathedral performance was part of a lively protest movement that at its peak saw 100,000 people turn out for rallies in Moscow, some of the largest in Russia since the demise of the USSR. The illicit Pussy Riot concert lasted less than a minute and you can watch it on YouTube. The police were called, no arrests were made, no charges were filed.
Then, a few weeks later the three women— Maria Alyokhina, 24; Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22; and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — were arrested, imprisoned and repeatedly refused bail on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility. Despite having small children at home and having been charged with non-violent offenses, the women have been held in prison ever since, which is not the norm in Russia. More alarming, due to the face masks the group wears, it’s not entirely certain that the women are in Pussy Riot (two of the women have denied it). And if they are in the group, it’s unclear whether they were actually at the protest at the church. It’s as if, as Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian put it, “The Russian government has gone and arrested an idea and is prosecuting through the courts with a vindictiveness the Russian people haven’t before seen.” The women have plead not guilty.
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While state-run television is filled with images denouncing the women’s crimes, and many in Russia’s religious community are satisfied by the state’s reaction to the prank, the women’s imprisonment has galvanized the anti-Putin movement in Russia, whose members view the right to peaceful protest as paramount to a free society. Many others see the trial against the three women as trumped-up blasphemy charges, which should not stand in a putatively secular country. Reuters reports that outside the courthouse on Monday, supporters chanted, “Girls, we’re with you!” and “Victory!” as the women were escorted into the courthouse for the first day of their trial. The Guardian mentions anti-government rallies, thousands strong, where Pussy Riot’s name was chanted loudly by supporters. An open letter condemning the trial was signed by more than 200 well-known public personalities, along with more than 41,000 Russian citizens. In St. Petersburg, an artist sewed his mouth shut to protest the musicians’ imprisonment. Prominent Russian actors, directors and musicians have urged the authorities to release the group. Amnesty International has recognized Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich as prisoners of conscience. Speaking with The Guardian, Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper, the co-founder of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, eloquently explained why the Pussy Riot trial has drawn the attention of Russians and the international press:

“Because they are so young. Because they have children. Because what they have done is so unimportant and silly and has all of a sudden become so huge because of this disproportionate reaction. Because it touches so strangely on so many things, and this is where it becomes an event of almost historic proportions. It touches everything: the church and the state, believers and non-believers, the judge and the tsar, and this Russian thing that never ever ends.”

Outside of Russia, Pussy Riot has some very outspoken supporters—especially in the music community—who see the band as kindred spirits and are trying to draw more attention to the group’s plight. “Creating visibility from abroad is essential right now for these women, as well as for the future of the Russian government and people,” said JD Samson of Le Tigre and Men via email. “As a feminist activist and artist and as an activist and artist in general, it is my duty to help people gain understanding of the Pussy Riot story so that I can help spread the word as far as possible. The more individuals across the country who understand what is happening in Russia, and the more people who can relate to each personal story, the more we can rise up and defend our sisters’ freedoms.”
It’s a sentiment that Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney and The Corin Tucker Band echoes, “As an artist in the U.S. I’ve always had the privilege of free speech to voice my opinions and my viewpoints as a part of my work. We need to use our voices now to raise the alarm that these women cannot be imprisoned for expressing their political beliefs.” Musicians as diverse as Sting, Franz Ferdinand and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have all publicly criticized the women’s arrest. Pussy Riot’s lawyer, Mark Feigin, told the Moscow Times this week that Chili Peppers’ lead singer Anthony Kiedis is talking to Bono and Madonna to enlist their help as well. Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz (a.k.a. Ad Rock) made his first public performance after the death of his band mate, Adam Yauch, to DJ a benefit for Pussy Riot.
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The mobilization of the music industry around Pussy Riot trial harks back to the roots of punk. ”Our performance contained no aggression toward the public — only a desperate desire to change the situation in Russia for the better,” said defendant Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in her statement to the court. Music — especially folk and punk songs — has long been a means of demanding political or societal change. Whether it’s Bikini Kill urging “Reject All American,”  Against Me! singing about “The Politics of Starving,” The Sex Pistols calling for anarchy, or Iggy Pop and the Stooges taking a stance against the Vietnam War in “Search and Destroy,” punk and politics have always gone hand in hand. This is why the plight of Pussy Riot strikes a chord within the community, especially among women in the scene.
“I can’t help but feel spoiled as a western musician when I think about these women my age that are in jail and in hiding,” said Hannah Lew of Grass Widow in an email. “I think in the midst of our aesthetic politics as American artists, we can know that Pussy Riot is starving in jail right now for the demand that we could all live in a world where we can freely express ourselves.” Amy Klein, from the band Titus Andronicus (whose nonprofit organization, Permanent Wave, has been holding fundraisers for the jailed women) told Mother Jones, “The arts have always served the purpose of shining a light on and critiquing dominant ways of thinking, and if we can’t have that be true all over the world, then it’s sort of — what’s the point in having artists anyway?”
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Grass Widow’s Lew says that American artists should be inspired by Pussy Riot to act, “We have ultimate freedom of speech, but it is the utilization of this freedom that I think we often fall short within. Many American artists seem more intent on furthering their celebrity than using their positioning and opportunity to express any discontent.” Portia Sabin of Kill Rock Stars records agrees. “I’m inspired by these women and the stand they’re taking,” she said in an email. “I wish more of us felt able to overcome our complacency and exercise our right to engage in nonviolent protest. That’s how we change the world.” Which is exactly what Pussy Riot wants to do, but to foment that kind of change on a global scale, they need help. In their own words:

“Pussy Riot has to keep on expanding. That’s one of the reasons we choose to always wear balaclavas — new members can join the bunch and it does not really matter who takes part in the next act — there can be three of us or eight, like in our last gig on the Red Square, or even 15. Pussy Riot is a pulsating and growing body. Do you know anyone who wants to come to Moscow, play illegal concerts, and help us fight Putin and Russian chauvinists? Or maybe they could start their own local Pussy Riot, if Russia is too cold and too far.”

Bikini Kill’s Vail agrees, adding, “There will always be more anonymous participants. Pussy Riot chapters are springing up all over the world to draw attention to the trial. Who knows what they will do next?” Anyone know where to buy a bright pink balaclava?