I've waited quite a few weeks to do this blog post; partly because I wanted to wait and see what happened leading up to the trial, but also partly because I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing. I haven't even tweeted about it.
I'm sure you all know the ins and outs by now, but here's a run down of the story so far, as I'm more than aware that some of you aren't...
An all-female balaclava-donning Russian punk rock group provocatively named "Pussy Riot" were arrested and charged with "hooliganism" in March this year for the crime of praying in church. Ok, that is a simplification, but it is still the basic fact.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich entered Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in February and, uninvited, went on the altar to offer a "punk prayer" to the Virgin Mary. The women asked Mary to save Russia from Putin who is running once again for president in the upcoming elections. They face trial today, 12pm BST, in the Tagansky District Court.
Here's a video of what went down:
For this brief disruption, Pussy Riot have been imprisoned for the last six months and face a sentence of three more years in jail. The Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state have taken the action of these three girls very (ridiculously) seriously and now the whole world is involved and celebrities such as Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney are calling for their freedom.
Basically, they are opposed to the Church's support of Vladimir Putin who has been shutting down freedom of protest and speech in Russia at an alarming rate. This whole Pussy Riot thing is only one case of many- it has just been blown way out of proportion and now the whole world's involved.
One of the reasons they chose the Church to stage their protest was to p*ss off Patriarch Kirill- the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Kirill is basically funded by Putin, and is so blinded by his financial donations that he has even coined Putin a "miracle of God". GOOD.
There was actually a funny incident where Kirill was seen with a $40,000 watch which they later tried to photoshop out of a picture to try and play-down his not-so-humble religious leader lifestyle. Brilliant!
They've been treated pretty badly in police custody; but lack of food, long transfers in cramped police vans and a lack of privacy to prepare defence with a lawyer, are apparently all standard practice in Russia. It's only because this case has secured so much media attention that people have been made aware of it.
I want everyone to know that I obviously think their treatment is completely unjust and their message and actions have been completely over-exaggerated (Kirill even stated them to be "a threat to Russian statehood"!). Just so we're all clear- I want them to be freed too.
The (not funny) irony behind this situation is that one of the things Pussy Riot are protesting against is the lack of fair trials in Russia. They assert that all legal trials are actually decided by Putin himself, and not the legal system. Unfortunately, it would seem that Putin will more than likely decide their verdict as well. Although, Vladimir Putin did say last week (as a warning to the court?) that he thought the women should not be judged "too severely"
NOW, the problem I have with the whole thing is that I can't support all of their motives... Obviously, getting Putin out of government is something I firmly support; but praying to the Virgin Mary to make it happen? Futile. Here are some translated lyrics to their song:
Punk-Prayer "Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away"
(chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away
(end chorus)
...
Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners crawl to bow
The phantom of liberty is in heaven
Gay-pride sent to Siberia in chains
The head of the KGB, their chief saint,
Leads protesters to prison under escort
In order not to offend His Holiness
Women must give birth and love
Shit, shit, the Lord's shit!
Shit, shit, the Lord's shit!
(Chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist
Become a feminist, become a feminist
(end chorus)
The Church’s praise of rotten dictators
The cross-bearer procession of black limousines
A teacher-preacher will meet you at school
Go to class - bring him money!
Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin
Bitch, better believe in God instead
The belt of the Virgin can’t replace mass-meetings
Mary, Mother of God, is with us in protest!
(Chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Рut Putin away, put Putin away
(end chorus)
I just don't think that the answer to all of Russia's problems is try to separate the Church from the rule of Putin. Really, Pussy Riot's main message is that Jesus would be opposed to the Church's affiliation with Putin, and they must break away from his rule.
What they're saying is that Putin is corrupting the Church, and it's not what Jesus would want. So the whole thing is motivated by religion. In my opinion, the Church is worse than Putin, and if it were a choice between religion or Putin, I would take Putin. He is far less dangerous long-term in comparison to religion.
Also, it simply hasn't (and won't) happen. Whilst Patriarch Kirill is head of the Church, they will always have political ties to Putin- and whilst the Church has political ties to Putin, so will the majority of Russia.
This is a direct example of how a corrupt, money-grabbing religious leader is able to brainwash a large proportion of a nation, even to the extent of supporting a Stalin-esque government, through religious blackmail. Literally incredible. Religion is the problem.
This is why I will never support any religious motivation.
I do rate what they've done, and I do think they were smart. They obviously knew the controversy it would cause, and yes, they've been treated really badly (way worse than I'm sure even they expected)- but the outcome probably couldn't have worked out any better. Attention has been drawn worldwide to Putin's terrible leadership, furthermore the treatment of prisoners in Russia, and most importantly they have made it acceptable for Russians to speak out against him; even if it is just by using them as a scapegoat. Ridiculously admirable.
I wanted to post this before the trial verdict to try and encourage those of you who didn't know much about it to keep your eyes on the trial today. I've had a few people ask me recently why people were hash-tagging "PussyRiot" on Twitter (like it was a funny joke). Hopefully it makes more sense now.
There's also loads more to it, so I would definitely urge you to do some more research if you are interested. This post turned out to be so long (sorry about that) that I couldn't include everything I would have liked to.
L.
