Pussy Riot – Nadya Tolokonnikova enters the courtroom vowing resistance. (GQ Magazine)
GQ magazine has a fascinating interview with two of the three jailed members of Pussy Riot, the feminist punk collective in Russia. Charged with ”hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” - an absurd charge – for a guerrilla performance in a cathedral, a sham trial resulted in a two year jail sentence despite international protests.
Michael Idov was able to get questions to Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova, Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, and Yekaterina “Katya” Samutsevich through their lawyers. Katya’s responses were discovered but the answers of Nadya and Masha were smuggled out and they talk about the challenges of daily life in a Russian prison and the influence they have now that they are behind bars.
Just a small segment here – it’s worth reading the full interview:
GQ: This is perhaps an insensitive question, but what’s more useful for the progressive movement in Russia right now: Pussy Riot at large or Pussy Riot in jail?
Nadya: We will know the answer only after the next wave of protests. I would love to see that, even imprisoned, we can still be useful and inspiring. In any case, I’m happy I got two years. For every person with a functioning brain, this verdict is so dumb and cruel that it removes any lingering illusions about Putin’s system. It’s a verdict on the system.Masha: At large, of course. That’s why the authorities don’t want to let us out. But we still have things to say, and we still want to say them. And even locked up, we’re not doing too bad of a job.
“We couldn’t even imagine that the authorities would be so dumb that they would actually legitimize our influence by arresting us. Sure, they tried to intimidate us constantly. But unlike Putin, we’re not chickenshit.”
Back on February 21st, they stepped into an area outside the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and sang an anti-Putin protest song. The lyrics included:
“Holy Mother, Virgin, drive Putin away
The KGB head, their (the Orthodox Church priests’) chief saint
Takes protesters to prison under convoy
Shit, shit, the Lord’s shit
Patriarch Gundyai (Kirill Gundyaev) believes in Putin
The bitch had better believe in God.”
It was less than two weeks before the elections of March 4, held during massive street protests, where Putin was returned to power. It was a provocative performance, an expression of a younger generation and growing middle class increasingly connected through the digital revolution and wanting change. Russia is not much in the news this month, but the undercurrents of change are still swirling through the country.
They should not be forgotten.
