Free Pussy Riot

Yep. It was funny when it first appeared months ago in the “international” section of our paper. Pussy Riot is an awesome name for a band. Turns out it’s also serious news and the case of three punk rockers is setting itself to define Vladimir Putin’s third term as President, not to mention the state of the entire Russian nation.

Putin’s re-election was regarded with suspicion throughout the world. The only world leaders who did not receive Putin’s re-election cooly were China’s Hu Jintao, Pakistan’s Asif Azi Zardari, and Hugo Chavez. Manmoham Singh, the Prime Minister of India, was the only of Putin’s congratulators who was democratically elected himself, to give you an idea of the kind of company Putin keeps.

If you haven’t been reading the news, here’s how it all started: Three members of a punk rock co-operative called Pussy Riot showed up at Moscow’s Church of Christ the Savior in February, crossed themselves and started singing an anti-Putin song called “A Punk Prayer”. They were wearing brightly colored masks and tights, which is the typical stage wear for Pussy Riot.

And they were led out the door and arrested a couple days later. Pussy Riot used footage to make a video for “A Punk Prayer”:

So it’s not great. Wayne Campbell would dismiss it as “bogus Soviet rock”. It’s still pretty awesome, and more courageous than anything any punk has done in this country since, well, ever.

And, to be clear, these three women are looking at a potential seven year term in prison. Russian prison. Until Putin’s recent remarks at the Olympic games in London, it seemed like the court’s decision was a foregone conclusion, but all best are off now that the President has called for lenience.  Surely the decision will be made far from the Mickey Mouse court in which the women are subjected to the daily humiliation of sitting in a little glass cage.

I can’t say I agree with their choice to take their protest to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, but they’re willing to derail their entire lives and I have an enormous respect for their courage. Besides, it’s no single person’s place to judge which protests are worthy and which aren’t. A similar protest here in quiet, reserved Minnesota would probably merit a suspended sentence, community service and maybe a civil fine. All that seems reasonable compared to the specter of a seven year sentence.

I hope celebrity attention will keep this case in the news – even though I usually make fun of Sting I have to admit “he’s a good digger”. None of these three women deserve to spend another day behind bars, let alone seven years, and the rest of us don’t deserve another nineteenth-century autocratic regime.