Pussy Riot: unmasked contempt for authority
It’s Pussy about famous Riot, time. the for feminist staging noisy punk public art collective protests in of colorful President balaclavas Vladimir Putin in its native Russia, is on its first ever American tour. Having faced prison time and persecution back home, founding members Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina remain undaunted, with plans to perform a pair of shows at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 28. Here’s a look back on how the group caught the world’s attention:
2012
February: Five members of the Pussy Riot collective overtake the altar at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. The group uses its 40 seconds at the pulpit (before being chased out by security guards) to perform high kicks and condemn the Russian Orthodox Church’s support of Putin with the expletive-laced song called “Virgin Mary, Drive Putin Away.” March: Despite the international attention drawn to the church by a video of the raucous performance, which appears on YouTube on the same day, clergy members do not appreciate the free publicity. Weeks after the stunt, Alyokhina, then 24, Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, are arrested and charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They are held without bail. April: As Amnesty International calls for the band members’ release and celebrities like Bjork, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, U2 and Paul McCartney throw their support behind Pussy Riot, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow holds a prayer service outside the church and accuses the group of desecrating holy relics. Thousands of worshipers attend the service.
August:
During her concert in Moscow, Madonna speaks up on behalf of Pussy Riot. “I think that they have done something courageous,” she says. “I pray for their freedom.” It doesn’t work. After being held without bail until their trial in late July, the three activists are sentenced to two years in prison. The ruling draws further protests as it suggests the newly re-elected Putin (who, for the record, says the three women “should not be judged too harshly”) is growing more intolerant of dissent.
October:
Samutsevich is unexpectedly released by an appeals court because it is determined she was thrown out of the church by guards before she could engage in the offensive performance. Despite the vocal support of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are sent to remote Russian penal colonies far away from their young children to serve their sentences. Putin hardens his stance on the group, noting, “They got what they asked for.”
2013 September:
With their parole requests denied, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova start hunger strike protests. They complain of abuses by the prison staff, and are forced to spend time in solitary confinement and the medical ward.
December:
Shortly before Christmas, the two are released under a new amnesty law signed by the Russian parliament that extends to thousands of prisoners. They vow to keep protesting as members of Pussy Riot, disparaging the release as a public relations effort by the Kremlin ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics in February 2014.
2014 February:
A Cossack militia attacks members of Pussy Riot with horsewhips as the collective attempts to perform under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympic Games. No one is arrested, but during the ensuing chaos, which is once again filmed for an international audience, several group members are violently whipped and subdued by pepper spray while Cossacks rip off their masks and throw Pussy Riot’s guitar in a garbage can.
2015
Pussy Riot releases its first English language song, “I Can’t Breathe,” in tribute to Eric Garner, the African American man who died in a choke hold during a confrontation with New York police. On the single, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are backed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Andrew Wyatt of Swedish electro-pop act Miike Snow, as well as punk icon Richard Hell.
2016
Pussy Riot attempts to warn the United States of a potential Trump victory and, two weeks before the presidential election, releases a video for its song “Make America Great Again,” depicting the soonto-be president ruling through torture and beatings. The song is included on the band’s three-song EP, “XXX,” which also includes the tracks “Straight Outta Vagina” and “Organs.”
2017
Pussy Riot stages the world premiere of its theatrical show, “Revolution,” based on Alyokhina’s experiences in the group, at the Lodge at the Regency Center in San Francisco. Tolokonnikova returns to the city later in the year to speak at a California Institute of Integral Studies event, urging grassroots activism. “You have to be smart, while your president is so dumb,” she says.
2018
The group launches its first ever North American tour, bringing its anti-fascist, anti-Trump message to the heartland. “There is power in doing what we want, and not what they want,” Tolokonnikova tells the crowd in Boise, Idaho, according to the Associated Press. “Thank you for supporting us.”