[eddie1960]

Daily Kos: Two Years for Pussy Riot

ridiculous sentence for what in effect was a performance art protest

[Dachiko]

Im russian living in Russia, and this sentence is deeply hurt me, and alot other people in Russia. This is just a piece of big pattern, where ppl who are freely protest against putin and his toy party of crooks and thieves (united russia pary) has been jailed at best, or has been beaten to death by some unknown guys. Im too bad at english to discribe well what happens in our country. Actually, villages and small towns across the country dying out literally counts dozens every year. All, who can afford to move from Russia (and they a good specialists) doing it. Russia is dying out. Putin with his friends pumping out gas and oil from the country, and other their deeds are just curtain. They have all mass-media in the pocket, to ensure people who doesnt use internet vote for them.

Luckily a new generation (like me, 30 y.o.) has never lived in the socialism, so they began to understand, what is a democracy about, and the count of such a awakened mans grows rapidly. Internet has dramatically increased information availability. Now it is much easier to show to the world an evil deeds of cleptocrats. They cant even create some kind of "great firewall", because the money they pick out to it will be plundered by their subordinates and the result will be futile.

Theoretically i have an option to migrate from Russia, as im a programmer, and it is relatively easy for me to find a job outside my country. But i decided to live in my Izhevsk town to support the city from dying, while many of my friends already moved to Moscow, St. Peterburg, or even abroad.

[8540tomg]

ridiculous sentence for what in effect was a performance art protest

As a rule I'm all in favour of peaceful public protests. But after viewing Pussy Riot's so-called performance I thought the sentence was fairly lenient.

Tom G

[ihasa]

Im russian living in Russia, and this sentence is deeply hurt me, and alot other people in Russia. This is just a piece of big pattern, where ppl who are freely protest against putin and his toy party of crooks and thieves (united russia pary) has been jailed at best, or has been beaten to death by some unknown guys. Im too bad at english to discribe well what happens in our country. Actually, villages and small towns across the country dying out literally counts dozens every year. All, who can afford to move from Russia (and they a good specialists) doing it. Russia is dying out. Putin with his friends pumping out gas and oil from the country, and other their deeds are just curtain. They have all mass-media in the pocket, to ensure people who doesnt use internet vote for them.

Luckily a new generation (like me, 30 y.o.) has never lived in the socialism, so they began to understand, what is a democracy about, and the count of such a awakened mans grows rapidly. Internet has dramatically increased information availability. Now it is much easier to show to the world an evil deeds of cleptocrats. They cant even create some kind of "great firewall", because the money they pick out to it will be plundered by their subordinates and the result will be futile.

Theoretically i have an option to migrate from Russia, as im a programmer, and it is relatively easy for me to find a job outside my country. But i decided to live in my Izhevsk town to support the city from dying, while many of my friends already moved to Moscow, St. Peterburg, or even abroad.

You have my utmost respect. I've no doubt things will get better in Russia thanks to people like you, who are critical of the regime but refuse to abandon the country (a TRUE patriot) and activists like the Pussy Riot who get the message out however they can.

[boriscleto]

The Rude Pundit

The members of Pussy Riot know that their trial has done more to energize the free speech and protest movement in Russia, against the power-hungry Putin, in alliance with the church, than their music and performances alone. And the closing statements of the three women in their trial are ass-kicking acts of defiance against a government that seeks to silence dissent.

Yekatarina Semutsevich talked about Putin's manipulation of people by using the church: "Why did Putin feel the need to exploit the Orthodox religion and its aesthetic? After all, he could have employed his own, far more secular tools of power—for example, the state-controlled corporations, or his menacing police system, or his obedient judicial system. It may be that the harsh, failed policies of Putin’s government, the incident with the submarine Kursk, the bombings of civilians in broad daylight, and other unpleasant moments in his political career forced him to ponder the fact that it was high time to resign; that otherwise, the citizens of Russia would help him do this. Apparently, it was then that he felt the need for more persuasive, transcendent guarantees of his long tenure at the pinnacle of power. It was then that it became necessary to make use of the aesthetic of the Orthodox religion, which is historically associated with the heyday of Imperial Russia, where power came not from earthly manifestations such as democratic elections and civil society, but from God Himself."

Maria Alyokhina attacked Russian society, particularly the conformist approach of her schooling: "And right here, in this closing statement, I would like to describe my firsthand experience of running afoul of this system. Our schooling, which is where the personality begins to form in a social context, effectively ignores any particularities of the individual. There is no 'individual approach,' no study of culture, of philosophy, of basic knowledge about civic society. Officially, these subjects do exist, but they are still taught according to the Soviet model. And as a result, we see the marginalization of contemporary art in the public consciousness, a lack of motivation for philosophical thought, and gender stereotyping. The concept of the human being as a citizen gets swept away into a distant corner. Today’s educational institutions teach people, from childhood, to live as automatons. Not to pose the crucial questions consistent with their age. They inculcate cruelty and intolerance of nonconformity. Beginning in childhood, we forget our freedom."

And finally, and perhaps most eloquently, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova took sympathy on the prosecutors: "Despite the fact that we are physically here, we are freer than everyone sitting across from us on the side of the prosecution. We can say anything we want and we say everything we want. The prosecution can only say what they are permitted to by political censorship. They can’t say 'punk prayer,' 'Our Lady, Chase Putin Out,' they can’t utter a single line of our punk prayer that deals with the political system. Perhaps they think that it would be good to put us in prison because we speak out against Putin and his regime. They don’t say so, because they aren’t allowed to. Their mouths are sewn shut. Unfortunately, they are only here as dummies. But I hope they realize this and ultimately pursue the path of freedom, truth, and sincerity, because this path is superior to the path of complete stagnation, false modesty, and hypocrisy. Stagnation and the search for truth are always opposites, and in this case, in the course of this trial, we see on the one side people who attempt to know the truth, and on the other side people who are trying to fetter them."

The fact that the words of Pussy Riot could be used, with very few changes, about our own political and social systems and level of civic engagement, that we are no longer a nation that can hear something about oppression from other countries and think, "That's not us," is sad beyond words. The biggest difference? In Russia, there have been protests and riots against the treatment of the band. If it had happened here, we'd just roll over and figure that they deserved what was coming.

[Sandy Hancock]

There is, and will continue to be, international outrage at this heavy-handed repression of free speech.
Without a translation of the lyrics, all I can say is that the music is not to my taste (and I like a lot of punk), but I will defend to the death their right to sing it.

[Na Horuk]

So two years in a modern gulag for entering a church and saying some stuff.
What they said wasn't even anything terrible or offensive, just sarcastic and funny. The problem is that Russia is really pumping up the nationalism and their state church. This way they get to control the people and distract them from the socio-economic problems they are facing. And keep in mind, the church there was never as forbidden as the west likes to think. Some churches there now sell emblems of Stalin as a saint. Stalin himself was in school to become a priest, but then dropped out to become a dictator lol
Russia, as isolated as it is culturally, still has a big effect on the rest of the world. Its a huge country, it produces a lot of stuff that gets exported, everything from gas to grain. Recently it is also rewriting its own history. All of these things put together paint a pretty gloomy picture.

[eddie1960]

Recently it is also rewriting its own history..

Russia has been rewriting it's history since the time of the czars
This even just shows how little they have progressed since the so called communist(which was about as far from Communist doctrine as you could get) regime

[deejjjaaaa]

I see that the female band was convicted of "hooliganism." I've never understood this crime, which I often read about in certain communist countries. China abolished this dubious crime in 1997. China’s last hooliganism convict, should convict continue serving his sentence for a repealed law? | ChinaHush Is this a translation problem, or has Russia really gone back to using this vague crime?

well, well dear - here is our friends from UK, for example

Intentional harassment, alarm or distress - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[deejjjaaaa]

There is, and will continue to be, international outrage at this heavy-handed repression of free speech.
Without a translation of the lyrics, all I can say is that the music is not to my taste (and I like a lot of punk), but I will defend to the death their right to sing it.

here is your compatriot to defend = Gerald Fredrick Töben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, did you ?

[GeneV]

well, well dear - here is our friends from UK, for example

Intentional harassment, alarm or distress - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That is a better defined crime, without the vagueness that has been historically associated with "hooliganism." The latter term is generally a catch-all charge for prosecuting unapproved behavior. Much depends upon how it is interpreted in the UK, but harassment laws here require an intent to cause distress, fear or harm directed at a particular person beyond the annoyance experience when someone is expressing an unpopular view. The UK law and similar laws here would be petty crimes which would never send one to jail for 2 years.

[boriscleto]

Bill Hicks: Hooligans Vs. Bloods (NSFW)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=bill%20hicks%20hooligans&source=web&c...olltMwn8Lw968g

So I'm over there in England, you know, trying to get news about the riots... and all these Brit people are trying to sympathize with me... 'Oh Bill, crime is horrible. Bill, if it's any consolation crime is horrible here, too.' ...Shutup. This is Hobbiton and I am Bilbo Hicks, Okay? This is a land of fairies and elves. You do not have crime like we have crime, but I appreciate you trying to be, you know, Diplomatic. You gotta see English crime. It's hilarious, you don't know if you're reading the front page or the comic section over there. I swear to God. I read an article front page of the paper one day, in England, 'Yesterday, some Hooligans knocked over a dustbin in Shafsbry.' ...Wooooo. 'The hooligans are loose! The hooligans are loose! ...What if they become roughians? I would hate to be a dustbin in Shafsbry tonight. (to the tune of "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who) No one knows what it's like... to be a dustbin... in Shafsbry... with hooligans...' What the HELL are you talkin' about? Hooligans? Roughians? Speak English! It's Crypt, Blood. I mean, I'm sure it's a serious thing, Hooligans, but it just sounds stupid, doesn't it? I picture a bunch of pale guys with pennyloafers and no socks. (to a tune) 'We're the hooligans!' (Sound of knocking dustbin over) 'Come here, you ****ers, come here.' 'Nope! Got-to catch us! If you corner me I might become a scalliwag!' ...It doesn't sound scary at all, does it? They have proper crime there. I'd love to put the hooligans up against the Bloods in LA... that would be a short gang battle. (To a tune, again) 'We're the hooligans!' (sound of dustbin knocking over)-- (boom boom boom *gunshots*). '...huh? Hoola-somethin', I didn't catch it all. Motha****a danced up to me and patted me on the head. Pale motha****a, look at that thing.' It wouldn't be a long gang battle. I'm bettin' on the Bloods.

[eddie1960]

Bill Hicks: Hooligans Vs. Bloods (NSFW)

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=bill%20hicks%20hooligans&source=web&c...olltMwn8Lw968g

LMAO very funny. UK crime is definitely not on the level of a crips blood gang war in the states
there are however some areas in London (and elsewhere) that are pretty rough. the differentiating factor being the general lack of guns so you may end up badly beaten or stabbed but not dead of a gunshot that wasn't even meant for you (not many people die of stray knife wounds or wildly aimed cricket bats ). sure there are guns but not many and ammo is limited so no-one who has them goes winding off rounds for a perceived slight. they beat you senseless instead

[ihasa]

Hey but as 'a certain forum member' is always saying, the UK is a hotbed of violent crime, thanks to our lack of gun-ownership.

Are you saying he might be... wrong?

[eddie1960]

Hey but as 'a certain forum member' is always saying, the UK is a hotbed of violent crime, thanks to our lack of gun-ownership.

Are you saying he might be... wrong?

well when you quote murder maps for London that go back to the 1700's to get numbers approaching Detroit say you are stretching things a bit i think

edit of course i could be proved wrong when i visit in september, maybe i should look at the map for problem spots again