Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Pussy Riot's NEW music video takes on lawyer

Friday, February 5, 2016

Pussy Riot's NEW music video takes on lawyer

Kenny Sokan (PRI, Feb. 4, 2016); Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; PussyRiotVideo (youtube.com); (animated Putin video); BBC Newsnight; The Guardian

Feminists strike at the empire: punk rock troublemakers Pussy Riot take a stand.

The US is full of Pussy Riot supporters, cheerleaders, and even a few activists (scpr.org).

Nadya, Feb. 4, 2012 protest (Denis Bochkarev)

Russian punk activist band Pussy Riot is back on the scene with a music video that mocks Russian [District Attorney] General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika.

Lyrics refer to corruption accusations made against him last year by opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The video, which is filmed at multiple locations in Moscow, stars [Pussy Riot founder] Nadya Tolokonnikova as Chaika, with women dressed in blue prosecutor uniforms dancing around while they abuse and torture restrained prisoners.

The satirical video comments on the Kremlin, Russia's justice system, and President [and billionaire dictator] Vladimir Putin.

Wish I'd not approved this propaganda cartoon.

After completing an investigation, Navalny released a short documentary online -- released again in English. It accuses senior Russian prosecutors of having ties to gangsters. The video, now at more than 5,000,000 views, according to The Guardian (UK), points the finger at Chaika for graft, having secret holdings abroad, and using his position to help his sons cultivate their large business empire while covering up their connections to the Tsapok gang.

(BBC Newsnight) Russian opposition activist and blogger Alexei Navalny has several short spells in prison under his belt. His brother, Oleg, is in jail now on what critics say are trumped-up charges. Mr. Navalny spoke to BBC Newsnight's John Sweeney about the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and his fight to free Russia from corruption.

Fight the power, says Pussy Rioter Nadya

Attorney Chaika has denied the allegations and claimed Navalny was "encouraged" to make the film and that she was financed by an outside source. Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor for slander and damage to reputation, but it was dismissed by a district court in Moscow in December.

The lyrics -- "Be humble, learn to obey, don't worry about material stuff. Be loyal to those in power, 'cause power is a gift from God," and "You wanna get a way with murder? Be loyal to your boss" -- are repeated throughout the video.

The rise of Pussy Riot balaclavas (facebook.com/PyssyRiotTheDocumentary)

I like sexy little boys, not riots (AP).

Charles Maynes, a Moscow based reporter, says "The lyrics kind of serve as [a] warning to you if you get in the grips of the Kremlin. It's not very pleasant."

Maynes says there is evidence to support Navalny's claims against Chaika. A Transparency International report released last year scored countries on their "perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)." Russia ranked 119 out of 168 countries with a score of 29. This ranking was worse than many of Russia's neighboring countries.

Maynes also pointed to the great wealth Putin's friends and associates have acquired over the last decade as indicative of government corruption.

To combat these claims a pro-government organization, which Maynes believes was created by Putin himself, put out a series of animated videos. In them Putin is shown executing government officials accused of corruption. More

Pussy Riot: Sex, Art, and Vlad Putin
(The Guardian UK) Pussy Riot's Nadya and Masha talk to Luke Harding about sex, art, disobedience, and Vlad Putin at a Guardian Live event in London. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina told The Guardian's former Moscow correspondent Harding about trial, prison, and future.