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| Balaclava-clad Pussy Riot portraiture (theguardian.com) |
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| Pussy Rioting at Mark Taper (C.D. Sinyakov) |
When rebel collective Pussy Riot took its court-banned "Punk Prayer"* into Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior two years ago, it was not a gimmicky stunt but a legitimate act of revolution.
Prompted by Pres. Vladimir Putin's cynical, ongoing, and deeply manipulative embrace of the church and its national congregation -- essentially and outrageously reducing the culture of Eastern Orthodox Christianity to a propaganda wing for his oppressive regime -- Pussy Riot was compelled to protest.
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| Nadezhda Nadia Tolokonnikova, the young mother who became the face of Pussy Riot |
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| American Pussy Riot supporters (P.J. Richards) |
Rarely have art and agitation collided so memorably. This visit from Russian-born journalist-author Masha Gessen, discussing her new book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, should be a profoundly, mmm, arresting affair. The Pussy Riot phenom is far more complex and genuinely radical than the facile carnival of DayGlo balaclavas and whip-wielding Cossacks that the mainstream media gleefully serve up.
- The feminists of Pussy Riot and Femen stand up to Putin
- FEMEN: Topless protesting for attention and change!
- Defending Putin's Propagandists [on the RT media outlet]
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| Anti-Putin protest (blog.foreignpolicy.com) |
And the outspoken, openly gay Gessen (author of 2012's scorching The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin) is the ideal voice to place the subject in its proper sociopolitical context [with the American losses in Sochi, the liberation of Ukraine, and the tug-of-war over Crimea].
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| Pussy Riot supporters, Germany (AFP) |
Gessen is joined in conversation by St. Mary's College Professor Suzi Weissman. Expect a thorough and illuminating dissection of this ardent, fearless, and endlessly admirable gang of stink stirrers.
[Remember anyone with a balaclava -- a colorful knitted ski mask -- can be a Pussy Riot activist. "Riot," according to Nadia, means an uprising, "upstart," a putsch as seen in Ukraine.]
TONIGHT: Los Angeles Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., downtown.; Wed., March 12, 2014, 7:15 p.m.; free, reservation required. (213) 228-7025, lfla.org.
*PUNK PRAYER: Saint Maria, Virg Yin, drive away Putin/Drive away! Drive away Putin!//Black robe, golden epaulets/All parishioners are crawling and bowing/The ghost of freedom is in heaven/Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains//The head of the KGB is their chief saint/Leads protesters to prison under escort/In order not to offend the Holy/Women have to give birth and to love//Holy shit, shit, Lord's shit!/Holy shit, shit, Lord's shit!//Saint Maria, Virgin, become a feminist/Become a feminist, Become a feminist//Church praises the rotten dictators/The cross-bearer procession of black limousines/In school you are going to meet with a teacher-preacher/Go to class -- bring him money!//Patriarch Gundyaev believes in Putin/Bitch, you better believe in God/Belt of the Virgin is no substitute for mass-meetings/In protest of our Ever-Virgin Mary!//Saint Maria, Virgin, drive away Putin!
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