"Pussy Riot" coming to L.A. (Masha Gessen)

Amber Larson, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; ALOUD (lfla.org)

"I was my own person again" (Slate.com)

Pussy Riot, the feminist art collective and sometime punk band, is author Masha Gessen's new obsession -- after exposing Pres. Vlad Putin.

A full discussion of their story as well as that of the Dictator That Could (Vladimir Putin) will take place this Wednesday in the Los Angeles Central Library.

Nadia's hunger strike (theguardian.com)

On Wednesday, March 12, 2014 (7:15 pm, Mark Taper Auditorium, Central Library, downtown Los Angeles) ALOUD welcomes author Masha Gessen (Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot) in conversation with St. Mary’s College Professor of politics Suzi Weissman.

• 5 Free Things to do in L.A. this Week (LA Weekly)

Tortured and tormented in custody (AFP)

On February 21, 2012 five young women entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow wearing neon-colored dresses, tights, and balaclavas (knitted face masks) to perform “A Punk Prayer” beseeching the “Mother of God” to “get rid of Putin.” 

American activists stand up for Pussy Riot

What transformed a group of young women into a collective of artists with a shared vision, and what gave them the courage to express that vision and to deal with the subsequently devastating outcomes?

 

Through the trial of three feminist punk band Pussy Riot members, Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen, author of Putin: The Man Without a Face, tells a larger story about Vladimir Putin’s Russia, with its state-controlled media, pervasive corruption, and pliant judiciary. [The free event is RSVP only and sold out, but there may be standby seating.]

 

HBO Documentaries: "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer"

  

“I Was My Own Person Again”

Collective of balaclava-clad artists

The women of Pussy Riot made meaning out of a horrific experience in prison. Now, they’re launching another protest movement in Russia. Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova try to talk about other inmates more than they do about themselves, in part because they are now free, and in part because they feel they were ultimately in a privileged position in prison. What they have disclosed of their experience opens the window on the hell that is the life of a Russian inmate. More

Pussy Riot on the Olympics (video)

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org

Olympics in gay Russian resort city Sochi (Adam Pretty/Getty Images/scpr.org)

Welcome, comrades. Read the rules, same as London, plus a few more (mashable.com).

 

Art collective activist Nadia (W)

Two freed members of the Russian activist feminist art collective Pussy Riot made their first public appearance in the United States yesterday after being released from prison (gulag) in December. 

 

Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, both mothers, served nearly all of their two-year sentences for protesting Russian leader Vladimir Putin inside an Orthodox Christian cathedral in Red Square. Shortly after they arrived in New York, the two Pussy Riot members spoke at a news conference organized by Amnesty International.

 

Arrested members (Fresh Air/WWHY/NPR)

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman asked them about the upcoming Olympics in Sochi. She also asked, If you each had one question to pose to President Obama and President Putin, what it would be?

 

"In regards to President Obama, I would say it’s not a question, but more of a call, and this call or appeal is to not be afraid to publicly say your thoughts about what you feel is happening in Russia once you are there during your next visit," Tolokonnikova said. "The question to Vladimir Putin: Aren’t you sick of it all?"

 

INTERVIEW
Amy Goodman: Welcome, Masha and Nadia, to the United States. On this eve of the Olympics in Sochi, what message do you have for Americans? And if you had a chance to ask both of our leaders one question, President Obama and President Putin, what would you ask each of them?

 

The Russian Orthodox Church hates P.R.

Maria Alyokhina: [translated] As well as we know, the position of the American political leadership towards the Olympic Games, it’s something like a boycott. But, of course, we’re talking here about the political leadership, not about U.S. citizens who will of course be in Russia during these games. So it’s important to make a statement towards these people, American citizens who will be in Sochi. We would like for Americans to really look at Russia and see Russia beyond the images of Olympic objects and buildings. These objects have no relation to Russia; they are foreign objects in Russia. The only thing which connects these objects to the country is taxpayer money, which has been stolen and which has been used to build up these Olympic objects.

 

P.R. loves PR as in public relations (Bochkarev)

Nadia Tolokonnikova: [translated] So, in regards to President Obama, I would say it’s not a question, but more of a call. And this call and appeal is to not be afraid to publicly say your thoughts about what you feel is happening in Russia, once you are there during your next visit. The question to Vladimir Putin: Aren’t you sick of it all?

Buzzfeed Reporter: So you guys started out as performance artists before becoming the activists that we know today because of your experience. What do you think you can achieve through activism that you couldn’t achieve through performance art? And will we ever see you as artists again? More

Russia hires Shamans to ensure snow (video)

R-sport (en.rsport.ru, Dec. 2, 2013); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

VIDEO: The Olympic flame was welcomed in by shamans and village folk in Yakutsk with the algys traditional rite. The torch-bearers rode on caribous and on dog sleds (RIA Novosti).

 

Modern shaman (hamidsardar.com)

GORNO-ALTAISK, Russia - Not content to merely watch the weather forecast, Russia’s winter Olympic organizers took matters into their own hands Monday, arranging for dozens of shamans to pray for snow in Sochi.

 

As the record-breaking 65,000-kilometer torch relay entered Russia’s remote Asian region of Altai, where ancient shamanism is still popular, traditional holy men and women greeted the Olympic flame in full traditional dress.

 

Siberian shaman 1692 (Nicolaes Witsen)

“Altai shamans held a special ceremony to make sure everything’s fine with the snow at the Games in Sochi,” Olympic organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said on Twitter.

 

A lack of snow forced the cancellation of some test events in February, putting the weather into focus as a possible problems for the February 7-23, 2014 Olympics.

 

Sochi snow (Anton Denisov/RIA Novosti)

Fears of unseasonably warm weather in the Caucasus Mountains have prompted organizers to store nearly half a million cubic meters of snow in huge refrigerated reservoirs ready for deployment on the ski slopes if the clouds fail.

 

The Vancouver 2010 Games were afflicted by spring-like conditions, and snow had to be trucked into Cypress Mountain ahead of the event.

• Olympic Chief: No snow deficit for Sochi
• AUDIO: Olympic snow: machines give nature a nudge (NPR)