Contemplate Pussy Riot (Masha Gessen in L.A.)

CC Liu, Irma Quintero, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; LFLA; Johnny Whiteside (laweekly.com)

Balaclava-clad Pussy Riot portraiture (theguardian.com)

 

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.

 

Nadezhda Nadia Tolokonnikova, the young mother who became the face of Pussy Riot

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]

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].

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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"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