Pussy Riot Trial: Anti-Putin Feminist Rockers Court Case At A Glance

[cali]

Source: Huffington Post



MOSCOW — Three Russian feminist rockers rejected charges of hooliganism for performing a "punk prayer" in Moscow's main cathedral against Vladimir Putin's return as president as a trial against them opened in earnest on Monday. The charges could carry a punishment of up to seven years in prison.

The three members of the Pussy Riot band – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 – have been in custody for five months since their February stunt. Their prosecution has caused a sharp public divide and drawn protests from rights groups who have declared them prisoners of conscience.

The trial began July 20 but the first sessions were devoted to procedural issues. On Monday, with the court turning to the substance of the case, Tolokonnikova and other defendants said in statements read by their lawyer that their goal was to express their resentment over Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill's support for Putin's rule.

They pleaded not guilty to the official charges of hooliganism driven by "religious hatred." Tolokonnikova said she felt sorry if some of the believers felt insulted by their act, but that they didn't mean to offend anyone. It wasn't clear how long the trial might last, but a court has recently ruled that the women should be kept in custody for another half-year. Two other participants in the performance haven't been identified and remain at large.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/pussy-riot-trial_n_1718449.html

[JNelson6563]

1. heh The incident in question...

[Berlum]

2. The Ruskis should get Pope Ratzinger (R) on the case

He knows how to handle uppity femmes.

[zonkers]

3. Lighten up Putin. It's just a little healthy dissent.

they should

[Igel]

5. It's wildly disrespectful

Chorus)

St. Maria, Virgin, Drive away Putin
Drive away! Drive away Putin!
(end chorus)

Black robe, golden epaulettes
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!

(Chorus)
St. Maria, Virgin, become a feminist
Become a feminist, Become a feminist
(end chorus)

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 believed in God
Belt of the Virgin is no substitute for mass-meetings
In protest of our Ever-Virgin Mary!

(Chorus)
St. Maria, Virgin, Drive away Putin
Drive away! Drive away Putin!

========

They took over sacred space and blasphemed against the believer's object of worship (or something similar to it). PR doesn't like the church. It offends them.

That they now say they didn't mean to offend anyone either means they're idiots (IQ < 30) or simple liars. Okay, they could be both, but that's unlikely. A more likely variant is that they're simply unable to see any viewpoint other than their own because they can't believe any other viewpoint could actually possibly exist--everybody is just like them, but either bullies, bribed, or deluded. There's a lot of that kind of specious thinking. And we thought racism and ethnocentrism were annoying.

Russian society has a lot of the "you're with me or against me" view. It's not a very sophisticated or intellectually demanding viewpoint, even if it can be taken as the defining characteristics of fields or countries. It's quite simple-minded, in fact. Given power, you destroy what's against you and help those who support you. Lenin liked religious minorities until he had power and they protested. Stalin hated Orthdoxy until he needed their support. Yeltsyn wasn't too horribly infected with this imbecilism, and before him you have to get back to Kerensky or Alexander II. Russian society's again infected with this view. Not just Putin. Russia isn't doing what this group of women firmly believe it should be doing? They're right, it's wrong, and those against them must submit, and start by acknowledging how right PR is. On the other hand, there's this group of women not doing what others believe it should be doing. They're right, the group of women is wrong, and those against society must submit. There's no middle way. There's no chance for a consensus. There's no give and take and few really want to talk--most dialog is a pretense for presenting and imposing views, not listening and understanding. There are just alternate messiahs, lots of little Stalin wannabes firmly convinced--as was Stalin--that he had history on his side, was utterly right in his goals, and that the humanitarianism of his goals justified some minor excesses.

The collective of Pussy Riot--some punk rockers, some very much not punk rockers--are mostly dorks.

[booley]

6. so how does this justify up to 8 years in prison?

Yeah it is kind of silly for Pussy Riot to say they didn't know they would offend anyone.

But I think that's probably because they have finally grokked that they live in a totalitarian state, They may have understood this intellectually but now they have to feel what it can do and they want to avoid it.

So lets get back to the main point here.

Even if Pussy riot said they did mean to offend someone (because dissent is always offensive to someone) is that worth years in prison?

Even if they are found innocent, they still will have spent a year in prison ..

..because they played a song in a church.

[cali]

8. Sorry, there's a clear right and wrong here.

they played a prank that YOU don't like to make a point and they've been imprisoned for the last 6 months. this trial looks like a show trial and the Orthodox Church is way too chummy with Putin.

[Taverner]

14. I read that and I see a pro-God, anti-church protest song

People might have balked that Jesus was wildly disrespectful when he chased out the money changers.

[booley]

20. posts like yours

make me wish we could recomend individual posts

[Starry Messenger]

17. I took out a ruler.

That's the longest space on my computer screen ever spanned from end-to-end by unsourced bs. Congratulations!

[hobbit709]

4. "hooliganism"-what a great old Soviet era crime

[4th law of robotics]

7. It's pretty obnoxious to go in to a church and interrupt a service

although these charges seem way over the top.

/imagine if they had done this to a mosque to protest the actions of some muslims. I don't think many people here would be cheering them on. In fact the word "bigot" might come up once or twice.

[cali]

9. that's a ridiculous comparison. they weren't there to protest the actions of some

Orthodox. They were there to protest the church being involved with gov't. Furthermore, I might very well be cheering on someone who interrupted a church or mosque service- if protesting the non-separation of church and state was the goal of the protestor. And lastly 7 years for this prank should make you think.

This is about crushing dissent, pure and simple.

Human rights activists around the globe know this. It ain't rocket science.

[Kingofalldems]

11. So I gather you think DU is anti-Christian and pro-Muslim?

[4th law of robotics]

13. More like

anti-christian comments are more tolerated than anti-muslim comments.

[Bradical79]

15. That's not true. -nt

[4th law of robotics]

19. Well you've been here all of 157 posts

so I'll take you're word on it.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Seven years punishment for that is draconian to the point of being ridiculous,

they should let them off on time served.

Thanks for the thread, cali.

[Bradical79]

16. What they SHOULD do...

...is release them, apologize immediately, and vow to stop oppressing free thought. I somehow don't see that happening though.

[Betsy Ross]

12. Does anyone know of a way we can help these women? n/t

[Starry Messenger]

18. I don't know how much this will help-

but here's a petition that could use some love: http://www.change.org/ru/%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8/president-vladimir-putin-free-pussy-riot#