Wisdom Quarterly (Eds.); Masha Gessen, Words Will Break Cement, Terry Gross (Fresh Air)
 |
| Pussy Riot collective as punks, Lobnoye Mesto, Red Square, Moscow (Denis Bochkarev) |
 |
| Nadia, the face of Pussy Riot |
Because of the Winter Olympics that are coming to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia, next month, Pres. Vlad Putin had Pussy Riot (the feminist collective) members released a few weeks early. They did not ask for the amnesty, nor would they have accepted it. They had no choice, and far from thanking Putin, they are condemning the atrocious gulag system that almost approaches the misery of the US Prison System with its death penalty, torture, homosexual rape, and widespread indefinite solitary detention. No other country is as bad as us, the U.S. But Russia has its own forms of abuse -- overworking inmates, starving them, threatening them... WHYY's Fresh Air with Terry Gross talks with Russian lesbian, mother, feminist, wife, journalist Masha Gessen about Pussy Riot, members of whom she interviewed after their release from prison.
"In war, you're either a collaborator or a resister. You don't get a choice to be neutral."
- Masha Gessen
Wisdom Quarterly, being forced to choose, chooses to resist. Pussy Riot and Gessen do, too.
The Passion of Pussy Riot
 |
| Pussy Riot in glass cage in Moscow court, 10-10-12 (
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images) |
Masha Gessen is a prominent journalist who is also a lesbian and an
outspoken LGBT rights advocate in Russia. After Russia passed two
anti-gay laws in June (2013), she decided it was time for her, her partner, and
their children to leave. In late December, they moved to New York.
"The
only thing more creepy than hearing someone suggest the likes of you
should be burned alive is hearing someone suggest the likes of you
should be burned alive and thinking, 'I know that guy.'"
That's what
Gessen wrote recently, referring to an experience she had with one of Russia's most virulent homophobic public figures.
 |
| I have face! - Putin |
Its most famous "action" was in February 2012 inside a Moscow cathedral
[in allegedly atheist Russia, which was never atheist but always quietly Christian and Buddhist] where band members danced and played air guitar as their boom box played
what they called "A Punk Prayer":
"Virgin Mary, Mother of God, chase Putin out
...The phantom of liberty is up in heaven,
Gay pride sent to Siberia in a chain gang
...Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist!"
The
action resulted in the arrest of three members of the group. Two of
them, Nadezhda [Nadia] Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were sentenced to two
years in prison.
 |
| Straight host Terry Gross (nymag) |
"Not coincidentally, their arrest ... launched
Putin's crackdown on the opposition and on his critics, which has
lasted for the last two years," Gessen tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.
"So, in a way, both their performance and their arrests marked the beginning of a new political era in Russia."
As
part of Putin's pre-Olympics prisoner amnesty, Tolokonnikova and
Alyokhina were released last month, two months before their sentences
were up. Gessen's new book is called Words Will Break Cement: The Passion Of Pussy Riot.
Interview Highlights
On the working conditions inside the women's prison where Nadezhda Tolokonnikova served time:
What
had happened at her penal colony was that the sewing factory that has
served as the lifeblood of every women's penitentiary institution in
Russia, and many of the men's ones, was taking on more and more orders,
so the inmates were forced to work longer and longer hours. By the end
of the summer, the workday was about 17 hours...
LISTEN TO INTERVIEW (37:52)
What were we expecting to find at author (Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot) Masha Gessen's Pussy Riot lecture in LA? Riot Grrrl protests in a staid building in the middle of the largest library in town? There were crowds taking advantage of the extra hour afforded by daylight savings time. It was cool and breezy, yet there was not a single balaclava in the audience. DayGlo hair yes, "Free Pussy Riot" teeshirts yes, feminists yes. Activists? Not so much. No nude protesters, no riot police, no mobs of newsmen after photos of topless demonstrators.
We got to hear first hand from Gessen how Putin is, indeed, a dictator the likes of which have not been seen since George W. Bush stole a pair of American elections. (She is also the author of Man Without a Face: Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin).
.jpg)
