Riot - Pussy Riot! : a punk prayer for freedom : letters from prison, songs, poems, and courtroom statements, plus tributes to the punk band that shook the world

Published in 2012 by the Feminist Press
at the City University of New York
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406
New York, NY 10016

feministpress.org

Pussy Riot text copyright OOO Kinokompaniya WEB-BIO

Selection and compilation copyright 2012 by Feminist Press Individual copyright retained by contributors.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, used, or stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover design by Herb Thornby

ISBN 978-1-55861-833-6

This compilation of texts has been put together by the Feminist Press within the month following the verdict delivered on August 17, 2012, in which three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a penal colony for felony hooliganism. The event that led to the conviction was a forty second performance by five women in a priests-only section of Moscows Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They call their song a punk prayer. It asks the Virgin Mary to become a feminist and put Putin away.

In the course of their detention, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich (known as Masha, Nadya, and Katya) have been writing letters, preparing court statements, and making their poems and songs available to a wide audience. We at the Feminist Press, along with millions of people around the world, have been reading. These declarations are stunningly articulate about the plight of civil rights in Russia, and about the corruption at the core of the government there, which is in strategic alliance with a powerful religious institution. These texts are also brilliantly expansive about broader social issues of gender equality and human rights.

Theres a word that makes many people uncomfortable to say. Its often used as a euphemism for something that should be taken more seriously than it is. The euphemizing is usually a response based in fear or ignorance by people who just dont want to think about something as messy and possibly out of control in the human story. This word has been embraced by an increasingly populous subculture that wants to expand the demographics of who gets seen and heard. This appropriation of a term understood to be negative or diminutive is a sign of solidarity with those at the bottom of the worlds power structure. Of course, the word Im thinking of is riot. Call an uprising a riot, and you question the values of those in pursuit of change, without ever saying so. Through their performance, writings, and actions, Pussy Riot has accomplished something very important. In risking their own status as citizens, they have called into question the values and moral authority of those who have for so long abused power and dominancewhat feminists have referred to as the patriarchy.

Ive been thinking about why this performance stirred such harshly punitive reaction from a government that must surely now regret the attention they have bestowed upon the band. And why we outside of Russia feel such affinity with the band. Pussy Riots punk prayer creates a challenging juxtaposition. Is it possible for a punk to pray? Can a renegade, someone who believes in insurrection, also believe in a higher power? Isnt that what prayer isa belief that something exists beyond the visible or material world, to which or to whom we can appeal for justice or relief? I have always believed in the transformative power of music. When punk came along, it felt like the (im)perfect mix of my desire for pop musics hit of energy with a radically declarative form of expressing opposition. Opposition to what? Where to begin... Its the clarity and distillation of Pussy Riots message and style of delivering that message which awes me and my colleagues at the Feminist Press and riot grrrls and rock stars and activists and journalists everywhere. Pussy Riots message is articulated in the texts contained in this book. Its also expressed by their status now as political prisoners. We have thousands of people incarcerated in the US alone, simply for their oppositional views. If Pussy Riot draws attention to the plight of the worlds unjustly incarcerated populations, their contribution will be immeasurable. Prayers might even be answered.

I ngfdr233ts exciting to imagine this: five masked women performing in a priests-only section of an Orthodox church, which has historically and systemically denied women equal rights and proselytized against homosexuality. This radical display of dissent, and the punitive response to it, has galvanized us to speak out for freedomfor Pussy Riot, and for everyone who suffers at the hands of corruption and a morally bankrupt system. Feminist Press wishes to amplify this message; we offer this book as a historical document as well as a call to action. As we publish, freepussyriot.org is taking donations for Pussy Riots legal defense. Proceeds from the sale of this book will support this fund.

Almost immediately after Masha, Nadya, and Katya were arrested, their letters and statements started to appear online in English. Many of those translations were the basis for the texts in this book. I want to thank all the translators and editors of these translations, those who we know of and list here, and all of those who have helped but whose names we do not know. With graditude: Maria Corrigan, Elena Glazov-Corrigan, Marijeta Bozovic, Maksim Hanukai, Sasha Senderovich, Liora Halperin, Katharine Holt, Vera Koshkina, Ainsley Morse, Rebecca Pyatkevich, Bela Shayevich, Chto Delat News, Christian MilNeil, Gila Primak, Alisa Obraztsova, Margarita Shalina, Sarah Valdez, Angelica Sgouros, and Jeanann Pannasch. I apologize to anyone who has worked on these texts and who is not acknowledged here. Any omission is unintentional.

I would also like to acknowledge the websites, online magazines, and blogs that have published Pussy Riot texts, and continue to offer important documents, news, and updates on this case. n+1s website has been a lead source of these texts, and we thank them for continuing to enrich the literary landscape. We also could not have gotten this book together without the support of Christian MilNeil, Robert Lieber, JD Samson, Yoko Ono, Johanna Fateman, Justin Vivian Bond, Eileen Myles, Karen Finley, and Alisa Obraztsova in Moscow, without whose solidarity this project would not have happened.

When I say we at the Feminist Press, I mean the most dedicated and inspiring group of coworkers I could possibly imagine. We are Gloria Jacobs, Jeanann Pannasch, Drew Stevens, Maryann Jacob Macias, Cary Webb, Elizabeth Koke, Angelica Sgouros, and Amy Scholder.

Finally, thank you, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and the Pussy Riot collective. You are speaking out, and we are listening. I am reminded of Karen Finleys refrain: Life is more important than art. But life is meaningless without art. We support your courage and provocation, and encourage everyone, in their own ways, to fight the power with you.

Amy Scholder
New York
September 2012

(Chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away
Put Putin away, put Putin away!
(End chorus)

Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners crawl to bow
The phantom of liberty is in heaven
Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains

The head of the KGB, their chief saint,
Leads protesters to prison under escort