Sentenced to prison for a song

[loveliberate]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19302986

[thestoatyone]

I know, daft.

On the other hand; feminists in the Eastern Bloc ain't half got some spunk!

[thestoatyone]

Also, some powerful stuff here:

http://nplusonemag.com/pussy-riot-closing-statements

[XkillerX]

TLDR! Doesn't the lady have a small child to take care of?

The "music" is horrible, their "message" is vague, and at best they are a bunch of angry attention seekers who chose the wrong target, time and place and now they're fucked because of it.

But no worries, i'm sure the kid will be proud of her mommy because instead of assuming responsibility of her actions she needed to stay in the center of attention worldwide.

[kallefs]

I'm pretty sure that there is a father involved who can perform those duties.

[Hiking Fox]

I wish these stories got as much media attention: http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/tibet-in-the-news

Maybe the lack of photos of topless women is a factor?

[JP]

the media twists and turns their message, and waters it down, its part of the price of getting a lot of attention.

In reality they are anti capitalists to the core, some anarchists, some a bit more old style communists.

but its easier to treat them as anti-putin, since it suits the liberal agenda. This cant be pinned on the activists, they are pretty powerless in the spectacle that they have been made to.

criticizing the music is like taking pot shots at activists hair styles, it was just a vehicle Also about the child, sounds like even more of a reason to become an activist in russia. The country is fucking mental.

[XkillerX]

yes and criticising putin with a 'performance' 12 year olds would be ashamed of, that's really going to help human rights issues.

Like you said, russia is a mental country, up to the point where i have to bring in the chewbacca defense where i ask do human rights mean anything to russians the same way does freedom mean anything to a rock the same way the africans stared at Che like an alien when he started talking about "stupidities like that".

We should all be much more worried about losing our human rights in countries where it actually matters to the inhabitants, but it's not going to last long if we are so easily entertained by media moguls+whores.

[thestoatyone]

Strange how this one didn't hit the front pages too...

http://thesoundandnoise.com/2012/09/14/young-persons-called-to-private-grand-jury-for-owning-books/

If you put limits on it, it ain't free speech...

[XkillerX]

Exactly my point, people seem to forget very fast what the Austrian activists went through from 2008 til 2011.

And we're not talking about infantile attention seeking self-proclaimed martyrs here, this is about real-world people who realize that change happens through relentless hard work and constant education and outreach.

Sure everybody is obsessed with revolutions and revolutionaries, but it takes years, if not decades and centuries of constant struggle to create an outlook and mindset amongst the population to actually be able to reach critical mass.

[JP]

your language is so judgemental its pointless to try to argue about this, discussing methods and tactics is fine, but that kind of cheap pot shots just show that you wouldnt listen.

[XkillerX]

judgemental brain temporarily turned off, enlighten me.

[JP]

where fuck to even start

why not just give activists a benefit of a doubt. I mean its not like us as vegans/animal rights activists dont get enough of the bullshit comebacks about caring about animals more than humans, or what about your leather shoes, or get a job...

social change is always a collection of wildly different approaches and tactics, sometimes a bit contradictory too. Artists have always been weird to me, so i will leave them alone and give their ideas and approaches a benefit of a doubt. If i agree with their politics i leave them to it. Of course their music is shit (then again, maybe it was kind of a point too) and the whole thing a spectacle (though their approach of trying not to make others into passive spectators is a good one, though you wouldnt see that from mainstream media), but that doesnt irritate me into a tirade of personal insults about the character of some people who are putting themselves on the line.

They were doing this long before it came very public, and also i have a friend who know them all personally before the whole thing blew up, so i have no reason to have a slightest doubt about their motives. They have a history of social activism, revolutionary anticapitalist organising and so on.

also really cant understand this complaining why some other issues dont get same amount of coverage - like the dynamics of media would be somehow new and suprising. In russia i think 16 anarchists have been murdered, most by right wingers, in past 10 years, im sure many of the pussy riot crew would rather have more focus on that than their case since its their former comrades - if only it was so simple. its not a zero sum game, why not rather complain about some bullshit like members of royal family getting coverage instead of X Y and Z, rather than hoping that this issue would be getting less coverage.

[Hiking Fox]

also really cant understand this complaining why some other issues dont get same amount of coverage - like the dynamics of media would be somehow new and suprising.

Nobody expressed surprise about it. Doesn't stop us complaining, though. People aren't going to give up objecting and shut up about something, just because it has become entrenched and expected. That would be like not bothering to point out the problems caused by eating dairy products, because doing so has become mainstream!

I haven't heard any music by Pussy Riot and haven't closely followed the story, so I can't comment on them or their motives (although their naff name makes me wince), but I can comment on the fact that women who are young and attractive get a lot more publicity and sympathy than those who aren't. That makes me sad and cynical.

[Hiking Fox]

Strange how this one didn't hit the front pages too...

http://thesoundandnoise.com/2012/09/14/young-persons-called-to-private-grand-jury-for-owning-books/.

Thanks for posting that, I hadn't heard. Very upsetting and worrying.