Via the
New Statesman, Laurie Penny speaks with members of Pussy Riot who are non-jailed, but on the run from the law, about the meaning of their subversion:
When we meet in a secret location in central London, they make it clear that this interview is on condition of anonymity. The Russian punk-feminist protest group, two of whose members are currently travelling the world, raising support for their band-mates in prison, are wanted by their government. It will be illegal to read or share this article in Russia.
Since the trials, a smorgasbord of new legislation, informally known as the Pussy Riot laws, have been put into place in Russia to clamp down on the group and anyone who might try to imitate their art-protests. You can’t cover your face in public. Distribution and discussion of Pussy Riot’s protests is strictly forbidden. People have been prosecuted for making t-shirts with their image.
“There are two reasons why we frighten people,” says ‘Schumacher’. “The first thing is that we’re a feminist, female group with no men connected to it, and the second is that we don’t have leaders.”
“Russia has always linked the idea of leadership with some man or other, who can control things, and control women. A woman’s group with no leaders… this activism comes from a place people do not recognise, and sets itself up against the structures of power.”
Every sexist society, including this one, fosters an image of women as basically interchangeable. Underneath the makeup, girls are all the same, aren’t we, with the same petty problems and weak, willing bodies. Pussy Riot take the image of modern womanhood as a faceless smile, repeated endlessly, and turn it back on us as a scream.
Their manifesto is a call to action: “We are open-source-extremists, the feminist virus infecting your thoughts.”
Via the New Statesman, Laurie Penny speaks with members of Pussy Riot who are non-jailed, but on the run from the law, about the meaning of their subversion:
No comments:
Post a Comment