in 2012, Nadezhda Andréyevna Tolokónnikova, also known as Nadya Toloknó, Member of Pussy Riot was imprisoned by interpreting a song anti Putin in Moscow Cathedral.
Despite the closure in Siberia Nadya has rather clear: it must be active and protest because “everyone can be a Pussy Riot”.
In the last decade, few groups of activists have called both this group and international attention.
Lee: Pussy Riot she wins a court case the Government of Vladimir Putin to, performance and music are some of the best ways to exercise the art. Each his presentation on stage reminds us that get involved in policy matters: “important thing when we come to Mexico for the first time was to demonstrate that everyone can be a Pussy Riot,” says Animal politician a few days before its presentation at the Festival Ceremony, which will be in Toluca this Saturday, March 6, 2019.
How to be a Pussy Riot? Nadia mentions the case of a teenager who was imprisoned for his views on social networks. To engage youth to be interested in activism or politics, explains, “the first thing is that I don’t believe in”preach”, but what happened in Russia with Pussy Riot was that we were rejected in society to be so radical I think, but some years passed and suddenly we became popular with the people.
You can interest: London exposes the anarchic art of the Pussy Riot, enemy of Putin “when I go to concerts, there are teens who tell me that changed their lives and I had never thought that. Somehow I did. The best thing would be to be active and articulate it in cases such as art, do what you have to do. Everyone can be a Pussy Riot”, ends.
Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, Pussy Riot returned to grab media coverage. Four members, disguised as policemen, invaded the field of the stadium Luzhniki in the France vs. Croatia, the very end of the World Cup. They were sentenced to 15 days in prison. Short time compared to the two years that Nadya was imprisoned in Siberia.
“The situation of political prisoners in Russia should not be forgotten. And that is why some members of Pussy Riot went to the soccer field. I wouldn’t say that everyone forgot that theme, but we definitely have more oppression with this new Putin administration. In Russia you can lose your job, your place at the University and you might have problems with the schools by only protest.
lately many young people have begun to take an interest in politics before Putin. For them can be difficult to protest, because then they would be exposed in their schools. It is the case of Ana Pávlikova and María Dubovik, who ended up in prison because the Government spied on their social networking profiles. After a few months in prison, are now under house arrest”according to a Human Rights Watch report,”from 2012, Russian authorities have pursued, without justification, dozens of people for criminal offenses based networks publications “social, videos, media articles, interviews, and have removed or blocked access to hundreds of web pages”.
After that, the conversation about propaganda and freedom of speech becomes inevitable: “I wouldn’t say that the media are the new drivers of power. These have always been controlled by people in power. I think that the situation becomes worrisome when the mainstream media are controlled by very few people and very powerful. That happens in Russia, us we where mock of Russia Today (the State news channel), because nobody takes them seriously. But what is worrying from that is that RT is our shit propaganda channel. And there are people who believe it is,”said Nadya.
But then, what about independent journalism? Nadya responds: “lots of media in Russia are private or controlled by the Kremlin. There is no opportunity for independent media. If you want to create any new it would be very difficult. The Government will do whatever it takes to cut your financial resources and they could go to jail. It is very complicated because there are many laws which, in certain way, prevent the creation of independent organisations.
“In the case of the Civil society organizations, for example, becomes worse, as there was some receiving money from outside of Russia, but the law banned it a few years ago. Now it is a crime to be part of any of these organizations. The power people have fear, that the pressure on these media”.
According to the Russian legislation, the “foreign or international organizations that pose a threat to the capacities of Defense and security of the State, public order, or the health of the population” are undesirable. This law, enacted in 2012, “was designed to threaten, stigmatize, and finally, Civil society organizations silence criticism of the Government”, said Sergei Nikitin, director of Amnesty International in Russia.
Nadya activism has not been limited to the largest country in the world. She has spoken, unafraid, on Donald Trump policies. And now, Bolsonaro, Brazilian President who followed compared with its U.S. counterpart.
“Being in Russia makes it difficult to see how things are in Brazil. But I recently thought about that. Not all those who voted for Bolsonaro are idiots of the extreme right. He also spent the same in us, people voted for the change… and he chose to Trump, although not all are racist. “There were people normal and reasonable to vote for them because they were fed up”.
Although both characters have also been accused of sexist for his comments toward women: “I have No idea why people voted for those sexist. But yes, we are not offering new solutions. These leaders say populist, but are not close to the workers, capitalists”.
When asked about his opinion of the capitalist state, Nadya reflects: “definitely must transform to survive, but this way is very flexible. “Maybe there is more inequality and that this causes social movements, this can result in many possibilities, as the social revolution, which we hope will be good”.
Today Russia lives the fourth administration of Vladimir Putin, one of the most important leaders of global politics. And the attitude of Nadya does not yield: as member of Pussy Riot has complaint Theatre, collaborated with Marina Abramovic, and interacted with the philosopher Zlavoj Zizek through letters. In a powerful Russia opposition influence is undeniable.
Pussy Riot will be featured at 6 in the afternoon in the Crown stage of the Festival ceremony.
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