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Two members of the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot spoke at a panel Tuesday night about activism and their experiences standing up to the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The panel featured two of Pussy Riot’s members, Maria Alyokhina and Ksenia Zhivago, and was co-moderated by The Arizona Republic’s music editor Ed Masley and Director for ASU Herberger Institute School of Art Adriene Jenik. The event, hosted by Changing Hands and Stateside Presents, drew hundreds of attendees to Beth Hebrew Synagogue.
In 2013, a documentary titled “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer” helped spread the word about the group’s activism. They are best known for their performance from Feb. 21, 2012, when five of the group’s members performed in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and published the music video “Punk Prayer – Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!” Three members, including Alyokhina, were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and imprisoned. Alyokhina was freed in 2013; today, the two other members are still in prison.
The event, titled “Art, Sex and Disobedience. A conversation with Pussy Riot,” opened with a trailer for an upcoming Russian documentary about the band, “Act & Punishment,” before quickly jumping into the conversation about different approaches to activism.
“We felt tired fighting the power with classical methods. With this fight, we decided to use different methods,” Alyokhina said. “If you look in the eyes of (fear) and power, and if you make fun of them and laugh at them, they will start to deteriorate.”
Zhivago compared the stories she’s been told by her activist friends in Europe and Russia. With different political environments, different strategies are needed in order to create a revolution, she said.
“This is why bright activists who do very different things work well (in Russia). They provoke, because social aspects aren’t working at the moment,” Zhivago said.
Local community organizer Gilbert Romero was the first audience member to participate in the question and answer segment of the evening, which Alyokhina and Zhivago asked the moderators to extend until every question had been addressed.
“We have our own Putin in Phoenix,” said Romero, as he drew comparisons to Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “He’s been terrorizing Mexican-Americans. What advice do you have for activists, like me, to stay motivated, fired-up and not demoralized here in Phoenix?”
Alyokhina advised Romero and the audience that activists have more power in numbers.
“If you are able to create groups in the community who can become counterparts to the state system, you can win,” she said.
Another audience member brought up LGBTQ issues in Russia, asking if it is as dangerous as the media portrays it to be, which Alyokhina confirmed.
“As the person who is not very scared about many things, the situation with the LGBT community is very scary,” she said. “People are killed just because they are gays.”
The panelists described the attention they’ve received for Pussy Riot as a “miracle” throughout the event. Even Zhivago thanked the audience for their attention over the last few years when she explained that while in jail, attention gives the imprisoned a sense of safety.
Masley and Jenik had similar takeaways from the event and were both very impressed.
Jenik said the girls are, “young and fearless, and that is so impressive to me.”
Masley, similarly affected, said the discussion made him question his own dedication to his passions.
“When I asked them ‘Would you do it all again?’ a lot of people would have said no,” Masley said. “There’s a lot of things I believe in, but would I go to jail for two years for them? I was impressed with how committed to the cause they are.”
Attendee and 2011 ASU graduate Shihiayah Young left the event deep in thought.
“It’s sort of an inspiration seeing people fighting for something that they would die over,” she said. “I’m inspired to think about what I would die for a bit more intensely, because what’s the point of being alive if you don’t think about what you would die for?”
Contact the reporter at Kelsey.Hess@asu.edu
