Video: Free Pussy Riot solidarity Rally Dublin

by Pushkin Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:49

Live coverage.
http://rt.com/on-air/pussy-riot-verdict-live/

by lefty Fri Aug 17, 2012 15:33

It seems Paula and RTE have finally converged! ;-)

some more info on Media bias on this matter here:

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/102282

Shame on the socialist party for going along so readily with this transparent worldwide media excuse for a hatchet job on Russia and Putin. Part of the promised Revenge for non co-operation on the destruction of Syria to further isolate Iran

Gene sharp would be proud of you all!!

Sure Russia no doubt has it's problems but the evidence indicates it is definitely moving in the right direction regarding the introduction of more freedoms into the society, meanwhile the US clearly moves in the opposite direction towards a surveillance police state where peaceful occupy protesters are batoned and pepper sprayed on a whim, infiltrated by agent provocateurs and incited to violence as a pretext to arrest them while a servile media outlets compete to see who can get the terms "violent protester" "thug" and "balaclava" the most times into each paragraph of their reports

The cognitive dissonance and utter hypocrisy in the treatment of this news item in the media is utterly astounding

by feminist Fri Aug 17, 2012 17:36

These girls are just media whores if you will excuse the expression!
In this culture of celebrity, people will go to great lengths to get noticed.

The particular subject matter was inevitably going to get the attention of a right wing anti russian press. Very clever marketting. Nice colourful juxtaposition of pretty girls, garish masks, tights, religion in the form of the russian orthodox church, and a russian hate figure for the west

One of the girls is doing a playboy spread as a result of all this.

They will be in a low security jail for 18 months. But they will be famous celebrities forever with whatever else that brings. Maybe a discrete stipend for getting further anti russian comments into the media. Tv appearances? Product endorsements? (pussy riot branded garish coloured anti religious condoms anyone?) Maybe even A Book?

Job done, we're no longer nobodies, we're famous and no major risks taken either.

Not really feminists by any definition of the word. Their example only serves to set respect for women back. Call me old fashioned but Glorifying objectification of women was not high on the feminist agenda as far as I can recall!

Reminds me of the cheerleaders in the adverts Edward Bernays masterminded to sell smoking to girls. Except it's political isolation of russia in western geopolitics they are using women to try to sell this time.

by perspective Fri Aug 17, 2012 18:24

Try doing that in a mosque in newly liberated Libya.

Hey, what about trying it in US supported Saudi Arabia or Bahrain?

I reckon You'd definitely do hard time if you were in a protester in Occupy Wall street and tried that in the good old US. And not in some namby pamby low security dormitory either.

by pat c Fri Aug 17, 2012 20:02

The Orthodox Russian Church is interfering in politics.

This was a protest in support of civil and secular rights. The judge in her statement made it clear that she was sentencing Pussy Riot for blasphemy rather than any public order offence.

Lets back Putin in his foreign policy where he supports Syria against attack by the US, UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain.

But don't support the imprisonment of punks for protesting against the intertwining of church & state.

You are right about the increasing attack on liberties in the US, lets expose that and fight against it.

See: America's Descent Into Darkness
Slouching Towards Nuremberg?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/25/slouching-toward...berg/

But don't ignore it when things go wrong in Russia. Anti Gay laws have been passed, Gay Pride parades have been banned for 100 years in Moscow. I don't get this info from the BBC, I get it from RT.com.

And now an attempt to ban abortion, all motivated by the Church.

MP urges granting embryo citizen’s rights
Notorious Russian politician seeks to ban the term embryo to outlaw abortions
The Russian lawmaker, who instigated the controversial gay propaganda ban, is proposing a bill equating human and embryo rights in order to outlaw abortions.
http://rt.com/politics/embryo-rights-ban-abortion-747/

Throughout the Pussy Riot trial RT have been critical of how it was being conducted by the judge. RT have never suggested the Pussy Riot were acting with ulterior motives.

President Putin said that Pussy Riot should not be treated harshly. Surely if Pussy Riot were shills for anyone then Putin would have been aware of it.

Folks I think the thing to do now is to send a message to President Putin asking him to pardon Pussy Riot. And you could add in a thank you to him for standing up against Imperialist interference in Syria.

http://eng.letters.kremlin.ru/

by perspective Fri Aug 17, 2012 23:28

I don't support custodial sentences for any peaceful protest ANYWHERE!.
But It seems clear to me that this has not ended up at all like pussy riot intended.

Their protest was hijacked and used to score political points by a servile western media. Useful idiots.
It's clear Putin was not bothered at all by it and would just as soon have let them off. He all but said as much.

even though they did wish terrible things on him in their song.

A judge sentenced them under pressure from a religion, not Putin.
However you'd think from the media response that he did it.

Should the head of state interfere with the judiciary?? Surely that is also a can of worms for Putin.

Clearly a no win situation.

While totally unnecessary, I see this custodial sentence as a harsh lesson about the dangers of media whoring and seeking the short cut to publicity and notoriety. And allowing yourself to be used and manipulated by the wrong kind of people. They'll have 18 months to reflect on this. And maybe in the interim they can do some singing practice and learn a few more chords!

Blasphemy laws are certainly wrong, no question. However I'm not going to complain much about theirs until we get rid of our own one first!!! A maximum fine of 100K for our law. Ridiculous!

by pat c Fri Aug 17, 2012 23:37

Well I made it clear that the judge was serving the interests of the church (imho). The oint is they weren't charged with Blasphemy, but they were effectively convicted of it.

Putin is the President, He can commute the sentences, since he has that power its hardly interfering with the judge.

The protest by Pussy Riot was a valid one against the intertwining of church in state in Russia.

by lefty Sun Aug 19, 2012 23:11

You say "No to church and executive intertwining"
but you are in favour of politicians overriding the legislature. i.e the executive influencing legislature. Nice!

Church and state mixing anywhere is kinda yucky ( see our own ludiucrous blasphemy law ) but Surely executive influencing legislature is even more dangerous?? See Shell / Devins / Ploughshares for details

Putin is stuck. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

And all over a few rather slutty girls (have you actually SEEN their other video??) desperate for fame and celebrity willing to do absolutely anything to get it being hijacked by western PSY ops and their servile media. A media that apparently includes the rather sad Donagh Diamond and the prime time team. Like my segue way back on topic? ;-)

by pat c Sun Aug 19, 2012 23:23

>You say "No to church and executive intertwining"
>but you are in favour of politicians overriding the legislature. i.e the executive influencing legislature. Nice!

No contradiction. Putin has the right to commute their sentence. I think he should do so.

>Church and state mixing anywhere is kinda yucky ( see our own ludiucrous blasphemy law ) but Surely executive influencing >legislature is even more dangerous?? See Shell / Devins / Ploughshares for details

Do you really think that Putin shouldn't give a lead on this?

>Putin is stuck. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

Not damned if he wants to be seen as a progressive both at home and abroad. Putin has handed this story on a plate to the US, UK etc.

>And all over a few rather slutty girls (have you actually SEEN their other video??) desperate for fame and celebrity willing to do >absolutely anything to get it being hijacked by western PSY ops and their servile media. A media that apparently includes the >rather sad Donagh Diamond and the prime time team. Like my segue way back on topic? ;-)

So you think its ok to call women sluts? I wonder if women in Shell2Sea would be happy with that. Thats how they have been abused.These women have been prepared to go to prison for their beliefs. People seeking attention don't do that. But the same slur was thrown at people from Rossport.

Putin himself has never suggested that they were involved in a psyops. Of course the west will use this as Putin handed it to them on a plate.

Think about what you are doing here. Do you believe in freedom or don't you? Do you believe in seperation of church & state? Gay rights?

You are abusing these women in a way that even Putins strongest supporters aren't. They recognise that this is a PR disaster for Putin and Rusia.

by lefty Mon Aug 20, 2012 00:32

"So you think its ok to call women sluts? I wonder if women in Shell2Sea would be happy with that. Thats how they have been abused."

Gardai joked about raping women in rossport. How can you equate my comments with that?? I am not in a position of power and advocating rape of peaceful protesters.

Furthermore, pussy riot think having a public orgy is protest. I actually DO think that IS a bit slutty. Don't you?

Women in Rossport have not protested by staging public orgies

Their (pussy riot) whole approach smacks of self publicity. Real protesters put their cause first, not personal notoriety. Pussy riot are fame seeking "useful idiots" IMHO.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear in the future that they did a secret deal with imperialist wonks to get huge publicity in return for performing an embarrassing public stunt with a rather predictable result which could be used to damage Russian political credibility at a critical time when the US threatened that "they will pay" for their rejection of sanctions and a "no fly zone" and support for Iran in the UN

Pussy riot have just replaced western imperialist "useful idiot" Kasparov. Plus ca change.

by tittyriot Mon Aug 20, 2012 00:43

Funny! Pat C getting so highly indignant because another commenter suggests a group with the self chosen name "pussy riot" whose previous protest was a public orgy were "a bit slutty".

Get a grip Pat! If that behaviour is not slutty, then what is?

by An Drighneán Donn Mon Aug 20, 2012 01:55

I hope that title is not sexist.

by W. Finnerty Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:02

Reply to pat c at Fri Aug 17, 2012 23:37:

Assuming you are correct regarding the matter of President Putin being able to lawfully commute the sentences, and I don't have any reason at the present time to believe you are in error (in any way) regarding this point, the thought has crossed my mind that President Putin might now be in a position to significantly advance himself, and humanity as a whole, by lawfully arranging for the "final" decision on the matter to be decided by "the people".

Although the issues themselves (connected with the understandably very controversial actions in the Moscow Cathedral by the pop-group members concerned) might appear relatively trivial to many -- in comparison to the present overall set of extremely serious global threats for humanity as a whole (in places such as in, and around, Syria for example, and which are the product it appears of "The Ascendancy of a Criminal Financial Elite") -- the socially very basic principle of significantly involving "the people", in their respective governments' of the world decision making processes, regarding matters that appear to be of huge importance to many members of the public, is anything but trivial (in my opinion).

As President Putin is a highly trained and highly qualified lawyer, the thought has also crossed my mind that he might be able to lawfully arrange for a referendum of some kind: which would enable "the people" to decide whether or not the three young women in question should serve their sentence (as imposed by the courts), or, be released from prison with immediate effect: if that was what the majority "the people" voted for. In other words, I am suggesting that President Putin MIGHT decide to voluntarily "hand over" the decision that is now his in law, and his alone at the present time, to "the people": so that "the people" can have the "final" say regarding this particular set of issues.

"Putin graduated from the International Law branch of the Law Department of the Leningrad State University in 1975, writing his final thesis on international law. His PhD thesis was titled 'The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations' and it argued that Russian economic success would depend on creating national energy champions." (This excerpt is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin )

What a major advance (as I see things) that this might provide for the "unfinished work" of "the great task remaining before us" connected with the "government of the people, by the people, for the people" principle, which is closely associated with former United States President Abraham Lincoln; and, not forgetting that President Lincoln was an exceptionally talented lawyer (as I suspect President Putin might also be?); and, having due regard for the fact that President Lincoln had -- and still has no doubt? -- many well know and highly influential admirers and supporters in Russia.

"The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln." (Statement made by Russian writer and book author Leo Tolstoy)

More on the "government of the people, by the people, for the people" subject can be found via the following link: http://tinyurl.com/8hb3okm

Related Link:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/ChiefJusticeSusanDenh...l.htm

by lefty Mon Aug 20, 2012 22:43

Lucky Russians! THEIR head of state actually has a PH.D.!
Ours is just another gombeen twat from mayo.

by Vlad Tue Aug 21, 2012 04:13

"Funny! Pat C getting so highly indignant because another commenter suggests a group with the self chosen name "pussy riot" whose previous protest was a public orgy were "a bit slutty"

I'm sure they support the 'SLUT walks' so I don't think they can complain about the name SLUT either. If they keep taking away the offensive words what can we call them then but c**ts!

by pat c Tue Aug 21, 2012 20:17

Thanks for the comment.

A referendum in a country the size of Russia would probably cost tens of millions of euros. I think that money would be better spent on aid to Syria.

As you have pointed out, President Putin has a doctorate in Law. He has already stated that he doesn't think Pussy Riot shouldn't be treated harshly, so hes a big enough person not to be hurt by the PR song. Therefore I'm hoping that he will commute their sentence.

This whole thing is being used by the imperialists to attack Russia. But Pussy Riot are not shills, President Putin has made no such accusation.

by W. Finnerty Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:36

Reply to pat c at Tue Aug 21, 2012 20:17 ...

I fully accept your argument that the costs of a national referendum in Russia regarding an issue of this kind would be unacceptable to most people, in all probability.

Perhaps a referendum restricted to the voters of Moscow could be arranged? (It had a population of 11,503,501 in 2010 according to information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow )

Or, more realistically perhaps, a referendum in the "election area" where Moscow Cathedral is located, which -- a wild guess by me -- might be home to around 100,000 (say) Russian citizens who are eligible to vote?

"Moscow Cathedral Area" voters could -- in effect -- act as a jury (of sorts) regarding this controversial issue; and, there would be nothing at all new about such an event: as people familiar with the highly successful (and yet to be improved upon?) form of governance used in ancient Athens (around 2,500 years ago) will already know.

Changing the subject a little, I fully share your belief that the Moscow Cathedral "event" is being used by some people for the purpose of attacking Russia unjustly, and stupidly: which worries me a lot on account of the way Russia is trying so hard at the United Nations (it appears to me) to protect the sovereignty of independent nation states from wholesale "regime change" activities of the kind we all witnessed (via the media) in Libya last year: external, and no amount of criminal violence and killing spared types of independent sovereign nation "regime change" which -- in my opinion -- all needs to be stopped dead in its tracks as soon as possible (or sooner even!!): if humanity, as a whole, knows what's good for it, especially in connection with the potential for an eventual, thermonuclear WW3 type "solution".

Personally, I suspect that the "Money Power Psychopaths" (as I see them) may be making a dreadful mistake if they harbour the belief that they can one day commit crime against the people of Russia with impunity, in the they are getting away with at the present time in our part of the world. Such arrogant people need to keep in mind -- and be regularly reminded perhaps? -- that, at enormous and almost unbelievable expense to themselves, the Russian people were the FIRST to prove to the world that the armies of Hitler were not invincible.

Related Link:
("Democracy will rise superior to the money power.")
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/DailEireannGroup/20Ma...l.htm

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:03

..with the invincible arrogance of Napoleon.

Trouble is, W, the Strangelove nutcases of Pentagonia only see that as a challenge...just as they see Viet Nam as an aberration to be expunged, rather than a lesson to be learned.

They don't reason as such, they rationalise their predatory instincts. They are pre-human in psychology, and surround themselves with like-minded reinforcement, rather than counter-arguments to their presumptions. Hence you are 'either with us or against us'. The lines are pre-drawn..that is why every attempt at compromise is dismissed, whether from Gadafi, Assad, Saddam, Chavez, or Putin.

Full spectrum dominance means what it says on the tin..totalitarianism uber ALLES. Destiny Manifest, with all the righteous certitude of irrefutable religious conviction.

by W. Finnerty Thu Aug 23, 2012 08:08

Reply to opus diablos at Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:03 ...

"Trouble is, W, the Strangelove nutcases of Pentagonia only see that as a challenge...just as they see Viet Nam as an aberration to be expunged, rather than a lesson to be learned."

Unfortunately, I feel I have to pretty much agree with the frightening assessment of yours contained in the paragraph above.

Unless humanity as a whole can somehow do something of significance, by peaceful and lawful means, to reduce the excessive powers of the "nutcases" you refer to, or the "Money Power Psychopaths" as I myself tend to think of them, then the outlook for humanity as a whole really does look very grim indeed (as I see things).

Russia, under its present leadership, and for as long as it continues to gently but firmly stand up for international law at the United Nations in the high quality way it is (to my way of thinking) doing at present doing -- for the purpose of trying to keep some kind of substantial restraint on the "nutcases" -- seems to me the best hope just now for humanity as a whole.

The general global situation at the present time reminds me of a wise and very likeable woman (long since departed this increasingly dangerous "Valley of Tears") that I knew in my childhood, who, obviously believed that regardless of how unpromising prospects for the future appeared to be, it was nevertheless ALWAYS best not to give up hope entirely; and, at such times she would invariably resort to the expression:

"Never mind all that: God is good, Jack is earning, and maybe the Devil is really not altogether as bad as many people claim".

Related Link ...
"Are the 'Money Power Psychopaths' leading us into a thermonuclear WW3 confrontation?"
http://tinyurl.com/9g26toj

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:19

There's the rub.

Who's peace?Which laws?
Their peace is only attained by climbing their status pyramid, which has as base the misery of their victims, from the barios of Rio to the gutters of Falujah and Gaza.
Their law is whatever serves them, including all legal codes in whichever juristictions they prey. The law of the cash register's greasy till.

But I'm inclined to agree that if we descend to their methodology of brute force all you do is initiate another cycle of the Animal Farm dungheap. At best a temporary respite.

On the other hand..is there not an ethical responsibility to arrest and restrain the homicidal gallop by whatever means we can muster??
Even if so, on pragmatic grounds, they hold all the arsenals....thats why I think the arguments of the US NRA are deluded..its cultural and midset change we need..that cannot be effected with their weaponry. But then they control the cultural media of debate..so we're down to graffiti ..unless some of these cyber whizkidz can disable the machinery...

Meantime we'll salute the better warriors...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-bigelow/howard-zinn-....html

by W. Finnerty Fri Aug 24, 2012 08:41

Reply to opus diablos at Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:19 ...

Personally, I would suggest that -- for individuals who wish to try and protect themselves from government crime (as individual human beings acting alone on their own behalf, as opposed to joining a group of one kind or another and trying to find protection from government crime through that particular method) -- constitutional law should be the first "port of call": particularly if the constitutional law of the jurisdiction the individual normally lives in formally embraces support for human rights law, national and international, based on the United Nations Universal Deceleration of Human Rights (1948).

In connection with supportive comments relating to this deeply held and long-standing belief of mine (as outlined in the paragraph above), I suspect it might be very difficult for anybody to improve on the observation made by John Adams (1735 - 1826) provided just below. (For those, who might not be aware, in addition to being the second President of the Republic of the United States of America, John Adams was also a highly educated and accomplished lawyer, as indicated at the following www location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams.)

"Politics is the Science of human Happiness - and the Felicity of Societies depends on the Constitutions of Government under which they live."

Very interestingly (as I see things), John Adams issued the following statement a few weeks before his death in 1826:

"My best wishes, in the joys, and festivities, and the solemn services of that day on which will be completed the fiftieth year from its birth, of the independence of the United States: a memorable epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future history to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to the use or the abuse of those political institutions by which they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind."

Related Link: http://tinyurl.com/d546o2j

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:02

We're back to the crux(crooks?).

Any and every constitution can only be as good as its user. Animal Farm amendments again.
Arthur Koestler reckoned the only solution would be chemical or surgical adaptation of our hominid nature to amputate the simian...not a great prognosis.
As you say, the UN charter provides the template; but its now used by Nato as a cover for the new imperial agenda..and the media profit from pumping lowest common denominator reductio ad stupifactio...rather than serving social development through information and debate they are controlled by the PR agencies to serve the corporate interests the early US founders warned against.
Basically its the mafia,(The Money and the Power: the making of Las vegas and its hold on America 1947-2000, Pimlico 2002)by Sally Denton and Roger Morris, at the wheel.
And Britannia had perfected the ideology and methodology for self-deception(Swift vivisected it 3 centuries ago in his Modest Proposal)...the history of Hong Kong and the opium wars set the standard for what the US has refined into smack'n'crack wars; and again while posing the operation as a 'war on drugs'.
Stir in oil and the military/industrial machinery spliced to the nuclear/GM boyos and she's sliding down the chute...into the GRAIN science lab(Genomics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Nanotechnology)return to the primordial soup.
Yet these technologies, if we could apply them with humanised intelligence, could conquer all our collective problems, if only we could lose the competitive and rediscover the collective co-operation social base.
It begins to look like Albert called it right when he said the fourth world war would be fought with sticks and stones..if at all.

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:58

..pussy riot...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32442

heres why Putin is such an evil emperor.

by lefty Fri Aug 24, 2012 19:30

http://rt.com/news/pussy-riot-cologne-cathedral-463/

Under german law, german "pussy riot" copycats may potentially get 3 years in prison.
So much for the evil russians supressing protest!!

Quote:
"The three protesters have been charged with disturbing a religious service which, according to German law, could mean up to three years in jail.
"The right to demonstration cannot be set above the right to religious freedom and the religious feelings of the congregation,” Cologne Cathedral’s dean told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.
Three women from Pussy Riot received a two-year prison sentence for hooliganism over their controversial performance in Russia’s central Cathedral of Jesus Christ the Savior.
"The peace of Cologne Cathedral was disturbed – we can't and won't accept this," said Dean Robert Kleine to the newspaper."

by ethical reader Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:39

One thing that leftists often seem to forget is that my enemy’s enemy is not necessarily my friend. Just because Putin is seen to be “opposing western imperialism” , it doesn’t mean to say that we on the left should support him in railroading these women into jail , does it?

What stance should an ethical person take when a government is guilty of bad behaviour towards it's citizens ? I would generally try not to sacrifice my ethical views in the name of political expediency. Ethics precedes politics.

Legitimate criticism of the US administration is one thing , but when it acts ethically on human rights issues , leftists should be supportive. I’m frankly quite disappointed that so few libertarians here see any sign of progress in the White House’s condemnation of the "disproportionate" two-year prison sentence handed down to Pussy Riot

by lefty Sat Aug 25, 2012 15:54

@ethical reader / tom / joemc

very funny tom! Nice to see an "irish anti imperialist" finding common ground with washington!! ;-)

for the record, I think pussy riot should not have received a custodial sentence for protest. they should have just ushered them out of the church after the song ended and left it at that. However the church pressed charges, as did the church in Germany. (Apparently forgiveness is not as high on the religious list of virtues as you might expect!!)

There are several issues involved here.
people should have the right to protest non violently without incarceration
people should protest to highlight a cause not just to get famous
russia is on the imperialist shitlist and they are using this incident to harm their credibility
russia is currently key in a delicate situation in Syria

I have looked at all these aspects and decided that at this time, the priority is to support russia against imperialist media attacks, given it's current crucial role regarding Syria and the middle east. Putin was not particularly in favour of sticking these girls in prison and said as much, but the church pressed charges and the matter had to go to court. To interfere would bring further condemnation for putin for interfering with the courts decisions.

I do think there is a strong element of seeking personal fame / notoriety in the approach of pussy riot, judging by their methodology, hence I have somewhat less respect for them as a result. This whole affair has far too much co-ordination of media for my liking and I find it all rather suspicious.

My comments are merely intended to highlight the shrieking hypocrisy of the MSM whenever they get an opportunity to stick the boot into any countries on the US imperialist shitlist, Russia being a rather key one, especially in light of it's recent veto of action on Syria.

Personally I have a lot of respect for Putin and how he pulled russia back from the precipice and I'm glad he's there, for all our sakes and evidently I'm not alone in this!! ;-)

by pat c Sat Aug 25, 2012 16:16

I agree with a lot of what you have written above, Putin did pull things back from the precipice and he pursues an anti Imperialist foreign policy in particular with his opposition to the Imperialist attack on Syria.

But I don't believe that Pussy Riot were just seeking publicity nor are they shills for anyone. If PR were shills then President Putin would have made that clear, after all he has the intelligence forces to discover just thjat sort of stuff and it hasn't taken him long to expose others.

The Russian State Ombudsman for Human Rights is now examing the Pussy Riot case and hopefully he will bring forward a verdict favourable to them. President Putin could then commute their sentences.

Looking at the German case it will be interesting to see who supports these punks. From the images it looks as if they were badly manhanled. Looking forward to supporting them.

Thanks to RT.com for giving us these details and thanks for covering the Pussy Riot case in an imopartial manner throughout.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 01:20

Hey! I want a henchman like that to fold down my pentacle when I'm the Satanist Pope.

This here is the geezer who likes Rolex watches and was upset by Pussy Riot.

Click image to get gif to work.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:16

Meanwhile here is an article defending Pussy Riot but criticising Western hypocrisy.

Why Western politicians support Pussy Riot
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/puss-a25.shtml
By Clara Weiss
25 August 2012

The three singers of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot sentenced last Friday to two years in a penal colony on charges of “hooliganism due to religious hatred” have met with a groundswell of support from Western politicians and media.

The philosophy student Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (22), Greenpeace campaigner Maria Aliokhina (24) and the programmer Yekatrina Samusevitch (30) plus other members of Pussy Riot, a feminist punk band, had sung a brief “punk prayer” criticizing President Vladimir Putin on February 21 in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow.

Their months in custody and eventual draconian punishment are part of the Putin regime’s intensifying offensive against the country’s liberal opposition. The affair clearly reveals the authoritarian nature of the Russian state. The prosecution of the group is an attack on basic democratic rights, which must be rejected.

The support given to the three women by leading Western imperialist politicians, however, serves a different purpose. Their statements of support are cynical to the core. None of them can speak as principled defenders of democratic rights. They are all quite prepared to ride roughshod over democratic principles when it serves their reactionary policy objectives.

After the verdict against Pussy Riot, US President Barack Obama declared his disappointment with “disproportionate punishment”. This comes from the president of a country that maintains torture centres around the world and reserves the right to kill anyone it identifies as a “terrorist”, including its own citizens, without trial. More people are incarcerated in the US than in any other country in the world.

French Minister of Culture Aurélie Filipetti expressed her concern about the state of Russian “artistic freedom”, which is “a feature of the strength of a democracy”. This is from the minister of a government planning to build ghettos for Roma—a measure hardly compatible with the “strength of a democracy.”

On August 17, the French police went so far as to break up a peaceful demonstration against the Pussy Riot judgment in Marseille because the protesters wore colourful masks resembling those worn by the punk band.

The police justified their action by citing the French anti-burqa law, a provision of which forbids not only the burqa, but the wearing of clothing that would mask the face so as to hide someone’s identity. The arrest of pro-Pussy Riot protesters has made clear, however, that this law is not only an attack on the democratic rights of people who want to wear a burqa. It is also a legal tool to crack down on demonstrators and limit political freedom.

The British Foreign Ministry also expressed its “deep concern” about the verdict against Pussy Riot. It failed to mention that that the British state sent 1,300 people to jail after the social unrest a year ago. The theft of a water bottle or a comment on an internet platform in support of the riots was enough to land someone behind bars. The judgments were made in summary proceedings in violation of due process and were clearly politically motivated.

In Germany, support for Pussy Riot from official circles has been especially pronounced. In early July, 120 members of the Bundestag authored a letter to the Russian ambassador in Berlin denouncing the trial. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has repeatedly criticized the trial and sentencing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out against “the disproportionately severe sentence”, which “did not accord with the European values ​​of rule of law and democracy”. This comes from a head of government who has not the slightest respect for “the rule of law and democracy” when it comes to implementing austerity measures against the resistance of Greek and Spanish workers.

Behind the campaign against the Putin regime in the name of democracy, Western leaders are expressing their discontent with Russia’s domestic and foreign policies and seeking to put pressure on the regime.

First, Western politicians and businesses want an opening of the Russian market for foreign investors and deeper attacks on the working class. This is why they broadly support the free market economic agenda of Russia’s liberal opposition, which dominated last year’s protest movement against Putin and around which Pussy Riot itself was active.

Second, there is a growing divergence between the foreign policy interests of the West and the Putin regime. Moscow opposes Western intervention in Syria and Iran. Together with China, it has blocked two UN resolutions which sought to pave the way for military intervention by Western powers in Syria. For decades the Kremlin has been closely associated with the Syrian regime, which, together with Iran, Washington now aims to overthrow.

French, British and German imperialism have all lined up with the United States in the Syria conflict. Their military and financial support for the so-called “rebels”—a combination of Islamic militants, ex-Syrian government officials and Western intelligence assets—has sparked a civil war which has already cost the lives of tens of thousands and threatens to plunge the region into chaos.

Following its abstention in the Libyan war, German imperialism is no longer prepared to stand on the sidelines when it comes to war in the Middle East. Torn between its traditional political orientation towards the US and its dependence on Russian fuel imports, the German government has clearly lined up alongside the United States in the Syria conflict. It is playing a key role in equipping and training the anti-Assad forces and maintains its own centre for the development of free market policies in Syria after Assad’s fall.

This foreign policy orientation is a major reason why German politicians and media are supporting the Pussy Riot campaign. At the end of July the Süddeutsche Zeitung commented that all attempts by the German government to mediate between Russia and the West had come to nothing, and the “strategic partnership” between Moscow and Berlin now lies buried “beneath the rubble of the Syrian crisis.”

Just a few weeks later the German government’s commissioner for Russia, Andreas Schockenhoff, announced that, due to the Pussy Riot affair, Berlin no longer shared a years-long “strategic partnership” with Moscow, but rather would merely “aspire to a partnership”.

Schockenhoff also threatened to dissolve the “Petersburg Dialogue”, a forum established in 2001 by Putin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to focus on German-Russian cooperation on economic and political issues.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:08

Hmmm, not just in defence of Pussy Riot but cutting down crosses because of insults to Lenin!

As Lenin himself put it:

The art of any propagandist and agitator consists in his ability to find the best means of influencing any given audience, by presenting a definite truth, in such a way as to make it most convincing, most easy to digest, most graphic, and most strongly impressive.

Lenin, The Slogans and Organisation of Social-Democratic Work (1919)

Obscure underground movement claims responsibility for Russian cross cutting
http://rt.com/politics/movement-claims-russian-cross-710/
Published: 28 August, 2012, 13:21

A group calling itself People’s Freedom claimed in a statement online that was behind the felling of several Orthodox crosses in two Russian regions, in retaliation for the Pussy Riot trial and for clerics’ recent insults of Vladimir Lenin.

The group recalls the 19th-century Russian terrorist organization of the same name, which fought against the tsarist monarchy and assassinated several top state officials, including Emperor Alexander II. Unlike its historical namesake, the modern-day People’s Freedom was unknown until now.

“The Cutting of the Russian Orthodox Church’s crosses in the village of Smelovskiy in the Chelyabinsk Region and in the city district Varavino-Faktoriya in Arkhangelsk is a part of our operation codenamed ‘cross-felling.’ It was carried out by the militant branch of our organization, the mobile combat group called The Unknown,” the group wrote on Facebook.

Over the weekend, unidentified individuals chopped down and cut into pieces three Orthodox crosses near the village of Smelovsky in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, and one cross in North Russia’s Arkhangelsk Region. Police have begun an investigation into the vandalism

The Facebook post claimed that the action was a retaliation against the “arbitrary trial of helpless Russian girls from Pussy Riot” and the “the insults that the head of the Church’s department for interaction with the military forces said about the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin,” as well as announcements by church activists that they were forming neighborhood watch groups.
The group demanded the immediate release of the members of Pussy Riot, and threatened similar actions if their demands were not met. People’s Freedom urged “all sane forces within the Russian society to leave the Russian Orthodox Church that has nothing to do whatsoever with the Orthodox Christianity”.

The People’s Freedom incident took place about a week after Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN used a chainsaw to cut down a memorial cross in central Kiev. The stunt was an act of protest in support of the members of Pussy Riot – three feminist punk rockers who were recently sentenced to two years each for staging a ‘punk prayer’ in Moscow’s main cathedral against the growing ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the state.

by JoeMc Tue Aug 28, 2012 15:35

I'm sure that news will make the self-styled atheists who've been stirring up anti-religious shite on this site over the years very happy. And all done by an anonymous group of freedom loving pro feminists in the name of Lenin and "people's freedom " . They should have called themselves "performance artists" though to pre-empt criticism from certain sections of the left. ( Here's an idea. Let's drop a nuclear bomb somewhere and say that it's performance art . If anyone criicised us , we'd say they were anti-art and attempting to deny us the right to freedom of expression. )

Anybody who sees a Western hand in the brave feminist, atheist performance artists who call themselves Freedom People could only be a nutter ,a whack job , or else a fixated conspiracy theorist working for mossad and a shill for the Vatican .

by lefty Tue Aug 28, 2012 20:53

"Anybody who sees a Western hand in the brave feminist, atheist performance artists who call themselves Freedom People could only be a nutter ,a whack job , or else a fixated conspiracy theorist working for mossad and a shill for the Vatican . "

It is quite clear that a western hand has either taken this golden opportunity to foment division and probe faultlines in russian society using propaganda techniques, or else was behind it all from the start.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 21:12

See the article above from wsws.org Western powers are using it but Pussy Riot are no ones shills. If they were then President Putin would have pointed it out.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 21:37

Hmm, maybe the CP were behind cutting down the pieces of wood sometimes referred to as crucifixes. They certainly support defacing the Yeltsin statue.

Unidentified vandals have thrown paint and broken the lettering on the monument to Boris Yeltsin in Yekaterinburg.

Officials from the Yeltsin Center have already voiced their indignation over the incident, but local communists said they were ready to support the vandals.

A police detail only discovered in the morning that the 10-meter monument was covered with paint from top to bottom. According to the local police press service, the incident itself must have taken place between 3am and 8am local time.

Those who committed the act of vandalism could face up to three months in detention if found. ...

At the same time, the local branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) said they understood and shared the vandals’ feelings and were ready to sponsor the lawyer who would defend the culprits if they are put on trial. In addition the Communists promised to support them by public actions.

"We share the feelings of these political vandals and fear that their rights to a fair trial will be violated," the member of the political bureau of the regional branch of the KPRF, Aleksandr Ivachev, told the Interfax news agency.

“If the obelisk remains in its current place, the city authorities should consider allocating a dedicated budget to pay workers who would regularly clean up the Yeltsin monument," the Ivachev added.

by lefty Tue Aug 28, 2012 21:50

Yeltsin was a western manipulated drunken idiot who nearly destroyed Russia.
He deserved no statue.

I'd throw paint on his statue too if I was russian.

Reminds me of Biffo!

by lefty Tue Aug 28, 2012 22:11

"Pussy Riot are no ones shills. If they were then President Putin would have pointed it out."

Thats really not proof of anything. How do you really know they aren't?

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 22:25

Because I've seen no evidence to suggest that Pussy Riot are in anyones pay.

Putin has access to reports prepared by Russias internal and external intelligence agencies. He would be aware if they were shills of Western intelligence or some corrupt foundations.

Russia Today (RT.com) have covered the Pussy Riot story from the beginning, most of the stuff I post regarding PR is from there. They have a full staff of investigate journalists both within and outside of Russia. They have never suggested that Pussy Riot are in anyones pay.

Putin conducts an anti-Imperialist foreign policy. I doubt if the CPRF could do better.

Putin pulled Russia back from the brink but hes still a capitalist so naturally I would like to see a government of the CPRF and other anti Imperialist Left parties in power.Sadly Zyuganov (CPRF) is charismatically challenged.

I think the best analysis of the Pussy Riot situation I've read is the wsws.org article above.

by pat c Tue Aug 28, 2012 22:55

Zombies banned in Russia again. A Lenin Zombie will rise up to smash capitalism.

‘Zombie attack’! St. Petersburg swarmed by undead in fancy dress (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/zombie-parade-russia...-570/

An animated zombie party hit St. Petersburg on August 25, 2012 (Image from http://ama cumara.ru)

Several hundred “zombies” have taken a park in St. Petersburg by storm, after eyewitnesses saw them limping around moaning for brains and flesh. The so-called “dead” carnival was later interrupted by police.

Some 300 “zombies” were parading within the grounds of Tavrichesky Garden mock dressed in an array of attire from dead bunnies to riving monsters. Sporadic shouts of “Brain, gimme your brain!” or “Meat, meat!” shot over general snarling and moaning.

With white and grey faces mixed with fake blood – teenagers and youngsters provided the core of the zombie mob, worthy of a “Dawn of the Dead” movie remake.

The zombie walk organizers did not apply for official permission to hold the parade, still the police tolerated the invasion for an hour or so before closing down the event. ...

Click on image to activate gif.

by pat c Fri Aug 31, 2012 22:26

Now Putins Council for Human Rights questions the sentence.

The legitimacy and justness of the Pussy Riot sentence is still questionable, despite the moral condemnation of an "outrageous act that violates the rules of conduct in religious institutions," Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Right stated.

According to a document signed by 23 members of the council, the Pussy Riot sentence, two years in prison for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," undermines the basic legal principle guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, according to which criminal penalties may be imposed only for acts “explicitly named and prohibited by criminal law.”

The authors of the statement, including council head Mikhail Fedotov, also expressed surprise at the fact that all of the defendants received the same prison terms, despite the fact that two of them have young children. The verdict was "more severe than it should be for the blasphemy laws of the Russian Empire," the statement reads.

by pat c Wed Sep 12, 2012 20:15

Full text at link.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has spoken out against the verdict handed to controversial punk band Pussy Riot, saying he believed the time they spent behind bars before and during the trial was punishment enough.

“I feel that extending the prison time [for the band members] in this case is counterproductive,” Medvedev said at a United Russia Party meeting in the Russian city of Penza. “In my opinion, probation would have been sufficient punishment, considering all the time they've already spent behind bars.”