olenskae:

Yekaterina Samutsevich’s closing statement in the criminal case against the feminist punk group Pussy Riot:

During the closing statement, the defendant is expected to repent or express regret for her deeds, or to enumerate attenuating circumstances. In my case, as in the case of my…

I don’t really agree with the whole feminist thing (you can stand for women’s rights without being aggro or diminishing the concept of man IMO) but I certainly stand with the group on a social and political aspect. The fact that a group of young women making noise in a cathedral can rile up an entire government and punish them with years of lost time sounds completely absurd and cruel.

Mind you, many people (including myself) look at this situation with a First Amended lens. But in Russia, what Pussy Riot did considers as a crime. No, its not fair, no, its not right, but the law is the law. The great part of this, however, comes from the group’s successful set-up. They played in the largest Orthodox Church in Russia. They slung diatribes at Putin by name. In order to seal the deal, they have to go to prison. That solidifies the wrongful actions of the government and the brave actions of Pussy Riot, just as Martin Luther King spent many nights in jail for minorities in this country.

The group does not become an example of non-conformist insolence, as the Russian government would like to assume. Rather, the government itself becomes a malevolent dissenter of free thought and culture.

Free Pussy Riot still lol. It sounds cool.