Given that punk rock is an inherently political genre of
music, are Pussy Riot now serving as the barometer of one’s right to
self-expression in Vladimir Putin’s Russia?
By: Ringo Bones
To everyone old enough to experience first hand the birth of
punk rock back around 1976 and 1976, this genre of music is known to be
inherently political and politically opinionated. Remember the harsh polemic of
Sex Pistols’ God Save The Queen on HRH Queen Elizabeth II during that period?
And yet in the 21st Century, punk rock’s ability to not just settle
back as injustice run’s amok in society is not lost on the Russian punk rock
band named Pussy Riot.
Pussy Riot gained global attention way before their harsh
sentencing over doing an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral
back in March. They had always been critical of the Russian government failing
to provide the semblance of social justice to the average working class Russian
citizen. And given that in the West punk rock had always had a streak of
Marxist-Leninist Socialist leaning view of social justice, its no wonder why
Pussy Riot became a runaway success not just in their home soil but also to
socialist idealist elsewhere in the world.
The recent harsh sentencing of Pussy Riot by the Russian
courts over their anti Vladimir Putin protest – as in sentenced to two-years in
a labor camp – had attracted international condemnation by supporters hailing
from Paris, London, Brussels and even ones as far as Washington, D.C. The
question now is, will the “Pussy Riot show trial” eventually make the whole
world doubt the rule of law in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia?
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