Blog 3: Medvedev Says Rockers Have Served Enough Jail Time for Cathedral Performance

The Pussy Riot, a feminist punk-rock music group based in Moscow, Russia, pulled a stunt this past February in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour where they expressed religious and political unrest and dissatisfaction of the state of Russia in their anti- Putin song "Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" In March, three of the groups twelve  female members where arrested, with a charge of acts of hooliganism, and were later sentenced to two years in prison as a result. However, after just six months of serving their sentence, Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, has said that the three members should be release on Wednesday September 12, 2012, which is addressed in this particular article. This is largely due to strong disproval and condemnation  in the West of the punishment the Pussy Riot members have received. Even pro-Pussy Riot peoples and activists have come to a similar conclusion as Medvedev's saying that "future incarceration would be 'unproductive.'" The lawyer of the Pussy Riot, Nikolai Polozov believes that "authorities should 'rid themselves of a case that has turned out to be more damaging than expected.'" An e-book, entitled "Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer For Freedom" is to be released in the coming weeks that will include prison letters from the three members, statements from their defense attorneys, like Polozov, as well as poems and tributes from other artists and performers. (E-Book Planned on Embattled Russian Punk Group, New York Times)
This publication would essentially only add to the already existing disproval of from the West as news concerning the circumstance and previous actions of this feminist punk-rock music group continues to spread.

The response of the West in regards to the current circumstance and stunt pulled by the Pussy Riot is likely to contribute to this era of democratization and transformation of cultural globalization, that is most visible in parts of Northern Africa and the Middle East, in what it still considered to be Eastern Europe. Strong disproval in the West has, in the past, led to a cultural transformation of what is socially acceptable. In the communist society that Russia has put into place, suggested denouncing of government and widely practiced religion is very strongly looked down upon. Denouncers are likely to be prosecuted in the most extreme of ways. In more democratic societies, however, such denouncing is rarely seen, since citizens are encouraged to participate in their governments and other institutions that have, in many cases, a significant impact on their every day lives. Though the result of Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev's suggestion that the three members of Pussy Riot be released after just six months of their two year sentence is still ambiguous, a more democratic sense to Russian Politics and religious practiced may be imposed in the future. This would, therefore, illustrate the expanded rights of all Russian peoples, including outspoken women such as the twelve female members of the Pussy Riot, and women in general.

Ketsia Masse, Women  September 14, 2012 3:27 PM Eastern Time

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/world/europe/medvedev-says-jailed-pussy-riot-members-in-russia-should-be-freed.html

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/e-book-planned-on-embattled-russian-punk-group/