What Pussy Riot Did Probably Wouldn’t Be a Crime in The US
By Bob Morris | 08/18/2012 | Activism, Headline | 29 Comments
Credit: pussy-riot.livejournal.com/
Members of Russian punk band, Pussy Riot were given harsh two year sentences in prison for performing street theatre critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the steps of a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow.
To be clear, the band did not enter the church, destroy property, attack anyone, nor incite a riot. Rather, the band sang and danced on the steps of a cathedral. While they might have been rousted by police in the US for doing so (and even that is debatable) they almost certainly would not have been charged with serious crimes or been sent to prison. Instead, Pussy Riot might have been charged with a minor misdemeanor for violating noise permits, if that. More probably, police in the US would have allowed them to finish rather than storming the steps and grabbing them. Quite possibly, US police might not have thought their performance even needed to be broken up.
I say this as one who helped organize many protests, sometimes quite large, in Los Angeles. Some of these protests involved street theater similar to what Pussy Riot did. While things sometimes got quite tense with LAPD, they never tried to break up protests as happened in Moscow. The loose understanding with LAPD was don’t block streets, sidewalks, or harass counter-protesters. Then you have could have a street corner protest. Six women singing and dancing on cathedral steps would hardly qualify as a protest in the US.
The judge said one of the reasons for a “real sentence” was to “caution others.”And now you know. #PussyRiot
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) August 17, 2012
This tweet by Julia Loffe, a journalist in Moscow, highlights what perhaps is the real reason for the harsh sentences. The authorities and Putin are alarmed at rising levels of protest and dissent and wish to send a message trying to scare others off from protesting too.
This YouTube video shows the performance by Pussy Riot on the steps of the cathedral, with lyrics. Yes, they are sending a political message too, one that, due to overreaction by Russian authorities, went viral across the planet and turned an unknown punk band into an international cause célèbre.
St. Maria, Virgin, Drive away Putin
Drive away! Drive away Putin!
Black robe, golden epaulettes
All parishioners are crawling and bowing
The ghost of freedom is in heaven
Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains
The head of the KGB is their chief saint
Leads protesters to prison under escort
In order not to offend the Holy
Women have to give birth and to love
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29 Comments
Chad Peace
08.18.2012
@Chad_Peace
Makes you stop and appreciate the freedoms we do still have, as much as we have the right to complain about the ones we may be letting slip.
Heather Rogers
08.18.2012
@heatherrogers
This makes me grateful to be an American. I feel sorry for those girls.
Rev. David Haberer
08.18.2012
Thank God we live in America.
Mike Hicks
08.18.2012
Soon will be at the rate we’re going.
Jon Dalgarn
08.18.2012
that’s because we have such low morals anymore
Ron Waterman
08.18.2012
No Jon, it’s because the country you live in has free speech. Can you imagine, in any way, Fox News getting away with what they say about our sitting President, if this were Russia under Putin?
Shirley Glass
08.18.2012
I saw them inside the church desecrating it.
Glenna Stewart
08.18.2012
Shirley, I think you are fabricating.
Dan Richards
08.19.2012
@danrich
No she is not. I had to look five times at a few pieces of the video, and still not to sure they were not inside. Some of it looks to be inside, while other parts look to be outside. For instance, there was not enough effect on the candles to be outside, so they had to be inside, but the video says they were outside… Then the flooring looks too clean to be outside. I mean have you ever seen the grounds around any church that were not covered with bird guano?
To much looks to be inside there to have all of it outside.
Eric Mitchell
08.19.2012
Hell, it wouldn’t even be NEWS in the US!
John Dodson
08.19.2012
really admire their audacity
Cristina Padron
08.19.2012
Screw Russia!
Alex Zima
08.19.2012
Proud to be American? No
Obama would give them indefinate detention or assassinate them with a drone.
Glenna Stewart
08.19.2012
Russian government is a cesspool of corruption; their citizens have absolutely no freedom of speech. Journalists, who attempt to write the truth, are cut down. Putin is a thug.
Glenna Stewart
08.19.2012
Oh, I just saw Shirley’s post here…I think Shirley is either an agent of the now defunct KGB, or she is simply fabricating.
Catherine Nagle McKenzie
08.19.2012
Not proud. Thankful.
Jan Budig
08.19.2012
the USA was free speech,,,obama would do worse than 2 years. keep our freedom vote obama out in november.
Robert Schmid
08.19.2012
“the police would have waited for them to finish instead of storming in”.
The author has never seen American riot police deal with demonstrators.
Maria Rosario
08.19.2012
Well the United States is the first country to get rid of kings, and queens, and bring in a democratic government for the people, and I think in the U.S A puzzy riot would of been thrown out of the church steps, and given a stern warning but not put in jaill,,, then again with all the changes I really do not know where anything stands anymore…
Maria Rosario
08.19.2012
then again there are places that need to be respected,, a line was crossed… each country has its own laws,, they must be followed on..
Paul Grajciar
08.19.2012
If we are not ready to fight to preserve the freedom we have we don’t deserve it. Yes I’m proud and lucky to be an American. But we need to be as vigilant domestically as we are internationally.
Ronald M Converse
08.19.2012
o yea, ask Brady manning if it is a crime to express your self? what hypocrites Americans are!
Greg Kiff
08.19.2012
yes they would have been arrested for that in the US.
Gina Mastres
08.19.2012
freedom of speech should not be a crime anywhere
Gina Mastres
08.19.2012
if making fun of the president was a crime in the US many many people from SNL would be in jail
Noel Akins
08.19.2012
Ok people, there is more to this story than you think you know. Pussy Riot did enter a church, They did sing a song about how the the church should throw out Putin. But, as a part of their “street theater performance” they did throw urine and something else, maybe paint, inside the church. Now, was this a political statement against Putin? Yes. Is there punishment fair, I don’t think so. Did Putin want to punish descent? Probably. But, these three young women went just a little to far for Russian society. Their “performance” angered and shocked a lot of regular Russian people, some for Putin, some not. If this were to have happened in a western country, it would have angered a number of people, been the topic for a week on TV, and then it would have been over with. Russia is not used to this kind of thing.
So, everyone, the communist aren’t coming for you just because Pussy Riot got jail time. And if Obama was going to take away your right to say whatever you want to say, Fox News would not be in business today.
Mark Herndon
08.19.2012
“PROBABLY WOULDN’T”??????
Thomas Jay Wasserberg
08.19.2012
@Noel Akins — what about the arrest of brandon raub? here’s the oppossition opinion on pussy riot: http://www.facebook.com/notifications#!/notes/nektarios-nectar-panagiotis-farmakis/project-pussy-riot-the-instigators-of-antichristian-and-russophobic-propaganda-t/10151198163829453
Alex
08.20.2012
Dear Quick to Conclusion Jump and Judge: if you look at the video you clearly see that they are INSIDE the Church, in front of the Altar screen where the Holy Communion is prepared, and they are singing THE LORD’S SHIT, THE LORD’S SHIT. In the United States this would at least be criminal trespass. This is the second time that they have done this and the last time they were asked to no longer violate the rights of Christian worshippers to pray in peace by entering Chuches that belong to the congregations and not to outside protestors, and not to disturb private prayer with profanity. They can sing whatever they want to the high heavens, but not in my home and not in my Church. If they had done this in an American mosque the White House and media would be complaining about the disrespect, and offending the sensitivites and belief of millions of believers. Christian beleivers in Russia had to endure decades of Communists first mocking them in Church, and then the Communists took over the country, knocked the Churches down, and sent the believers to the gulags. 20 million died. They have had enough of mocking God and Christian belief. But why should this band stop when they can claim the attention of the entire world? Once they get out on parole in a short time I suppose they will use their new found fame to tour the US and make millions of dollars — all the artists who mock Christianity always do — they can do guest spots as celebrated artists on THE VIEW, Madonna can show them how to open concerts by hanging on crucifixes, and Rev. Haberer can invite them to his Church so they can shout about the Lord’s shit while he preaches and his congregation sings.