Pussy-Riot-Olympia-Solidarity-hd.mov

Pussy Riot Olympia Solidarity Action to demand the immediate release of Pussy Riot Moscow. Made in Olympia, summer 2012.

STATEMENT OF INTENT BY PUSSY RIOT OLYMPIA:

"Pussy Riot has to keep on expanding. That's one of the reasons we choose to always wear balaclavas—new members can join the bunch and it does not really matter who takes part in the next act—there can be three of us or eight, like in our last gig on the Red Square, or even 15. Pussy Riot is a pulsating and growing body. Do you know anyone who wants to come to Moscow, play illegal concerts, and help us fight Putin and Russian chauvinists? Or maybe they could start their own local Pussy Riot, if Russia is too cold and too far."-

Garadzha, Pussy Riot

As with every story there is how we want the world to know the story and then what really happened. In this story you will get both because there are many people telling it. Some of the members of Pussy Riot Olympia were trying to show support for Pussy Riot Moscow by carrying on what we saw them actually doing, disrupting public space to create dialogue about relevant political and cultural issues.

We looked at what resources we had and made a plan. Some of us knew we could get the controls of the projection booth and lights at a local cinema. We disrupted a matinee screening (a poorly attended screening as you can see in the video) by rigging the fire shutter on the projector to stop functioning such that when we shut off the projector the image burned on screen. (at a planned moment during the manipulative film) Then we hit the lights, rushed the stage, switched over to the cinema's video projector and sound system to play our song and slide show, gave it all we had for two minutes and left the small audience to wonder what happened. We had a few cameras so we filmed the scenes leading up to and just after the action. Then some of us went up to the state capitol building and took over the steps for an impromptu demo that lasted about three minutes. At the end of the video you can see a state patrolman walking out of the building with his lunchbox trying his best to ignore the weird spectacle happening...and probably hoping he didn't get called back to work to diffuse the situation.

In the cinema action we are also deliberately protesting the random mass killing that happened recently in a cinema in the US. These killings have become increasingly regular and are fed by the culture of violence and hate that is the norm in consumerist  feeding frenzies and especially the cinema. We love the cinema. Free the Cinema! Free Pussy Riot!

Start yr own Pussy Riot chapter now.

We have nothing to worry about, because if the repressive Putinist police crooks throw one of us in prison, five, ten fifteen or more girls will put on colorful balaclavas and continue the fight against their symbols of power

-Kot, Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot song lyrics:

CHORUS:
PUSSY RIOT- I WANNA RIOT
PUSSY RIOT- I WANNA RIOT OF MY OWN (X2)

RUSSIANS GOT A LOT OF PROBLEMS
BUT THEY KNOW HOW TO BREAK SOME EGGS!
AMERICANS SIT ON THE INTERNET
WHERE THEY LEARN HOW TO BE TAME!

AND EVERYBODY'S DOING JUST WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO

AND NOBODY WANTS TO GOT TO JAIL!

(CHORUS)

ALL THE POWER IS IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE RICH ENOUGH TO BUY IT
WHILE WE WALK THE STREETS...

LET'S HAVE A PUSSY RIOT!

(CHORUS)

ARE YOU TAKING ORDERS OR ARE YOU TAKING OVER?
ARE YOU MOVING BACKWARDS OR ARE YOU  MOVING FORWARD?

(CHORUS)
END

Pussy Riot is an anonymous anti-authoritarian feminist collective
that stages unsanctioned concerts as a means of political protest.
They formed in Moscow in September 2011 in response to Vladimir
Putin's decision to run for re-election.

On February 21, 2012 Pussy Riot staged a "punk prayer" at a cathedral in Moscow, following which three alleged participants in the action were arrested and charged with "hooliganism". They face a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison if convicted and remain in pre-trial detention, which was recently extended to January 2013.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alekhina are political prisoners. Amnesty International calls for their immediate release. Solidarity actions are happening around the globe.

• Category

  Music

[Zoltan Grossman]

So cool you did this video. I'm in Olympia and was wondering if anyone knew about the charges here, in the birthplace of Riot Grrl. Sent the info to KAOS radio and they found your video--great job.

[MrGabrielPeterson]

free all political prisoners in Russia including Pussy Riot punk band.