There has been so much written about the Pussy Riot case that I am sure that you can make your own minds up about it. There is however an interesting interview in The Guardian with Yekaterina Samutsevich. In it she argues “more than anything, our trial showed the dependence of the justice system, and its direct authority, on Putin’s power, which clearly should not be the case in a government that calls itself democratic,” The article then continues “Pussy Riot and their supporters have accused Putin, and the powerful Russian Orthodox church, of orchestrating the case against them.”
If you accept this, then in the context of our course this is quite surprising. Yes, there is continuity in the use of repression from the centre. However, more interesting is Putin, with his KGB background, allied to what Marx called “the opiate of the masses” – the Orthodox Church. The Church was seen as one of the “props” (Rogger) of Tsarism.
Perhaps the answer to this rapproachment lies in their common enemy, or rather what they perceive to be their common enemy of anarchism. After the launching of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Churchill said of his new chum -Stalinist Russia “If Hitler invaded hell itself I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons“. That marriage did not outlast the fall of the Nazi leader…
Mr Kydd.
Formerly, under communist ruling religion was of no power within the governing of Russia but it seems times are changing with pussy riots imprisonment. With 3 members of the group convicted of blasphemy, sacrilege and hooliganism and serving a sentence of 2years hints of the increased influence of the church on governing matters. However I feel it is untrue that the reason for pussy riots persercution was solely because they “disrespected” the church. I feel the true reason for their persercution was because of their view of the political governing in Russia and the Russian government felt they could be of great influence to the Russian public. therefore to stop them in they convicted them using the excuse of “disrespecting” the church in order to cover up the true reason fearing international condemnation.
It’s fascinating to see how what appears to be oppression has continued to be a problem despite the transition of Russia from a Communist state. The whole Pussy Riot debacle is such an interesting example as it has grown into a situation that the whole world is paying attention to, it really makes people more aware of injustice and oppression in modern day society.