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5 thoughts on “We Stood Up, They Walked Free!

  1. Amnesty International's focus on helping Pussy Riot seriously makes me reconsider future monetary support. It makes me wonder if many of the other issues being discussed on this site are just as bogus.

  2. I am usually fully behind Amnesty's human rights agenda and applaud its actions. I've written letters and contributed to the cause.

    Unfortunately, Pussy Riot/its former members does not belong in the honorable group of the Prisoners of Conscience. While Putin's repressive autocracy is deplorable and the spoken and written political message of this group is on point, the unnecessary shock value in the delivery of this message is just wrong. They are provocateurs in the most tasteless way — as part of the "art group" Voina, some members staged orgies in a museum (where Nadia was visibly pregnant) and one performed a sex act with a raw chicken in a public supermarket. This would be reprehensible anywhere. It's not free speech, it's offensive obscenity.

    How does this advance human rights or feminism?

    While serving a year sentence of forced factory work for barging into a church with a protest punk performance was too harsh, these women were not arrested for free speech, but for causing havoc. Their previous acts have diminished their integrity in my eyes, even as they continue their crusade against Putin in Sochi. Because of their crude methods of protest, these women do not belong in the same group as Nelson Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi.

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