She's In Russia

Pussy Riot was/is a mostly anonymous feminist activist/performance art group formed in Moscow in 2011, in a time when widespread protests (main protest slogan of the time=”For fair elections”) were unfolding across Russia. A notorious protest-performance in early 2012 got three of the members arrested. What ensued was a highly public trial, and, for two of the accused, a brutal sentencing that main painfully evident (to regular Russians and foreigners alike) some of the more frightening aspects of the bureaucratic, judicial and prison systems in place in modern day Russia. On this episode we take you through this darkly absurd story, try to get a better idea of the individual women involved, discuss what it all meant to various groups of people, and whether or not, at the end of the day, Pussy Riot is actually cool.