Watch Pussy Riot Discuss Police Violence in U.S. and Russia
Russian punk protest group Pussy Riot has been raising awareness of social injustices since 2011, often making headlines for their political lyrics and guerrilla-style activism. Several members of Pussy Riot, who are outspoken critics of Vladimir Putin, have been arrested and imprisoned for “hooliganism” in Russia, attracting widespread media attention for the group and the causes they support – among them prison reform, gay rights and police brutality.
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, along with her husband, Pyotr Verzilov – who’s become something of a spokesperson for the band – and collaborator Matt Kulakov recently spoke to Rolling Stone about “I Can’t Breathe,” Pussy Riot’s song and video inspired by the backlash to the Eric Garner killing, the differences between activist movements in Russia and the United States and what they think a just world would look like.
Tolokonnikova said Pussy Riot’s recent work was influenced by participating in protests against police violence in New York City. “We have a lot of experience with police violence in Russia,” she said. “So we feel this situation is our situation as well.”
Verzilov added that it was interesting for them to see a protest movement like Black Lives Matter unfold in a more openly democratic nation than their native country. “In Russia, we don’t really have a minority, or a certain group of people, whose rights are specifically violated,” he said. “In Russia, everyone’s rights are violated all the time.”