Pussy Riot. Hatred

Indignation is hatred towards one who has done evil to another.
Spinoza1 1  - The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza, Trans. R.H.M. Elwes, Vol. 2 De Intellectus Emendatione — Ethica. (Select Letters). Revised edition. London: George Bell and Sons, 1901, http://oll.libertyfund.org/? option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php % 3Ftitle=1711&chapter=199398&layout=html&Itemid=27 (accessed November 1, 2012).

Those who, like me, are familiar with the current social and political climate in Russia, were shocked to learn, in an article published in the The Voice of Russia on May 23, 2012, that Vladimir Putin’s government condemned the violence inflicted by the Quebec government on its citizens. Referring to the police crackdown on protests held last May in Montreal in opposition to Bill 78, and in Chicago during the NATO Summit, Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights,criticized the “disproportionate use of force by riot control agents despite the fact that the protests were peaceful in character.”2 2  - “Russia concerned about protestors’ rights violations in US, Canada,” The Voice of Russia, May 22, 2012, http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_05_22/75532138/ (accessed August 20, 2012). Cynicism?

Like their counterparts in Quebec and the United States, Russian youth have been trying to make their voices heard in recent months. In a context where freedom of the press is severely restricted,³ 3 - See “Comment le Kremlin étouffe la presse russe,” Le Figaro.fr, October 10, 2006, http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20061027.FIG000000156_comment_le_kremlin_etouffe_la_presse_russe.html (accessed August 20, 2012). the public sphere becomes a prime forum for political action, and symbolic activity the safest language. However, the stakes and risks are far higher in Russia, where there is virtually no culture of protest and repression is harsh. Charged in March 2012 of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and of inciting violence and organizing an unauthorized protest, three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot found themselves facing seven years in prison. An international movement in solidarity with the artists rapidly emerged: Amnesty International condemned the arrests, protests were held across the globe, and countless artists expressed their support. The decision of the criminal court was handed down on August 17. After close to five months of temporary detention, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich  were sentenced to two years in a prison camp.⁴ 4 - On October 10, 2012, following an appeal, Yekaterina Samutsevich was released on probation by the Moscow court. The sentences handed down to the other two Pussy Riot members were upheld.