As the most front-facing member of the feminist punk-rock collective Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova is no stranger to extrajudicial harassment by Russian law enforcement. She’s been intimidated, beaten, and, most infamously, sentenced to two years in a harsh prison camp outside of Mordovia for “hooliganism”—this following the group’s headline-grabbing “Punk Prayer” performance-art piece at Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. And yet, the events of Sept. 7 managed to catch her by surprise.
Armed with “Pussian” Federation and rainbow flags, an array of colorful smoke cannons, and a banner reading “PUTIN YOU’D BETTER LEAVE BY YOURSELF,” Tolokonnikova and her fellow Rioters aimed to protest the upcoming Moscow city parliament election outside the Russian White House. The anti-Putin women wanted to ensure a fair and just process—a tall order given Putin’s penchant for election meddling and fascistic crackdown on most forms of public dissent.
The moment they exited their residence, the 15 women—including her 17-year-old sister Polina—were “immediately, brutally arrested with no explanation why,” according to Tolokonnikova, were thrown into a truck, had their phones confiscated, and transported to a Moscow police station where they were isolated in cells and grilled until 1 a.m..
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“It’s a sign of our times,” recalls Tolokonnikova. “It’s true for us in Moscow right now—more and more people are getting angrier. Being politically aware is a new norm. If you respect yourself, you go to rallies. If you respect your country, you’re not afraid of the riot police because, in the end, the country is ours. We are the many and they are the few.” Judging by the recent election results, wherein Russia’s ruling party lost a third of their seats in parliament following mass protests, she appears to be right.
Just before the arrest, I spoke with Tolokonnikova about the Russian police state, Trump’s cozy relationship with Putin, and much more.
Tell me a little bit about Pussy Riot’s new song, “1937.” What inspired it?
The idea for this song was inspired by the actions on the football field during the World Cup, when my colleagues ran onto the football field and they protested against the situation with political prisoners and persecution of political opponents of the Kremlin. Putin was seeing that action, so the cops were really mad. When they were arrested, one of the cops told them, “It’s so sad that it’s not 1937 right now.” It is a really popular position, unfortunately, among people from the so-called Siloviky group, which has gained a lot of power under Putin’s regime, and is comprised of FSB and cops. They don’t want us to have a voice and be able to protest against them. They want to return to the time of 1937-1938, where around 700,000 people were executed because of standing orders. This song is written from the perspective of those tortured by police, and they’re warning that at some point, the system will turn back against you.
How confident are you that the Russian people—and this system that he’s constantly manipulating—will eventually turn against Putin?
Having examples like Muammar Gaddafi, I’m pretty confident that the system will be turned against Putin. Do you remember how Gaddafi died? I’m not saying that it should happen, or that I want it to be this way, but when you’ve been a dictator for a long time, you’re oppressing people and breaking their lives, and they’re not happy about it. At one point or another your power will go away, and you will not be respected anymore. That’s something that Putin realizes—he’s in power to protect himself, and his regime. But you can’t just have power; you need another reason to believe in you. And Putin’s time is running out for people to support him.
You must have been encouraged by the recent Moscow election protests, which brought some 70,000 people to the streets.
Our strategy, for those anti-Putin, is to support anyone who’s not in the ruling party—since the ruling party is the most corrupt thing ever.
I’m curious what your life is like in Moscow. Are you in constant danger, and do you feel like you’re regularly being followed?
The nature of oppression in Russia is not total. Not everybody is in prison, and you never know when you’ll end up in prison. It’s pretty random, actually, so you never know when it may happen. My mindset is just not to think about it. If you go out to rallies, protest, and make yourself heard, there is danger, and you should be ready to be arrested and go to prison. But you never can be ready for this bullshit. Police will beat you and then they’ll accuse the protesters of beating police—without any evidence but a police report, which cannot be trusted. So yes, the danger is very real.
Why do you think Putin and Trump are so drawn to one another?
Putin wants to be a leader of a nativist, conservative, racist, short-minded world, and he’s gaining international popularity all around the globe. Putin definitely wanted Trump to be elected. Putin is trying to be the world policeman as an alternative to the Americans as world policemen. It all started in 2004, and Putin was very scared that the Ukraine would become democratic, which would serve as an example to Russia. And then he was supporting Marine Le Pen [of France’s far-right National Rally party] because of her conservatism, and he was giving money via Russian banks to support her. Seeing all these conservative movements connected to Putin, I’m not surprised that he’s supporting Donald Trump. That’s obvious.
Both Trump and Putin enjoy undermining the press—and dissent in general.
Trump is not very much about the rule of law, and like Putin, he wants to put his political opponents in prison. He’s said he wants to put Hillary Clinton in prison. And like Putin, he’s not a fan of the free press. I think he’d love to have as much power as Putin has, but the nature of the American political system is thankfully quite different, and there are some checks and balances.
Courtesy Nadya Tolokonnikova
Do you believe Putin meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Tuump?
If you ask me if Russia meddled, I don’t know for sure, but it’s likely that they tried, because that is the nature of who Putin is. He’s a KGB agent, and he’ll always be a KGB agent. It’s very dangerous to have a KGB agent as the head of your country, because you can be sure that he’ll try to meddle in other countries’ political decisions. He certainly helped Trump get elected.
I know you came out and voiced your support for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Are you still Feeling the Bern for 2020?
I’m one of those who believes that Bernie Sanders could have won in 2016, and from what I know about the coming election in America, it looks more promising to me. After the terrible defeat that happened in 2016, Democrats changed their agenda to become much more progressive, and to be more in line with the minds of people—because the people are progressive. I’m trying to stay positive but am really curious what’s going to happen. I have not made my decision yet. I’ll let you know later who I endorse in this election. But I really love Bernie.
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