Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Political Review, Brian Wong, interviews Olya Kurachyova and Veronika Nikhulshina, two members of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot. Founded in August 2011, the collective is one of the leading protesting groups and political rock bands in Russia, particularly for their opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and their advocacy of feminism and LGBTQIA+ rights.
Pussy Riot is plausibly one of the most well known activist groups in Russia today, known – best – perhaps, for their defiant protest performance inside the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012, and their subsequent repression at the hands of the Russian government. Whilst group members Olya “Olya” Kurachyova and Veronika “Nika” Nikhulshina are stopping by in the UK for the Bristol Social Media Week, I take the opportunity to interview them on their experiences of defying the Russian government in an age of increasing authoritarianism across the world.
I begin with the question of asking Olya and Nika if the purpose of Pussy Riot has evolved over the years, and what its current function or critical role – as they perceive it – is. Olya begins with a review of the group’s history. “Pussy Riot was founded in 2011, as a group of mostly girls in baklava and colourful dresses and tights challenging the Russian authorities with illegal actions. We made videos, sang punk songs, like the ‘Prayer in the Church’ tune.” She notes that the tone of the group was substantially altered with the arrest of three members in 2012, which instigated the group to orient its subsequent activism (between 2012 and 2015) towards campaigning for the girls’ release (featuring singles such as ‘Putin Lights Up the Fires’). It was a “sad period for the group”, she muses – a comment that highlights the group’s synthesis of personal struggles on an individual level (for the band members) with a resolute, ideological rebuking of the clampdown facing many who share the band’s views in Russian territory.
Since the release of the dissidents from prison, the group has experimented with different styles and modes of activism, writing and creating music that combines political activism with challenging established social and cultural norms. As the group continues establishing its presence at the intersection of politics and music, there are “increasingly more and more of us [them]” in the horizontal organisation. Furthermore, members of the groups are moving away from music as the primary medium of their campaigning – for instance, Olya and Nika prefer direct action as a more effective means of generating salience and political pressure. Olya is particularly proud of the group’s performance in the final of the World Cup, citing the group’s football pitch invasion [in July 2018, of the Luzhniki Stadium during the FIFA World Cup Final] as a highly successful example of subversive publicity. Nika adds that they are currently attending the Bristol Social Media week to channel and articulate their experiences of employing social media in conducting activism.
“It is impossible to say that someone is apolitical, because everything that happens and occurs is political.”
Here our conversation turns to the relationship between Russian dissidence, Pussy Riot, and religious individuals in Russia. My curiosity is piqued by the fact that the group was framed often in public Russian discourse (particularly by the state media) as heretical and ostensibly “disrespectful” towards religion. Is their relationship thus fraught with tensions and divisions, or one of mutual respect and synergy?
Olya notes that whilst many religious folks “did oppose us, they also understood where we were coming from.” Religious individuals – despite their religiosity – were still open to them. Whilst the group resists the purported collusion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government, it is not inherently an anti-religion association. To back this observation up, Olya recalls the fifteen days members of the group spent in jail, where they met some “very wonderful religious policemen and policewomen”, who were brought on side through seeing the human side of the group and realising the errs of the misrepresentation of the group in the past.
“What we do is not against Jesus Christ or Mary.”
Nika proudly observes that one of the band’s songs involves asking Virgin Mary to “throw Putin away”. Whilst the band’s 2012 performance was certainly an ignominious one amongst more prudish circles, the subsequent societal backlash and the initial performance were a historic moment for Russia, which divided the society into “two big groups” – whilst one group saw Pussy Riot as “bullshit” and the cause of much societal suffering, the other group was distinctly in favour of the Punk Prayer [the band’s performance within the Church], even though many of them were Christians themselves.
The activists here recall an anecdote – “a wonderful fairytale” – that seems to inspire much hope amongst those who seek reconciliation between their activism and religious faith. An Orthodox activist rocked up to some of the band’s performances, and had initially been bellicose and aggressive in promoting his Orthodoxy Church-promulgated attacks on the band. He subsequently fell in love with one of the band’s members, and the process of dating her transformed him fundamentally – whilst he remains religious today, he is touched by his lover’s compassionate brand of religion and has become a sympathetic supporter of the band’s cause.
“They’re just like Romeo and Juliet – whilst many friends and family around them have distanced themselves from them, they remain in love with each other.”
In many ways, the band’s diversity in views on religion perhaps also embodies both its value pluralism and openness to difference amongst its members, but also the broader fact that the coalition against repression in Russia draws from all walks of life and backgrounds, as flagged by the two activists.
Our conversation turns to the question of where Nika and Olya see Russia’s future. Nika mentions the case of Ivan Golunov’s arrest. She suggests that his arrest was more than what it might have seemed – plausibly the result of deliberate manipulation on the part of particular authorities in order to stall the journalist, who had been conducting significant anti-corruption investigations, from pursuing further his enquiry and fact-digging. Yet Ivan’s recent release seemed to be the culmination of a successful series of public outcries and protests – who sought the freedom of both Ivan and other dissident journalists at large. Cases like these gave Nika hope and faith in the prospects of Russia’s gradual liberalisation. Olya adds that the group believes in the future of Russia.
“We will always fight for freedom, love, and fair games.”
Is there hope for opposition politics in Russia? We work through this question through examining predominantly Russia’s feminist undercurrents and progress. Prior to the band began its activities, the girls note, feminism had historically been contained within Human Rights activists or intellectual circles, often isolated and disconnected from the public – and viewed as the pursuits of an ivory tower elite. The band made feminism more “sound and open” for those who would otherwise never have been exposed to the tenets of gender equality and feminist justice. The liberal media and reporters within Russia began incorporating feminism into their regular coverage and agenda, and folks that had previously been apathetic or unexposed began exploring the problems and issues within feminism. At the same time, the recognition of the need for solidarity across feminist and LGBTQIA+ activists in Russia came about – and progressives began protesting both laws that repressed female progress and that targeted homosexuals in Russia.
The girls are nevertheless divided over the Opposition politician, Alexei Navalny. Whilst there are reservations about his relative silence on crucial social justice issues such as LGBTQIA+ rights, they also acknowledge that Navalny seems to be the most pragmatic and reasonably viable opposition politician to take on Putin. It’s “hard to choose when you don’t have a lot of choices”, they admit, as we explore the range of probable or efficacious opposition candidates.
Turning to Putin’s counterpart in the White House, the activists’ remarks become slightly more caveated. Nika cautiously notes that whilst she does not approve of any conservative or authoritarian behaviours, she hesitates to comment conclusively on the US, given that it involves judgment over persons and events “outside Russia, and outside Russia’s context.” Olya adds that she does not believe in politicians at all – particularly Trump, for whom “building walls is all that is in his mind”. That being said, both Nika and Olya reject talk that Trump and Putin are allegedly friends (as some news media in the US often allege).
“They’re both guys that don’t live in reality; they live in their own worlds.”
Have Olya and Nika ever contemplated leaving Russia for good, given the perilous nature of their continued residence in the country?
Olya confesses that she likes travelling outside the country, but she is adamant that she would stay: “Russia is my home, and I love the country of Russia, I love my fellow countrymen living in Russia […] Putin really taught me to love my motherland, for it is my piece of Earth. Putin claims to be its owner, but he does not actually own Russia in anyway.”
“I’m an anarchist – I believe in no nation, no border, fuck law and order.”
Nika, on the other hand, had previously left Russia due to the poisoning of her partner, Pyotr Verzilov. “We spent half of the year outside Russia – we had to leave because it was unsafe for us to remain in the country.” Yet they eventually returned upon the first opportunity to do so – Russia remains her source of inspiration, where she could “create” and “do whatever I [she] wanted”. She “would not leave Russia anytime soon in the future.”
We end with the activists’ advice to activists around the world. Olya notes, “We do whatever we want”, and advises aspiring activists around the world to “start the riot and never stop!”
Nika’s advice is that folks should “be yourselves [themselves] – the very movement underpinning Pussy Riot is a movement struggling for individuals’ right to be themselves. “If you want to riot, riot; if you don’t want to, don’t do it.”