March 29, 2012
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” (Luke 21:34)
The people that I had the chance to work with during my actionist years were quite unusual for Moscow. These people were not interested in money or comfort. They did not go to the Jean-Jacques Café. When they wanted to go to a café they would choose one where they could be active in discussion, in planning actions, without having to order anything. When they wanted to eat, they would break a loaf of bread together. They preferred not to spend their time or their consciousness, with which they were ready to include and transform everything around them, on the daily grind and the struggle for creature comforts. Their hearts were not heavy from overeating or drunkenness. Their minds were fully occupied with whatever they were currently working on. They worked a lot, with fervor and enthusiasm. Even the knowledge that they might have to pay for their activities with prison did not stop them. In general, they were busy with self-education or training or taking action out of virtue. Philosophers should not merely describe the world, but change it. Happiness is to live by virtue. I am happy. Even here, sometimes.
“In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21:19) I find it difficult to bear being apart from those who make up my life. But I am being patient. I am learning how to socialize with those who currently surround me. The people around me have sought to attain comfort in life. For all of them, their status in life was important. But now we are equal to one another in terms of our comfort. Most of them cannot understand how one can engage in political art without being paid for it. “I don’t understand 80 percent of what you are saying,” said a young girl booked for narcotics under Article 228 [of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation], when I tried to explain to her why I participated in meetings and took part in political actions. “You’ve been brainwashed,” “Who is paying for all of this?” “Surely you have smart men who are organizing all of this!” is what I constantly hear from those booked for narcotics under Article 228. Whereas those who are in for fraud under Article 159 do, in part, understand me, as they sympathize with [Mikhail] Khodorkovsky, [Aleksei] Kozlov, and [Olga] Romanova, but they are also convinced that we are part of a larger political scheme that involves smart men and significant funding. But I actively engage with my fellow cell mates, I explain to them the meaning and motives of my activities, and some of them in the SIZO [Investigation Detention and Isolation Center Number 6] have already come to believe that the Pussy Riot activity emerged through the power, energy, will, and aspirations of a handful of politically active young people.
Jesus Christ was accused of blasphemy. If Article 213 had existed two thousand years ago, Christ would have been charged under it. He called upon our asceticism and selfless devotion, but the tsars of the world, not wishing to do without their limousines and flashing lights, have judged him for it. “But beware of men: for they will deliver you over to the courts,” Christ warned. (Matthew 10:17) Beware, but go and prophesize to them. Without a penny in return, cursed and lied to, walk the earth and prophesize both to the Jews and the Hellenes.
Two thousand years later, Pussy Riot, with its much more modest challenges (we do not seek to establish a church, we merely suggested scrutinizing some aspects of the earthly representatives of the Christian church), entered the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and were thrown behind bars, delivered over to the courts. We are not messiahs. But who knows, maybe Pussy Riot is a sign of the new times in the spiritual history of mankind—the century of liberty, as prophesied by Russian religious philosophers. All of this past Sunday I took notes on the epistles of the apostles. I was interested in the issue of the succession of law and grace, relative to the old and new letters. It was on this contrast that [Dmitri] Merezhkovsky, [Nikolai] Berdyaev, and [Sergei] Bulgakov established their teachings concerning the future emergence of a new milestone to crown history—the era of liberty, which should arrive after the epoch of Christ’s love, righteousness, and faith as proclaimed by the Old Testament. Who knows, perhaps the inclusion of human rights and liberties as priorities in the politics of the West in the twentieth century is also another sign of the approach of the era of liberty and creativity, as well as the Pussy Riot concert.
Berdyaev taught that creativity is the structural moment of the age of liberty. Love will transform itself into liberty and with it the world will change. It is already in motion.
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August 16, 2012
My imprisonment does not anger me. I don’t hold grudges—not personal grudges, at least. I do, however, hold political grudges. Our imprisonment is a clear sign that freedom has been taken away from us, from the entire country. This threat of destruction to Russian liberation and emancipatory forces is what makes me angry. We all must see the big picture in small events, a tendency in a constellation of seemingly random signs, and a common trend in specific occurrences. Second-wave feminists said “the personal is political.” It’s true. The Pussy Riot case is showing how three people who are charged with disorderly conduct can give birth to a political movement. This special case of suppression and persecution of those who dared to speak up against an authoritarian country stirred up the entire world: activists, punks, pop stars, government officials, comedians, environmentalists, feminists, Islamic theologians, and Christians. All of them pray for Pussy Riot. These private problems have become a truly political matter.
The Pussy Riot case is bringing together diverse and multidirectional forces. I still have a hard time believing that this is not a dream. The unbelievable happens in modern Russian politics: the demanding, persistent, powerful, and consistent pressure of society on government authorities. I am grateful to everyone who said, “Free Pussy Riot!” We are all making history—an important political event—and Putin’s system will find it harder and harder to control us. Whatever Pussy Riot’s verdict is, we are already winning. This is because we have learned how to be politically angry and vocal.
All Pussy Riot collective members are happy that we have been able to inspire action by our fellow citizens; we are happy that your political passion is so strong that it has been able to unite people of different languages, cultures, ways of life, and economic and political status. Kant would have said he did not see any other reason for this miracle than the moral foundations of being human. Thank you for the miracle.
—Nadezhda Tolokonnikova