By Richard Arnold
One of the most positive (and most surprising) features of
the 2014 Winter Olympiad in Sochi has been the absence of security problems—an
absence which has boosted the perception of Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a more
stable, orderly, and developed country than Western observers may have thought.
One incident, however, does still illustrate that beneath the calm exterior
there are social tensions which could further escalate in the future.
On February 19, six members of the punk band Pussy Riot—Nadezhda
Tolokinnovka, Maria Alechenna, and other activists—tried to perform a song
titled “Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland” (featuring lyrics that
accuse Putin of being a “dictator,” as well as mock the double toilet built in
Sochi. The full text of the song is available here: http://pussy-riot.info/blog/2014/2/20/putin-nauchit-tebya-lubit).
The performance took place under a “Sochi 2014” banner near the city’s seaport,
outside of the secure Olympic Village (http://lenta.ru/news/2014/02/19/sochi/).
Videos show the singers meeting underneath the poster and more or less
spontaneously breaking into song. After only a short while, however, Cossack
militias descend on the band and beat them with whips, chastising those who were
singing along (http://rus.delfi.ee/daily/abroad/video-v-sochi-kazaki-othlestali-uchastnic-pussy-riot-pletmi.d?id=67987939).
The Cossack militia later told the prosecutor that the band had “offended our
religious feelings” with their performance (http://www.nr2.ru/sochi2014/485607.html),
despite the fact that the performance did not take place in a religious area
and no religious symbols were displayed. The Cossacks may have believed
themselves to be punishing Pussy Riot for their notorious protest in a Moscow
church in 2012 (see EDM,
July 2, 2012).
The arrival of Pussy Riot in Sochi was greeted with interest
by observers who what the activist group would do in the city to embarrass the
Russian government. Previous accusations of theft from their hotel in Sochi
were dropped due to lack of evidence (http://itar-tass.com/obschestvo/979086).
In the grand scale of potential actions to embarrass the government that the
band could have undertaken, the simple singing of a song vaguely offensive to
the president is a very minor form of protest. Indeed, the Cossack retaliatory
attack was actually counter-productive in bringing more attention to the
actions of Pussy Riot than perhaps they would otherwise have received. This may
be part of the reason that Krasnodar’s Governor Alexander Tkachyov tried to
sweep the violent response under the rug, saying simply that he “regretted” the
incident and promised an investigation (http://www.nr2.ru/sochi2014/485607.html).
The power of repression to invigorate the anti-Putin protest movement should
not be underestimated, however, especially given dire predictions about the
future of the Russian economy.
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