Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot

ISBN-13: 9781847089342 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 320 str.

Masha Gessen

Opis

On February 21st 2012, five members of an obscure feminist post-punk collective called Pussy Riot staged a performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Dressed in their trademark brightly coloured dresses and balaclavas, the women performed their song 'Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!' in front of the altar. The performance lasted only 40 seconds but it resulted in two-year prison sentences for three of the performers - and has turned Pussy Riot into one of the most well-known and important protest movements of the last five years. This necessary and timely book is an account of the Pussy Riot protest, the ensuing global support movement, and the tangled and controversial trial of the band members. It explores the status of dissent in Russia, the roots of the group and their adoption - or appropriation - by wider collectives, feminist groups and music icons. Masha Gessen has unique access to the band and those closest to them. Her unrivalled understanding of the Russian protest movement makes her the ideal writer to document and explain the rage, the beauty and the phenomenon that is Pussy Riot.

O autorze

Masha Gessen, geb. 1967 in Russland, emigrierte 1981. Sie arbeitete als Journalistin und Zeitschriftenredakteurin in den USA und kehrte 1994 wieder nach Russland zurück. Masha Gessen ist feste Mitarbeiterin der Zeitschrift 'Itogi' und politische Kolumnistin der Zeitung 'Matador'; außerdem arbeitet sie als Redakteurin für die amerikanische Zeitschrift 'Lingua Franca' und als Russlandkorrespondentin für 'New Republic'.