Pussy Riot: Exposing Russian Class Divisions

Returning to the topic of class on an international scale, when we were discussing the Occupy movement in class I was reminded (probably because someone else mentioned it) of Pussy Riot, the band in Russia that made headlines for performing in a church and getting arrested. I know the message was feminist and definitely anti-Putin (or at least anti-establishment), but I wasn't really considering social class when I first heard about it. Now, however, I've come across this article that does a great job analyzing the issue sociologically. One of the main points it makes is the rejection of Pussy Riot by a large segment of the Russian population is because of a class difference between that message's target audience and the majority of post-Soviet Russia.

Pussy Riot made national headlines in 2012 when the band performed a mock "prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. They were kicked out in less than a minute, but later released their "full" performance on the Internet, in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary "to become a feminist and oust Putin and condemn Orthodox priests as KGB agents." There was an incredible amount of backlash directed at the performers, and two were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and of offending the right of believers to hold their rituals," and sent to a prison colony for two years. However, the band did find some support in Russia, both for its feminist and political messages, and much more in the West:

"It exposed a watershed  between a creative or new class of urban intellectuals and globally connected elites, whose life options are immersed in the technological, economic, and cultural transformations of the information/digital economy and whose goals embrace visibility, autonomy and self-expression and, on the other hand, the “masses” immersed in a more material economy and lifestyle. Their “wrath” at post-socialist economic inequalities translated into a rejection of Pussy Riot, whose protest centered around non-traditional issues and cultural codes and who became identified with global capitalism."

 It is partly because Pussy Riot chose to  publicize itself via new the Internet and social media that it found the support of the educated, tech-savvy, new elite of Russia — while also alienating itself from the masses.