Protest Outside Sochi Olympics
March 11, 2014
Here’s an interesting roundup of responses to Pussy Riot’s Sochi PR play. MediaMiser reports, “Sochi 2014: Social Media Reacts to Pussy Riot Olympic Controversy.” For anyone who is unaware, Pussy Riot is a Russian punk-rock band famous for their political protests. Writer Elisabetta Bianchini summarizes the precipitating events:
“The band ended their five-day stay in Sochi today [February 20] with a video posted on YouTube criticizing the Olympics and President Vladimir Putin. This video follows the two best-known members of Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina, being detained on Tuesday for alleged theft from their hotel, and being beaten by Russian authorities (see the video footage here).
“Pussy Riot is known for creating music videos condemning Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church in their colourful balaclavas. The band started making headlines after filming a video protesting Putin in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and were subsequently sentenced to two years in a penal colony for the crime of hooliganism.”
Most of the tweets Bianchini samples are supportive of Pussy Riot’s efforts. One, however, suggests that it is inappropriate to conflate the Olympics with protests against the Russian government. I understand the call to show respect for the Olympics, which is supposed to bridge all things political. On the other hand, I imagine the fleeting international attention posed an opportunity the protestors couldn’t pass up.
Curious geese that we are, we tried to get more information about this event and the band’s grievances. Oddly enough, searches for inside info are not too helpful.
Cynthia Murrell, March 11, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
