Story here

Welcome to the  Cave Man Era, gruntgrunt! Women are not expected to ask pesky questions, just stay barefoot and pregnant.

Doncha just love progress?

Yeah. One interview I read said the REASON it was all women in the group was BECAUSE the women weren't being arrested. I take this as a sign that Putin ain't fuckin' around now. AND, this time PR went too far, staging a protest song at a church. Putin probably got really upset 'bout THAT, being a devout man himself and all.

Nice of them to do this to these women, huh? Shows that compassion and caring, ya know? Supporters of the band say they are concerned about the young children the detainees leave behind.

I am not a betting person, but I reckon some Russian authorities want to score points with the boss and teach everyone a 'lesson' as they are going for a harsher penalty than normal.

*sigh*

dave said:

Yeah, old Putin's back in the saddle, and it sounds as though he wants to be a cross between W. and Stalin- honest elections are out, queers are out, asking questions is out, real reporting is out, hell, even being a woman appears to be out (perhaps he's taking a page from our GOP as far as that goes)!

Medvedev will just be a name in history books, guess he didn't kiss enough ass.

It's too bad, those few years of freedom, 89-93? have been wasted. As one writer (W Gibson, mebbe?) said, "Those poor fuckers never could get a fair shake no matter the government in power."

Let's see: Drug-resistant TB in prisons, aging population, falling birth rates, mass alcoholism, Mafiya/KGB-types as the movers in gov./business/security, I'm guessing the intelligentsiya are emigrating, if they can, so that's a brain-drain. As you say, not a rosy picture...

Hope Putin is publicly embarrassed to do this to the girls, so he'll turn them out with a warning.

Yeah, old Putin's back in the saddle, and it sounds as though he wants to be a cross between W. and Stalin- honest elections are out, queers are out, asking questions is out, real reporting is out, hell, even being a woman appears to be out (perhaps he's taking a page from our GOP as far as that goes)!

Medvedev will just be a name in history books, guess he didn't kiss enough ass.

It's too bad, those few years of freedom, 89-93? have been wasted. As one writer (W Gibson, mebbe?) said, "Those poor fuckers never could get a fair shake no matter the government in power."

Let's see: Drug-resistant TB in prisons, aging population, falling birth rates, mass alcoholism, Mafiya/KGB-types as the movers in gov./business/security, I'm guessing the intelligentsiya are emigrating, if they can, so that's a brain-drain. As you say, not a rosy picture...

Hope Putin is publicly embarrassed to do this to the girls, so he'll turn them out with a warning.

Hey Dave: As you may know, I've been following the PR story for a while via my blog. What concerns me most is that several of the band members are now being held PRE-HEARING in a Russian jail. My imagination can take me to some very dark places for these women.

While Russia may not be the most extreme of countries in terms of repressive regimes, their record regarding the thwarting of democracy and the treatment of inmates in prisons should give us all pause. After all, these women are in a BAND, though indeed the band is a vehicle to get their pro-democracy message out.

The message I take away from this story is that things are taking a very dark turn in Russia. Stay tuned.

dave said

Hm, well, sure the Muslim countries are most repressive, there was just a news item about a muslim girl committing suicide after being forced to marry her rapist (!!). but I think that Russia's best period is still 89/90 with the Velvet Revolutions happening.

And I've gotta say, 2-party systems are old, as you said in an earlier post, we're as fucked as the UK now with our lose/lose candidates.

And to bring things full-circle, if those women had been Muslim here in the States, they would have had an awfully hard time, so does this mean that we're worse than the Muslims now?

Food for thought...

Hm, well, sure the Muslim countries are most repressive, there was just a news item about a muslim girl committing suicide after being forced to marry her rapist (!!). but I think that Russia's best period is still 89/90 with the Velvet Revolutions happening.

And I've gotta say, 2-party systems are old, as you said in an earlier post, we're as fucked as the UK now with our lose/lose candidates.

And to bring things full-circle, if those women had been Muslim here in the States, they would have had an awfully hard time, so does this mean that we're worse than the Muslims now?

Food for thought...

I agree for the most part but I think Russia gets wrongly put into that category of most oppressive regimes. Murdered journalists is a problem but there is still a free press by and large and I doubt that those women would be alive if they had tried the same thing in Iraq. I think the narritive over Russia in the West is rather slanted and doesn't take into account that although Putin's regime is corrupt and nasty, it is the best that Russia can hope for at the moment. So although they are brave it would be like a punk band telling us (again) that the two party systems are stale and old.

Let's be honest, imagine those women were muslims and causing a similar fuss on a public building in the USA, would they get treated any better?

I see what you mean, Mike, but I dunno, in Russia they still murder journalists. I can easily see someone like Putin hiring some thugs to murder those young girls simply because they're a nuisance to him.

It's true America is still mostly pretty accepting of punks, but elsewhere in the world, say the Middle East, being in a Western-style band is still seen as a threat to religion and culture.

'Heavy Metal In Baghdad: The Story Of Acrassicauda'

I just think it's inspiring to see bands outside of Europe and North America making loud, sweaty rock n roll.

There's a similar article in the Guardian today. I'm not sure what to make of it all, I mean in each of those countries there is something different going on. Kids getting murdered in Iraq for being emo isn't even special for a repressive regime rather the way it's handled, but I don't think they are defying anything rather than just trying to express themselves. Thank god it doesn't happen as often in Britain due to the rule of law but unfortunately dressing like a punk or goth can be enough reason to be murdered by thugs. 

Murdered goth

Maybe in Burma or Indonesia dressing like a punk is making an actual political statement. But I don't believe that's the case in Russia, the same sort of thing could happen in Britain or the USA with a noisy and not very good punk band protesting against a one or two horse race.