Pussy Riot in the theater: "The most dangerous censorship is self-censorship!"
We all know the facts: In 2011, the three women Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samuzewitsch and Marija Aljochina founded the punk rock band Pussy Riot ("Pussy Riot").
As a feminist, government and church-critical collective, they did not have it easy in Russia, but were celebrated and supported by freedom fighters around the world.
After appearing in a church in Moscow where they publicly criticized Putin, they were sentenced to two years in prison in August 2012. Two of the three women spent around 21 months behind bars.
What we DO NOT know
What these facts do not tell is that history, What it feels like to be locked up for an attitude. To be forced by the prison doctor to strip himself with the door open and to spread his legs, because "in the church that would have no problem".
Or how the inhuman treatment in prison drives one to despair, that one can not help but start a hunger strike.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot
© Gettyimages / Francois G. DurandPussy Riot tell their story on stage
The women are now telling this story in a theatrical performance with which they tour the world. After several performances in the US, they performed twice this week in Frankfurt am Main? so far unfortunately the only planned dates in Germany.
Maybe you have to assume slowly that things really happen.
"People are beginning to forget their own story," said Marija before the performance in an interview with sz.de. "People often do not believe that something is going to happen, nobody believed Brexit would really happen, the same was true of Trump's US election.
Maybe you have to assume slowly that things really happen. When we saw the newspaper in February 2012 and read that we were charged with a possible seven-year sentence, we could not believe it. But it has become a reality. You've seen it."
The world needs artists like Pussy Riot more than ever
One thing is certain: the world needs women like Pussy Riot and the movements they stand for today just as urgently as they did five years ago? if not more.
Let's just say again: a country like the USA ("the first democracy") is ruled by a sexist. In many European countries, parties such as the AfD, which calls homosexuality unconstitutional, drive insanely high election results. In general, Europe threatens to drift apart.
There can not be enough people to stand on stage and as Marija says at a performance in San Francisco, "The most dangerous censorship is self-censorship, there will be no freedom if we do not fight for it every day."
