by Linda Housman
Pussy Riot – is it mere coincidence that the abbreviation of the Russian female punk rock band’s name is PR?
On January 31, two members of the band paid a visit to the Netherlands and made it to the front page of one of the main Dutch online news sites, nu.nl. Not exactly because they sang a series of marvelous songs. It was the speech during the opening of the so-called Human Rights Weekend in Amsterdam, in which Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina told that “Putin’s system is weaker than it seems”, that “the Russians have not found a good way to protest yet, but once they have, the system will falter” and that “it is very important that a country like the Netherlands continues to put pressure on Putin”, that made them front page worthy.
Only founded in August 2011 – perhaps not without reason during the heat of NATO’s war on Libya and with the destabilization of Syria progressing at full speed – the band gained international fame in early 2012. On February 21 that year they burst into Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior and desecrated the faithful’s place of prayer and worship with their “punk prayer” called “Mother of God, chase Putin away”. In order to make their performance look like a popular act, the video recordings of the offense to the holy building were made with mobile phones – which for the same reason also was the case with the first, Western engineered “popular protests” in Libya and Syria in 2011.
What followed was a trial for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, accompanied by an explosion of media hysteria. Two of the group members, the above mentioned Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were sentenced to two years imprisonment. With related cases in which the West jailed many for similar or lesser offenses being totally ignored, the mainstream media were eager to outdo each other in branding the trial as a reflection of the alleged division in Russia between “liberal, democracy-loving, human rights-loving opposition groups” and an “unruly clique of non-humanitarian conservatives ready to revive the Soviet Union”.
It should be noted that the exact same alluring notions of freedom, human rights and democracy were used to bring ignorant youth into the streets in Libya and Syria – only to create chaos and division. Once one is able to connect the dots, the method becomes clear and evident, if not predictable. Meanwhile Pussy Riot totally lives up to the expectations of the dot connectors. By now it is crystal clear that their thin, shrieking singing voices were nothing but a cover for the function they had to perform: the one of anti-Putin PR agents promoting a Russian “Arab Spring”.
Once again, humanity is the keyword. 21st century warfare is humanitarian warfare. It were NATO’s “humanitarian” bombs that killed some 100,000 Libyans under UN mandate and under the guise of the “Right to Protect”. Because the majority bought it, the formula could be conveniently reused for the next countries on the US-led agenda for regime change. Thus screeched the members of Pussy Riot during their “punk prayer” something about “a flock of sluts of the sexist regime”, pleading on the same fertile humanitarian ground that nowadays guarantees success, particularly in the West.
Netherlands
So where better to go than to the West. Barely a month after their release from prison, the two members of Pussy Riot came to the Netherlands for an explicit reason. In April 2013, Russian president Vladimir Putin also paid a visit to the small country which not too long ago went by the dubious name “Israel of the West”. During that visit, Putin touched on a very sensitive topic: pedophilia.
In response to many critical voices from the Netherlands regarding the alleged restriction of the rights of homosexuals in Russia, Putin openly blasted the country for having an association which promotes pedophilia and defends pedophiles. The Dutch association he pointed out to is called Martijn, and its chairman has declared to RT’s Ruptly TV:
“Physical contact between grown up people and children are healthy and some things we call sex can also be healthy. I think it is a very good healthy society when children can be naked, when they can enjoy their body and that they can be touched everywhere they want too. Everyone has pedophile feelings in themselves. Everyone, and it are very normal feelings, but some have them stronger than other people. You can’t do all the things with young children of course, but you can hug them, grasp them or caress them. I think we should be glad with the pedophiles in our society.”
The depravity of pedophile association Martijn was revealed in a documentary broadcast by Russian TV channel 1TV, prior to the visit of the Russian president to the Netherlands (translation from Russian to English can be found here) One of the journalists describes: “Dutch pedophiles have founded a political party for the parliamentary elections. They even have posted videos on the internet in which they propagandize having sex with 12-year-olds, the legalization of soft drugs for children and hard drugs such as heroin for adults. ”
The documentary also mentions the name of former Dutch Secretary-General of the Ministry of Security and Justice, Joris Demmink, the most powerful man of the Netherlands until his retirement in late 2010, as well as known pedophile and child abuser. The allegations against Demmink include the sexual abuse of young boys that took place mid 90s in Turkey. While the Dutch Ministry of Justice claims that the allegations are baseless because Demmink “hasn’t been to Turkey at all”, victims and witnesses tell something different.
“Demmink was in Turkey under a different name. During that time, he had three different passports. He was the president of an organization involved in Turkish affairs. Saying as a president of such organization that you have never been to Turkey is like the Russian ambassador to the U.S. saying they have never been in the U.S. The pedophile case is a national tragedy in the Netherlands. Between 15 and 20% of the population has been abused as a child. These are only minimum figures. Actual figures may be even higher.”
A lot to hide for a small country like the Netherlands, whose government could not wait to criticize Putin for an alleged restriction of gay rights – to which criticism the Russian president during his visit to the Netherlands incidentally responded with: “I am also the president of the gay”. A lot to cover up… luckily Pussy Riot came to the rescue with their two-edged sword. Not only did they do their preprogrammed anti-Putin propaganda tricks, they also cunningly covered what Putin brought to light regarding the Dutch pedophile system, while they praised the Dutch government for “making human rights one of its main priorities”.
How (not) to riot
According to the members of Pussy Riot, it is a matter of time until the Russian people have found “a good way to protest” in order to make the government fall. Taking into consideration their own scandalous performance at the Moscow cathedral, Pussy Riot’s idea of a good way to protest likely will contain something similar offensive, and something similar to the Western orchestrated “protests” in Libya, Syria and other countries that are part of the neocolonial plan of divide and conquer with regime change as its sole purpose. Although the group’s name suggests differently, Pussy Riot is exactly about how not to riot.
If we want to “riot” successfully against any oppressive or corrupt system, the most dysfunctional way to do so is to riot in such a way that we actually hand the very system all the tools of oppression. If we riot in a violent manner, or in a desecrating manner like the members of Pussy Riot, or in any other negative manner, all we actually do is triggering the ones that we riot against to react in a similar violent or otherwise negative way.
We don’t need to riot to bring the system down. We don’t need to scream on streets and squares. We don’t need to desecrate churches and cathedrals. In order to bring the system down, all we have to do is to stop cooperating with it. If we don’t cooperate, the system can’t function. A good example of such a successful “riot” is Muammar Gaddafi’s Free Officers Movement, which did not protest on the streets for one single day, nor did they desecrate any holy place. They seized power in a thoughtful bloodless coup, removed the corrupt king Idris, established a People’s Government and made Libya the most prosperous country of Africa!
In the same way, we need to remove our acquiescence and remove our cooperation. We need to take our power back, instead of handing it over to someone or something else. That is what will make the system falter and what will bring it down. That kind of “rioting” is what will really set us free!
Filed under: Netherlands, Paedophilia
