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Via NYMag:
… Pussy Riot members Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alyokhina, who were thrown in prison because they “sang a fun song in a church,” appeared on Colbert last night, and guess what? It is possible to be very funny through a translator…
Second half of the interview at the link. Colbert did his usual exemplary job at exposing reactionary idiocies without ever breaking character. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, apart from discussing the futility of anti-gay legislation, got to mention that they’re here to investigate America’s prisons.
Omnes Omnibus
Good for them. Our prisons need to be investigated.
YellowJournalism
The women did not miss a beat and threw some one-liners back at Colbert that rattled him for the briefest of moments. I love it when people are matched wit-for-wit.
I hope their continued outspokenness and the way they’re making the most of their freedom make Putin’s nipples deflate. Their freedom may be the first truly positive thing to come from the Olympics being held in Russia.
Suffern ACE
Hmmm. Democracy in America started as a trip to investigate American prisons. I hope they find what they’re looking for.
kc
They were great; quite funny.
patrick II
What remarkably brave and awesome young women.
Alison
It was one of the best interviews he’s done, even through the translator. Those ladies are awesome.
James E. Powell
How long after the Olympics before Putin puts them back in prison for some offense, real or imagined?
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Suffern ACE: de Tocqueville investigated American prisons? Who knew?
Schlemizel
Absolutely a stunning interview! These are two ballsy women (ov-sy?) I would be scared shitless to take on Putin in Russia as blatantly as they do. At one point they said Putin should arrest them again, basically daring him to do it, while saying that releasing them was a failed publicity stunt. These are true heroes, worthy of the name
gogol's wife
All the fun threads happen when I’m asleep. I love them. Everyone should watch “A Punk Prayer,” especially their final statements in court.
MattF
I think they’re discovering just how many people have been following their story. Putin, now, knows too– and he should be worried.
MattF
@MattF: Also, this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/arts/music/members-of-russian-punk-band-get-warm-greeting-in-brooklyn.html?hp
Fuzzy
@YellowJournalism: Agree. Stephan was not expecting the sarcastic side of these great women. It was obvious they understood a lot of english as we watched their faces. The translator was grinning a lot too.
Cervantes
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
Not exactly.
At the time, American prisons were more civilized than French ones. There was interest in France and government money was available for a study tour. De Tocqueville and a colleague obtained that money using a study of prisons as a pretext. They may not have visited any prisons here — it’s not clear to me that they did — and in any case, they barely mentioned the subject in either volume of Democracy in America. The only mention is not specific, just a parable about the building of a few humane prisons leading people to forget that many, many horrible old prisons were still operating. That’s two paragraphs on prisons out of a thousand pages.
In other words, de Tocqueville’s interest in American prisons? More or less a scam.
I’d say Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have already done better …
Cassidy
And some commenters here will still say the US is a police state. Fucking clowns.
Skipjack
@Cassidy: Come on now, it can still be a police state without being Russia. A situation in which everyone is under surveillance, the authorities can lean on 95% of everyone accused to cop a plea, a prison system which is frequently run for profit… I could go on but while we may ostensibly have the option of reining these things in in this country, we haven’t. There are people with corrupt motivations standing in the way of that. I think of racism as one of those corrupt motivations.
I was very impressed with these women. I really appreciate how serious they are about communicating urgently with the world, and I had initially dismissed their antics as being the opposite of that. But how else can they get their message out without having it massaged? Even then, few people took the opportunity to look further. I hope their continued bravery against the oppression of the authorities will bring others around. I know they want people to boycott Sochi, fearing a Potemkin village show, but all the reporting I’ve seen so far seems to show the reporters are aware. Of course, that’s before NBC has started on its spiel, but we’ll see.
I’m also really curious about what attention Pussy Riot may bring to US prisons.
Cassidy
@Skipjack:
As you say on a blog with no fear of someone kicking your door in, arresting you, and losing you in prison for weeks…
Your criticisms are valid. I don’t necessarily disagree withem, especially the bigotry as motive part. I do disagree with the notion that we live in a police state. There are people in this world who live in fear of being disappeared for not having a happy face about their gov’t. We are not them.
LanceThruster
@gogol’s wife:
I enjoyed it very much (even if I’m a little indifferent to the music as music – but as a statement, it’s awesome).
brantl
Those women are tougher than Putin, he better watch his ass.@Cassidy:There are a lot of different degrees of a police state, nincompoop.
Cervantes
@brantl:
As someone else put it:
@patrick II: Indeed.
Cassidy
@brantl: oh of course. There are the death squad, people disappear in prisons, and arrested for critical political speech kind and there are the made up in the heads of entitled, suburban liberals with too much privilege kind.
tones
nit picking but I am pretty sure they said “sang a punk song in a church”
Dae
@tones: Agreed, not to nit-pick, but they actually said “fun” song.
Personally, as a someone still capable of understanding Russian, I think they understood most of what Mr. Colbert had said, which was awesome. Probably the best episode of The Colbert Report I’ve seen in many years.