Pussy Riot Panel Scheduled for Riot Fest 2014

Pussy Riot Panel for Riot Fest 2014 Announced In celebration of the 10th year of Riot fest, founder Michael A. Petryshyn decided to add discourse regarding political ideology to the music festival. The Pussy Riot panel discussion will be held September 12, 2014 in Chicago, IL. Henry Rollins will lead the panel consisting of Nadya Tolokonnikova (Pussy Riot/Zona Prava), Masha Alekhina (Pussy Riot/Zona Prava), Greg Graffin (Bad Religion, Vocalist/Professor or Geology at UCLA), Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Marcelle Karp (writer/activist), and Michael A. Petryshyn (Riot Fest, Founder). Founded in 2011, feminist Riot Grrrl band and activists Pussy Riot staged unauthorized guerrilla performances in public locations such as public transportation and parks, but most notoriously in a church (for which some band members were arrested). The DIY band edited these experiences into music videos and posted them on the Internet. The collective have protested at the Olympics (and were re-arrested), published a book called Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom and inspired a documentary of the same name. If you find yourself grumbling about American senate gridlock and countless other political issues in the U.S. - do yourself a favor and watch this documentary which doesn't negate other problems in other countries, but certainly puts things in perspective. After watching the film, do a search and bone up on the happenings of the jailed women and the ensuing "Free Pussy Riot" campaigns. As reported in Vanyland, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Masha Alekhina are creating their own independent news agency, dubbed MediaZona, that will focus on courts, police stations, law enforcement, and the flawed prison system. The band’s prison rights group Zona Prava will collaborate with Russian political journalist Sergey Smirnov as editor-in-chief. In a press release Tolokonnikova has stated “Since our release from prison six months ago we’ve felt that Russian media are no longer able to cover what is going on. Because of the heavy censorship by authorities there is no space for anything in the media that criticizes Putin’s policies and tracks human rights abuses by Russian courts and law enforcement. Courts, prisons, arrests, convictions, riots in facilities, political criminal cases, crimes by law enforcement officials – our new media outlet will try to cover it all.” Here is a promotional trailer for the entertaining and enlightening film Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer.