Pussy Riot's lawyers address NYU law

Here's a video of Pussy Riot's lawyers lecturing at NYU Law.

Joly sez, "September 21 2012: Having in the morning received the John Lennon Peace prize from Yoko Ono on behalf of the band, Petya Verzilov, husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and the group's Russian attorneys speak at NYU School of Law."

Pussy Riot's Russian Attorneys at NYU Law School - Sep 21 2012 (Thanks, Joly!)

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http://profile.yahoo.com/AF77DJIDVPLGGD24PIPC6ENTAY Mark

It’s amusing that the lawyers come to NYC to have a free forum to discuss Russian law. It reminds me of one of the best jokes from the Soviet Era:

An American and a Soviet are arguing about which country is better. The American says “well I can go stand in front of the White House, in Washington D.C., and yell insults at the President all day long, and no one can stop me.”

The Russian replies “Is the same in my country! I can go to Moscow, stand in front of Kremlin, and yell insults at President of USA all day, no one will stop me!”.
- ldobe
  
  i lol’d.
  
  In Soviet Russia, Waldo finds you!
- cakey pig
  
  Amusing joke but it kinda implies that US law is great and cool, whereas in fact there are a number of areas highlighted every year by Amnesty International as being problematic e.g trying minors as adults, three strikes laws, use of capital punishment etc…
  - marilove
    
    OMG. It’s a joke, man. Don’t be that guy.
connie1946

First of all, the sound of this video is quite bad. With all the fancy technological audio gadgets at one’s disposal, couldn’t someone have run a clear line off the main board? I have my speakers cranked up to 11 here and can only hear the vague, muffled warblings of the translator.

Secondly, I know we live in a world of symbolism and Yoko Ono obviously can give awards to whomever she pleases, but what exactly have Pussy Riot done to further world peace? Did Pussy Riot free a country or something? I’m confused. Their silly escapades at the Orthodox church surely do not merit awards. And being jailed for (reasons of free speech) is not necessarily a reason to be lauded or applauded or awarded. Even the Emmys don’t give out awards willy nilly.
- http://www.facebook.com/ted.hurley2 Ted Hurley
  
  They courageously stood up and spit in the face of tyranny. There actions, however crass, served to raise global awareness of the Russian government oppressive’s nature.
  - connie1946
    
    Raising such awareness is certainly a noble and lofty goal for these post-post-punk art rocker Feministas (AKA Pussy Riot)
    
    So, do you feel that the noble and lofty Pussy Riot will be able to undo centuries of Russian oppression by dancing (and poorly I must say) on sacred church altars? I mean, even 8 years of Reaganomics and embargos and Olympic boycotts couldn’t rid the world of evil Russian hijinks…you’re saying a post-post-punk art rocker Feminist band can do this? Eh, it’s doubtful…
    
    My view is that Pussy Riot will soon be released from prison and will definitely make the rounds on all the required American talk shows (“Look out America! It’s Puuuuusy Riiiii-ot!”) – then the Vanity Fair interview, THEN the tell-all books and iPhone apps and then the Lifetime Channel Movie (“Pussy Riot: Our Russian Story”)
    
    All this talk about raising awareness about Russian oppression is just a smoke screen. Pussy Riot will eventually fall for the good American cash. You just KNOW they’re getting some lucrative Hollywood-style offers.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      You’re projecting.
  - http://www.facebook.com/boris.ivanov1978 Борис Иванов
    
    How? By cursing in a church? By breaking simple and reasonable rules of conduct in a church? Where is tyranny there? If you don’t like Orthodox Chiristianity, practice something else. Russia is full of all sorts of religious and non-religious folk.
    
    Yes, one reputable monk said in front of some priests, that Russian Ortodox christians should vote for Putin. Why? Because he is afraid of communists. Who are the second most popular party in Russia. What’s wrong with that? Of course, priests hate communists. But some older Russian Orthodox christians still vote for them (for nostalgia sake). That’s what it was all about.
    
    But Pussy Riot are postmodernist socialists, so they would prefer communists to Putin.
    - http://twitter.com/abstract_reg Reg Robson
      
      Sounds like you need another party eh? Is it just me or does the whole “only one other option” thing not work where ever it is.
      - http://www.facebook.com/boris.ivanov1978 Борис Иванов
        
        We have four parties in Duma. They all suck. Also, Putin’s party is the most liberal.
      - Roman Dubtsov
        
        Being Russian, I call BS. Putin’s Party initiated all the laws aimed to silence anybody opposing the regime. Calling it ‘liberal’ (even comparatively) requires a very special definition of ‘liberal’. It’s as liberal as facists are.
      - http://twitter.com/abstract_reg Reg Robson
        
        If I remember right in Russia everything is backwards so thus policies that I would call Left you might call Right. On which side of the political fence is “Freedom” and which side is “Equality?” Here it is (supposed to be) respectively right and left.
    - http://www.facebook.com/ted.hurley2 Ted Hurley
      
      Sounds to me like Putin’s government must be pretty ludicrously shitty if they still have competition from the commies after what that country went through on their watch.
      
      The tyranny is that they got sent to prison for unauthorized dancing in a church. They didn’t physically hurt anyone or damage any property.
      - http://www.facebook.com/boris.ivanov1978 Борис Иванов
        
        A lof of people still love Stalin. Let alone Lenin. And Communist ideals. Not everyone was in GULAG. My family, for example, wasn’t.
        
        Russian law equates hate-based hooliganism with armed hooliganism. Too harsh? Maybe. But Russia is not a sedated country. Spreading hate is dangerous here. And there were a number of attacks on churches right after the PR incident and right after court’s decision. And by “attacks” I mean things like “a guy with an axe tried to destroy an icon in a church”. This is why people should stick to a civil discourse.
        
        Also, where were celebs like Madonna, when neo-nazis in Russia were imprisoned just for talking about their ideas in public? Also, we have “Liberal nazism” – guys who want to kill everyone who is not a liberal. One of those guys also was in jail for couple of years just for writing about nuking non-liberal parts of Russia.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Also, where were celebs like Madonna, when neo-nazis in Russia were imprisoned just for talking about their ideas in public?
        
        If you can’t see the difference between Pussy Riot and neo-nazis, you’re one of the reasons that a totalitarian demagogue like Putin has taken over Russia. You feed right into his propaganda machine that spreads fear about everything that isn’t endorsed by Putin or his pals.
      - http://www.facebook.com/boris.ivanov1978 Борис Иванов
        
        Pussy Riot has endorsed anarchism. Anarchism can be as devastating as nazism. We’ve had both in Russia. We’ve also had some pretty brutal atheists. Pussy Riot “rioted” in a church that was destroyed by Stalin (it was rebuit after the fall of communism). And now some liberals are once again talking about blowing up the cathedral.
Marcus Morgan

Thanks for the post. Interesting approach by the lawyers, direct and brave. I’m a lawyer of long standing and I would go with the strict “representing clients’ legal interests” and let the politics be the legal point (a mature responsible political protest – too mature for the church heirarchy & government, but nonetheless so and responsible too). They are obviously more honest than me because it is a defacto political matter appearing as a legal matter only because of poilitically motivated legal action against the defendants.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/RA4AVVHBDO7ZTD3ANU6CLVQZPI pierre

I like the part where she (one of the ladies from Pussy Riot) shoves the chicken in her snatch and starts beaning that shit! She has that cold dead stare… shit is hilarious.

As for the legality of all that shit in russia, I couldn’t care less. Here in the crappy old USA she would have went to jail for the chicken incident. For shoplifting… or something. Lewd conduct. I would love to see the pigs watch that one live.
http://www.facebook.com/alexey.scherbinin Alexey Scherbinin

Not putin or russians make this world as sick as it is, but general stupidity. Like an act of art PR perfomance is quite blank and boring, like cultural event does not worth any attention. And still it is a global event. Well, people do not need any real reasons to start pouring shit on each others heads. Instead of travelling in outer space we are trying to insult each other, and, yeah, it is a big day for us when somebody else fails. Noone is right unfortunately, we are not made to be right – but can it be atleast a bit less disgusting ?