Mobius Strip plays outside the Russian Embassy during an August 14 concert protesting the trial of Pussy Riot. (Photo by Eric Spiegel)
Break out your brightly colored balaclavas and get those protest signs ready: The second annual Pussy Riot Solidarity Concert is going down in front of the Russian Embassy (at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Edmunds Street NW) tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m.
In a press release from Amnesty International, the organization writes that “members, activists, rock fans and artists will show their support for Pussy Riot and human rights in Russia at the second annual punk protest.” The release also notes that this year’s concert “will take place the day before the one year anniversary of Pussy Riot’s sentencing and approximately six months out from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.”
Back in 2012, Pussy Riot—a feminist punk collective in Russia who put on spontaneous protest concerts in various public spaces—members Masha Alekhina, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Katya Samutsevich were arrested and sentenced to two years in prison after performing an impromptu “concert” in Moscow’s famed Christ the Savior Cathedral. Their imprisonment has since become one of the biggest human rights violation cases in recent history, with people from all over the world coming out in support of Pussy Riot and against Russia’s ever-tightening grip on free speech and basic human rights laws, including a recent controversial law that persecutes LGBT individuals. Some truly appalling things are going on over there.
This year’s concert will feature performances from sludgy noise-rockers Jail Solidarity, Soft Punch—the atmospheric solo project from Tereu Tereu’s Ryan Little—and power pop-punk group G.U.T.S. The program will also feature speakers from the human rights movement and Russian diaspora.