When Nadya Tolokonnikova of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot talks about the dangers of creeping authoritarianism she speaks from experience. She and her band mates, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina were locked up in Russia for two years for “hooliganism based on religious hatred” for a performance in front of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior Church protesting the complicity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the rise of Putinism.
She appeared last night on “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” to discuss the jarring similarities (and differences) between Putin’s successful debauching of Russian Democracy and drumpf’s nascent efforts here in the U.S.
Lawrence started the segment joking that this was “The Last Word’s” first foray into the world of Punk Rock. Nadya replied it “was her job” to share punk music.
Poised, beautiful and searingly intelligent, Nadya went on to warn we in the U.S. what to expect from drumpf if he is allowed to consolidate his power here.
You can watch the interview here.
For those of you unable to watch I will quote rather liberally from the linked article as they are the words of Nadya and not the creation of the author.
“I would like to send them both to the moon,” she said of Trump and Putin. “But I’m really concerned with the way how moon will feel like. I wouldn’t do that just because I have compassion for the moon. You know, they’re both are eroding our institutions and our job here is to protect these institutions. I think they make us forget that citizenship is not just using things that your government is giving to you but giving back to your government and protecting those institutions like democracy.”
….
“I’ve seen how badly it can turn. I’ve seen it, in front of my eyes, for the last 17 years, and I hear it from Donald Trump, the same words about media that Putin was using for 17 years,” she continued. “That it’s fake news, that are paid by foreign governments and whoever.”
….
“That’s why he (Putin) doesn’t like people who really do believe in democracy and really believe in freedom of speech and human rights,” she said. “Donald Trump doesn’t have any real political beliefs. He really concerned with himself, with his fame and his wealth. And that’s perfectly understandable for Putin as a KGB agent. He knows how to deal with people who are easy to understand or easy to bribe.”
….
Bemoaning the fact that Putin has taken control of the news in via state funded TV in Russia….
“We pay for them to tell us bullsh*t,”
Given drumpf’s recently stated lament that he does not control the justice Department and the FBI and the the terror GOP politicians have of drumpf’s loud mouthed base we are not far behind, Nadya.
Thanks for the warning…