Saturday 18 August 2012

Pussy Riots or Ailurophobia in Russian Life


The conviction of the three members of feminist Russian collective Pussy Riot is a disgrace and a challenge to feminism worldwide. It is also yet another attack on secularism, free speech and the rights of the artist.
Ailurophobia is the irrational fear of pussies. Or cats.



Three of the cats who stood
Iconoclastic in their ritual,
Worshipping at the alter
Of free speech, and expression,
Obscenely repressed by
The powers that be;
Three of these pussies
Are to be caged,
Declawed and toothless
In a system long decayed.

Trolleybusses and scaffolds
Are ok, it seems, for girls
In balaclavas or women shouting
The odds, but not a church,
Oh no, women’s voices should not
Be raised in a church.
It’s nothing to do with politics you understand
-it is their bold bad lack of respect for Him.
(not him, Putin, but the other
God of Russian politics.)

Burn your flags, my lovelies,
Far far better than fiery bras.
Bite back, shout and torch the churches,
Roast them on a spit of lampoon –
There is no place for the feminine divine
Among the patriarchs of Russian life.
Three cats jailed by frightened men
and an apathetic nation, still the Party’s bitch.
Come! Let’s be Hooligans, all, and light the way.
Start by saying, today, I am Pussy Riot.

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