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Pussy Riot: We’re Going To Write A Tribute To Bernie And A Song For “D*ckhead” Trump

Pussy Riot: We’re Going To Write A Tribute To Bernie And A Song For “D*ckhead” Trump

The momentum of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ political movement has gone global. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (better known as Nadya Tolokno) of the Russian feminist punk-rock and anti-Putin political activist group Pussy Riot visited Washington D.C. yesterday to attend the libertarian gathering of the International Students for Liberty Conference – but made a stop at Bernie Sander’s campaign headquarters to show her support and make some special announcements.

A “huge” fan of Bernie Sanders, Ms. Tolokno said that she was preparing a “love letter” to America’s populist champion in the form of a song, inspired by his policy proposals – especially on healthcare and Social Security – and the “energy and emotion” of his campaign. She believes his political revolution is historic no matter how the election goes, tweeting out that “people can sense the truth when they get to hear it…¡Viva los revolucionarios! ¡Viva Bernie!”

She is also writing a song attacking the bigoted demagogue that leads the Republican field, Donald Trump, joking that “I have several texts about Trump right now…If you go through the history on my browser, it will be like Urban Dictionary, ‘asshole synonym,’ ‘douchebag synonym,’ ‘d*ckhead rhyme.’ She tore into the abrasive business tycoon and rabble-rousing racist, saying that:

“Trump, as a man who has called women fat pigs, and whores, and sluts if he doesn’t like them, and as a person who wants to send away all Muslims — I mean, what’s wrong with this religion? I was in prison because I was supposedly against Christianity, but I wasn’t. And I think it is fascism to persecute people, to send people away from the country where they live now…It is fascism. And I think Putin has a lot in common with Trump. They have a lot in common with Hitler…I know there’s a lot of differences, but still. It is dangerous [when] somebody announces that he hates somebody just because of religion, or race, or gender.”

The 26-year-old democratic socialist gained international recognition when she was arrested with fellow artist Maria Alyokhina at a Moscow cathedral in 2012 for performing a “punk prayer” (a song titled “Putin zazhigayet kostry” or “Putin Lights Up The Fires“) that criticized the Russian dictator for his repression and corruption and the Russian Orthodox Church for their complicity in re-establishing authoritarianism in the Russia Federation. Charged with “hooliganism” in a show trial that would’ve made Stalin proud, she spent a year in the IK-14 penal colony before being released in 2013 as part of a public image rehabilitation effort by Putin before the Sochi Olympics.

Having suffered the harsh oppression of Vladimir Putin’s kleptocracy firsthand, Ms. Tolokno knows a fascist when she sees one – and we would do well to heed both her celebration of Bernie Sanders’ vision and condemnation of Donald Trump’s dangerously divisive and authoritarian rhetoric.

Check out Pussy Riot’s newest music video (with English subtitles), a harsh satire of the corrupt Russian criminal “justice” system:

h/t to the Daily Beast

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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