Punk Rockers and Cyber Wars

This weeks readings were helpful in understanding 3rd Wave feminism.  I am just older than the gals who started it - including Rebecca Walker, who I'll come back to - and I wasn't really aware or connected with their energy in the early 1990's.  At the time, I was living in New Orleans, going to graduate school and beginning my own process of identity discovery.   I was thrilled to encounter the work of Gloria Anzaldua and other women of color.  I was angry about the Clarence Thomas hearings, and am still disgusted and embarassed that he sits on the U.S. Supreme Court.  I knew punk rock existed, but was discovering earlier voices of feminist folk artists.  I see now how and why Third Wave feminists emerged.  The movement of did not speak to some aspect of their identity.  They had courage to speak about race, class or sexual marginalization.

Over the past few weeks, I have been following the work of Pussy Riot, a feminist punk rock band in Russia.  Several of the women, are now incarcerated on charges of "violating public order" or "hooliganism" following an impromptu concert at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, church of the elites in Moscow.  Eight women in total, wearing balaclavas to conceal their identities, sang/shouted "Virgin Mary, Send Putin Away."
This was not their first minute-long concert.  In January, the stood in front of Red Square and screamed "Revolt in Russia - the charisma of protest/Revolt in Russia, Putin's got scared!"

Although the names of the incarcerated are now know, the group prefers to remain anonymous - representing any man or woman.  They organized last fall after Putin announced he was running again for office.  They are using their feminism and performance skills to directly confront political authority through direct action.  Their energy harkens back to the early work of Third Waver's in the 1990's and to women like Katherine Hanna who founded Bikini Kill to respond to the sexism she experienced in the punk rock scene.

These women all have demanded space in the public forum.  Using their voices, they have spoken out about their confrontations with prejudice, violence, tyrany.  Their causes and personal expression have been advanced by the internet - especially so in the case of Pussy Riot who now has groups around the world organizing concerts and protests in their behalf.   These examples suggest that technology has and can indeed    be a powerful site for feminists.