Russian activist group and former political prisoners Pussy Riot don’t appear to have been cowed by their headline-making two-year prison stint. The art collective has just released its most withering public condemnation/pop-rap track yet, “Chaika.” A reference to Yuri Chaika, Russia’s current prosecutor-general, the video sees the group dress in totalitarian regalia, dance-torture bag-headed prisoners, and deliver lyrics about how to succeed in Russia (“You wanna get away with murder? Be loyal to your boss”), all while miming hand signals that reference a homophone (seagull) for Chaika’s name.
The video is loaded with specific references to Russian politics, which might fall deaf on Western ears (presumably why the band also linked to an in-English documentary about Chaika’s alleged corruption, and encouraged an international call for investigation into his actions), but the anger is palpable. It’s easy to think of Pussy Riot as the funny name CNN anchors do their best to talk around; it’s slightly more sobering to be reminded that they’re making such bold political statements in a climate where attention-grabbing activism is never exactly safe.