From Madonna to punked out Boston teens, millions cry, “Free Pussy Riot!”

A protester holds pictures of people wearing balaclavas, in the style of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, August 9, 2012. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

This month demonstrators around the world cried out for the freedom of Pussy Riot, an all-female punk band in Russia. The band now has global recognition, not for their music as much as the Russian government’s harsh response to a protest stunt the band orchestrated.

After months in prison, three of the band’s members could face a seven-year jail sentence. From Madonna to Franz Ferdinand to your average attendee at a punk rock concert, music-loving free-speech advocates are watching the trial closely. In Boston, Latitude News attended a Pussy Riot benefit show to hear from the band’s American supporters.

So what exactly is a Pussy Riot?

“Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away! Put Putin away! Put Putin away!”

So chanted Pussy Riot last February when the punk band interrupted a service at Russia’s iconic Christ Savior Cathedral, just a month before Russia’s presidential election. Check out the video of their protest below.

Wearing boots, bright tights and hiding their faces under garishly colored balaclavas, the feminist punk band performed “Virgin Mary, Put Putin Away” – the song’s meaning is fairly self-explanatory. Three band members–Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich–were arrested and now face up to seven years in jail for “hooliganism.”

Ali Donohue, one of the organizers of the Free Pussy Riot benefit show in Boston and a big fan of punk music, says punk is a chance to say what you think when other people are told to act the same.

Pussy Riot’s fight against the Kremlin has instigated a series of protests inside Russia and elsewhere. Also, 40,000 Russians have signed an online petition demanding the band’s release, and a hundred Russian civic and cultural figures have petitioned Russia’s Supreme Court.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of Pussy Riot, is escorted by police before a court hearing in Moscow, August 6, 2012.(Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Artists, musicians and celebrities all over the world have also shown their solidarity. During a concert in Moscow last week, Madonna scrawled “Pussy Riot” across her back and performed “Like a Virgin” wearing a balaclava. The next day, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister, implied Madonna was a moralizing slut on Twitter.

Last month, the Red Hot Chili Peppers pulled a similar move. Singer Anthony Kiedis wore a t-shirt with “Pussy Riot” on it during a concert at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Kiedis and bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary also wrote letters supporting Pussy Riot, which they gave to Pyotr Verizolov, husband to band member Tolokonnikova.

“Nadya and Katya and Masha, we love you, we love to support you and are here to help you,” Anthony Kiedis’s letter read. Flea wrote, “I applaud your bravery and I pray for your release.”

Other bands and musicians, including Franz Ferdinand, Faith No More, Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill and Rage Against the Machine, have all made similar efforts to draw attention to Pussy Riot.

Three years for “hooliganism”?

Kelly Baker, host of the benefit show, told Latitude News the gathering raised 700 dollars, all of which will fund Pussy Riot’s legal defense team. While she is critical of the Russian authority’s oppression of free speech, Baker says the U.S. should not expect other cultures to follow the American model of democracy.

During the court trial, the three band members members have been locked in a glass cage in a Moscow courtroom wearing button-down shirts and day dresses, according to The New York Times. “Hooliganism” convicts can face up to seven years in jail, but Russia’s state prosecutor demanded a three-year jail term for Pussy Riot, citing good character references and the fact that two of the women have young children. A verdict is expected on August 17.

Vincent Scalisi, a volunteer at the Free Pussy Riot event in Boston, says the story won’t end with the verdict. Technology is making the world a smaller place, he says, and oppressive regimes are having a harder time silencing people.

Scalisi, and Pussy Riot, may be heartened by this Martin Luther King, Jr. observation: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”