THE PUSSY RIOT IN RED SQUARE

Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news…if you haven’t heard of Pussy Riot, listen up.

(Just that name, Pussy Riot, gives me goose-bumps.)

In February this year, the colourful feminist Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, staged a surprise performance on the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, a Russian Orthodox Church in Red Square, Moscow.

The girls were making a stand against the close ties between the post-Soviet leadership and the church, hence the choice of venue. They called on the Virgin Mary to expel Putin in the “punk prayer” Holy Shit.

Three of the women have been in jail since then and have now become a cause-celebre across the globe in a test of  President Vladimir Putin’s treatment of dissent.

Commentators from the music world such as Peter Gabriel and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as writers from the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have labelled the cruel and unusually harsh attitude toward these vocal activists as political dynamite that may have far-reaching effects for the Russian government.

Sting has just joined Amnesty International in calling for their release.

These outrageous gals are masked feminist superheroes. I kid you not.

They are everything I wanted to be when I was a little girl living in my ultimate fantasy world. All those pesky superheroes were men – Superman, Batman, Spiderman. Men in tights. As I struggled through my ballet classes clad in pastel pink leotards and stockings I would let myself drift into the dream that I was a super-girl, out there saving the world.

I have recently become aware of  this real-life, kick-arse band of chicks who are doing exactly that. Tales of their recklessness are inspiring. Ten to 15 Russian feminist women don brightly colourful tights and dresses with matching balaclavas and gatecrash events, performing their particular brand of punk rock, to raise awareness for women’s issues.

Some sing and dance. Some play instruments and others video-record and then post the clip on YouTube. And to add to the mystique, like all good superheroes, they live in anonymity.

I have watched them perform and they strike me as a cross between The Wiggles, the Teletubbies and the Chaser. Only angrier. Edgier. And, well, punkier.

However, three members of Pussy Riot are now on trial for their antics which were the equivalent of Nick Cave and The Birthday Party jumping up in St Mary’s Cathedral and singing a song of prayer asking for God to reinstate Kevin Rudd and, frankly, the carry on in Australian politics is not far from such a circus.

Did the Russians see the irreverently funny side of this? Nyet!

The three are facing very serious charges of “hooliganism” which carries a sentence in Russia of up to seven years. That’s a long, cold time in hell for a political prank.

Hooliganism is almost revered in our country but in the land of the Russkies, these feisty buskies – Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikora, and Ekaterina Samutsevitch, all in their 20s – have been held in prison for months away from their small children.