A lead member of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot, assaulted and jailed for criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strong arm tactics, is heading to Washington to promote human rights and freedom.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is set to rally millennial voters in Washington next month at International Students For Liberty Conference.
The goal of the event is to find an “alternative to the empty rhetoric and broken promises of our elected officials,” said the organizers.
Tolokonnikova was famously arrested in February 2012 after performing an anti-Putin song inside Russia’s main Orthodox cathedral. Jailed for two years, she was then assaulted with whips by Russian militia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The band recently recorded a song related to the death of a black man in New York City who was in police custody, titled “I can’t breathe.”
The event theme is “the liberty vote” and expected to be the biggest since the group’s founding in 2008.
The organizers sent Secrets this release for the conference taking place at the Marriott Wardman Hotel Feb. 26-28.
WASHINGTON, DC — Students For Liberty (SFL) is pleased to announce that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from the Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot will be headlining the 9th International Students For Liberty Conference (ISFLC16). She and a bandmate will kick off the largest annual gathering of libertarian students on Friday, February 26th with a talk and Q&A session.
Pussy Riot’s anti-authoritarian stunts have gained international attention and the Kremlin’s ire in recent years. Tolokonnikova was famously arrested in February 2012 after performing a song critical of Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral. She were released in December 2013 after nearly two years in detention. Only two months later, Tolokonnikova was famously attacked with whips by Cossack militia members at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Tolokonnikova says of the conference, “We look forward to discussing the pressing problems that people face in the United States, Russia and in the world around us.”
In the past year, Pussy Riot has begun releasing English language songs, turning its attention to more international political topics. In February, the band released “I Can’t Breathe,” a song titled after Eric Garner’s famous last words and dedicated to “all those from Russia to America and around the globe who suffer from state terror.” In November, they released”Refugees In,” filmed at Banksy’s Dismaland exhibit, calling on the international community to welcome persecuted peoples fleeing violence in the Middle East.
SFL President Alexander McCobin says of Pussy Riot’s confirmation, “Too often, activists are pigeonholed as ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal,’ but the truth is that the fight for liberty transcends these tired labels. The fact that 2,000 libertarian students can stand in solidarity with Pussy Riot at ISFLC16 shows the true cosmopolitan nature of the liberty movement.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
