I could sit here and give you a blow by blow recap of Wednesday night’s marathon concert at Barclays Center, which saw Amnesty International welcome members of Pussy Riot to the US with performances by The Flaming Lips, Cake, Imagine Dragons, and others, but it would be missing the point of the entire event. The real stars of the show were Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, the members of Pussy Riot who were recently freed from Russian jails.
Speaking through a translator, the two young women reminded us of the freedoms we take for granted every day. After sitting in a beautiful new stadium, listening to popular music for nearly three hours, it was a welcome change of pace to the real issue of the day. While we can enjoy these luxuries, across the world, others cannot. Earlier in the night, speeches from formerly jailed Iranian blogger Kianoosh Sanjari and wrongly convicted former death row inmate Kerry Max Cook demonstrated that freedom is not always a given, both in foreign nations and on our own soil, but it was the former Pussy Riot members who made the strongest impression.
Their screams of injustice pierced through the stadium, bringing the true gravity of the situation to light. They spoke of eight protesters who were arrested in 2012 during a protest, and who are set to be sentenced later this month. Through a translator, they read their closing statements, their final pleas for justice. It was truly powerful stuff, seeing these living symbols of freedom and justice continuing to fight for freedom just months after being released from an 18 month prison sentence. While they were finally free, there fight wasn’t over.
You can act now by visiting Amnesty International’s website, which can educate you on human rights injustice around the world – not just in Russia but in North Korea, Uganda, and all around the world. There’s instruction on how you can help, contribute, donate, and act.