Substituting Karl for Groucho.....

February 21st – You have to hand it across. Rock ‘n’ Roll can really piss folk off at times; so thank whatever god you believe in for that occasional little victory. Without many of the seminal works that rock musicians have produced over the years our education and understanding would have been far less, our ability to found movements for political change weakened and the opportunity and camaraderie to feel safe inside a community that was outside of the status quo lessened to invisible.

On this day in 2012, Pussy Riot became the latest victim of their desire to question (key word here, ‘question’. Not overthrow by bloody coup, slaughter the first-born of anyone with the name Smith…just question) question the operations and honesty of the Russian government and, in particular, of its leader Vladimir Putin. They did this seeming act of subversion by recording and releasing a record and video with the title, ‘Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!’ Snappy title, huh? Leaves no one in any doubt what’s going on here…maybe, given the outcome they should have called it, “Some in Government are doing a Grand Job, others maybe not so...’ and left the leaders and their sycophants to decipher the runes; they’d still be poring over it now, trying to square the use of the words ‘fuckwit’ and ‘bollockbrain’ in a verse about politicians and convincing themselves that Pussy Riot must have been describing members of the opposition.

The American, all-girl band, ‘L7’, have been putting the US government in their sights for years but, as part of a free society (parental advisory notice – inexactitudes being used) their work has gone largely unnoticed, certainly amongst the ruling classes. If they’d been Russian, with titles like ‘Shitlist’, ‘Wargasm’ and ‘Mr. Integrity’ and lyrics that leave no one in any doubt what their belief and beef is, my guess is they would've been shipped off to the Urals toot-bloody sweet.

The difficulties for folk in government when dealing with the real world and its problems are three-fold…yes, OK, more than three, but these three in particular.

1) They have no sense of humour

2) They are in charge

3) They don’t live in the real world

That’s it. From this baseline all other difficulties stem.

In the recent Russian example, add this to the singularly impossible task of amusing the Russian psyche and you have a recipe for disaster if you once try to take the piss…is it something to do with the fact that it’s so bloody cold there? I mean, Norway? Wet for nine months in any year and damp for the rest if it; with that as their starting point for having a sunny disposition you only have to read Henrik Ibsen’s plays to tap into the completion of the reasons for their unremitting misery and lack of a sense of humour.

Now, Pussy Riot didn't actually try to take the piss, they were just offering a prayer to the Virgin Mary to rid them of the pestilence that is Mr. Putin. Shouldn't they – the Russian Govt. – shouldn't they disregard this anyway? Didn't Karl Marx preach that "...communism should abolish all eternal truths, religions and existing moral principles..."? So, if it doesn’t exist how can they have offended anyone, or are we all Capitalists now? And if so, in anything even vaguely resembling a democracy (even in Russia’s case which does have a shadow of a fair society) shouldn’t those in power simply laugh it off? Why? Well because to do anything else just makes them look like an arse. It just draws attention to something that would pass unheard by the majority outside of the country in which the so-called crime was perpetrated (remember L7). It in no way threatens their position, either in government or in society as they’ve proved time and again that they’re omnipotent. They've got that sewn up. So, one has to ask again; why?

Well, you see, in any case such as this in any country in the world that is run along pseudo-democratic lines, it’s usually because those in charge feel in a precarious position because they rule not by the consent of the people but in spite of it. This makes them tetchy, feel easily threatened, their policies and dictates easily questionable and so, in an echo of a past decade, they ‘break a butterfly on wheel’. Overreaction is always their downfall and because they know only one response, which is ‘kill ‘em all’, it will continue to be so…and Rock ‘n’ Roll will continue to kick the ethical shit out of them.