Pussy Riot released the aptly titled “Elections” on the same day as the presidential vote in Russia, which has been denounced for widespread ballot-stuffing.
The Russian girl punk band Pussy Riot unveiled the music video for “Elections” or “В Ы Б О Р Ы” in the Russian alphabet. For most of us it was Saint Patrick’s Day. But to them it was the day of the presidential elections. Many Russian citizens protested the election by boycotting the vote altogether, after allegations of flagrant ballot-stuffing.
Ballot-stuffing is the illegal practice of submitting multiple ballots for one person. They call it that because the voting booth gets stuffed with a lot of fake votes from the same people.
The band posted the new music video with the following statement, “You should not be deceived, this event on 18th of March is not elections. Falsifications, eliminations of political opponents, Kremlin-controlled media leave no chance to anybody except Putin.”
it’s the election day in Russia (guess who’ll win??)
and here is Pussy Riot’s new song & video – E L E C T I O N S
??
?
– – – – >https://t.co/FM6qe6sUs8
— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot) March 18, 2018
They credited the art in the music video to, “Oleg Navalny, a political prisoner, who was convicted to 3.5 years in jail because he’s a brother of Alexey Navalny, Putin’s fiercest political opponent.”
Pussy Riot at Day for Night 2018 in Houston, Texas.
The new song is an electronic sound for the band that has had a rotating list of members. You have to admit that they have a lot a stuff to rebel against at the moment. It is reminiscent of The Hunger Games because it features strong, independent women protesting a dictatorship through art, music and media production. Hopefully they won’t go to prison in Siberia.
In the track they talk about “six years” because the Russian presidential term is supposed to be six years long. The lyrics translate from Russian to English as the following.
6 years we gonna fight
6 years we not gonna obey
6 years i gonna start a gang
6 years we’re not gonna eat slop scraps
6 years we’re gonna fight fight
we’re not gonna obey during this term
6 years i gonna start a gang
cops you’d better eat your slops food by yourself
the shameless in power
power power power power
stealing as much as they can
power power power power
even a thief has a sense of dignity
steal steal steal steal
if you’re unarmed they’re likely to assault you
6 years we’re gonna fight
6 years we’re not gonna obey
6 years i gonna start a gang
6 years we’re not gonna eat scraps
6 years is the time of palace wars
term term term term
there are lots of discontented in high-security regime
term term term term
a coup’s happening, the Kremlin’s extremely nervous
we were given 6 years illegitimately
a dead body’s in the detention centre
our criminal case was fabricated
we were given 6 years of high-security regime illegitimately
6 years we gonna fight
6 years we not gonna obey
6 years i gonna start a gang
6 years we’re not gonna eat scraps
6 years we’re gonna fight fight
we’re not gonna obey during this term
6 years i gonna start a gang
cops you’d better eat your slops food by yourself.
Read about how the director of the M.I.A. documentary mansplained her own life to her at Sundance. Check out these free art prints by Shepard Fairey that support the Women’s March.