Russian feminist punk activists Pussy Riot have a new song and video out today, titled "In a Red Prison." In it, they continue their harsh criticism of Putin and his allies in a very typically Pussy Riot manner: dancing in neon dresses and balaclavas on top of oil pipelines and rigs while shouting things like "Gruel-propagandaaa!", "Cut off your penis like the Depardieu character!", and the phrase I have already adopted as a personal mantra: "Evil fucking sexist, leave the hole alone!"
Their ire is mainly directed at the Russian oil industry — the video opens with the group pouring oil on a portrait of Igor Sechin, the head of the country's largest oil company, Rosneft; later, they climb on top of a Rosneft filling station and display a Pussy Riot banner. According to Pussy Riot's blog, Russia's revenues from the oil industry in 2012 were around 7 trillion rubles, "but only Putin and several of his friends see this several trillion." Thus, the group "decided to independently look into oil production and sing our new song about the red prison to oil and gas workers."
The group also targets the close relationship between Putin and the Church, singing (or, more accurately, screaming with the full force of proud womynhood), "You have a president like Iran's ayatollah/And your church is like it in in the U.A.E." They also also denounce Putin as a "homophobic vermin" — which is a pretty accurate characterization, as the man is responsible for signing into law one of the most hideously draconian anti-gay bills imaginable — and accuse him of spearheading a repressive crackdown on political opponents.
Meanwhile, Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are still serving their two-year labor camp sentences for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred," following their 40-second anti-Putin "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Tolokonnikova, apparently, contributed lyrics to the song from prison. Truly inspiring, and truly badass.
According to the Pussy Riot blog, "We got to the essence of why our friends are in jail, and Putin's friends are not."