- ENGLISH PRESS RELEASE - “1312” by Pussy Riot ft. Parcas, Dillom and Muerejoven is an international anthem against police brutality. Instead of serving people, police forces are oppressing activists, beating innocent people, and at the same time refusing to properly investigate femicides to eradicate them. It's shameful that a policeman can attack a girl activist on a rally, but can't find her when she’s missing and punish her rapist. Latin America is a region that suffers strongly from police barbarity and corruption, and that is the main topic of this song. "1312" is inspired by 2019 protesters in Chile and the bravery and strength shown in front of abusive police forces. The rapist is you, the rapist is you. It’s the police, the judges, the state, the president. The oppressive state is a macho rapist. - chants the feminist art collective LAS TESIS and millions of their supporters on the streets of Chile, Argentina, Mexico, the US, the UK and 50 other countries. Here in Pussy Riot we experienced police batons and have been imprisoned ourselves. And we want to express solidarity together with our Latin American sisters, brothers and non-binary people, who keep standing up for their rights in the face of everyday danger of being slaughtered by those who're in power. We're stoked that Argentinian artists Parcas, Dillom and Muerejoven joined us in this international activist song. PROBLEMS 1. Police forces are very violent against the protesters. The police is not serving people as it should, but it's used by the elites to shut down people's movements and don't let them challenge the status quo. In 2017 the report “Los estados latinoamericanos frente a la protesta social”, was published globally. This study was coordinated by Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) from Argentina, and it's about Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, México, Paraguay, Perú y Venezuela. The report confirms that these countries governments’ response to social protests is violent and it concludes that “the criminalization of activists, the public policies that try to restrict manifestations, and the unpunished violations of human rights are common characteristics”. In the protests of 2019 in Chile, astonishing numbers from INDH (National Institute for Human Rights) reported 3,535 people being detained and 1,132 civilians getting hurt by policemen, 595 by shootings (real or fake bullets). There were cases of raping too. In Argentina a brutal case that became viral as it is caught on video, shows how during a protest, an old man was surrounded by policemen that pepper sprayed him on the face and then hit him on the back with the police baton. 2. Police forces are ineffective when it comes to fighting real crime like investigating femicides, murders of political activists like Marielle Franco in Brazil, kidnappings like the 43 disappeared students in Ayotzinapa, México. They're ineffective with fighting against domestic violence as well. 3. Many policemen are corrupted and serve their own interests and those who have money and power. SOLUTIONS Refocus police forces towards protection of the civilians instead of oppression and violent suppression of our rights to express and demand what our communities need. We are here to hold the police forces accountable for every act of violence against civilians. Nothing will go unnoticed. We demand that if the police show up at the demonstration, they protect our right to speak our minds freely, act respectfully and peacefully. We are the many, they are the few. We stand together with Chilean protesters, we are women who want to be safe while marching for female rights with Las Tesis. We express our solidarity with Argentinian, Chilean, Mexican, Colombian, Brazilian, Peruvian, and all Latin American sisters and street fighters who only want to have a damn right to be in charge of their bodies and their reproductive system (but only get police batons in response). Police forces in Latin America and Russia need to be urgently re-trained to focus on protecting women's rights, LQBTQ+ community, and the rights of alternatively able people.
PUSSY RIOT: Pussy Riot is a Russian art punk feminist movement. In 2012 three of Pussy Riot's members were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Art is just a part of Pussy Riot’s mission. In 2014, since the release of two members from prison, they launched Mediazona, a free-of-censorship independent Russian media agency focusing on law enforcement issues like conditions in prisons and prosecutions of political activists. Activists of Pussy Riot are advocating for the prison reform in Russia and providing help and lawyers to prisoners. Besides creating audio visual art such as "Make America Great Again" and "Police State", Pussy Riot has spoken before the US Congress, the British Parliament, and the European Parliament, and has lectured as an honorary speaker at Harvard, Cambridge, the Glastonbury music festival, to name a few, and is a Lennon Ono Grant for Peace recipient, and is a co-recipient of The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. On 13th of May 2020 Pussy Riot has released "KNIFE" EP which problematizes the raise of domestic violence - especially during quarantine. | 
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