Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova held a lecture Wednesday for Studium Generale in the Auditorium of Maastricht University. She talked about her period in prison and of course the political circumstances from beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917, this week 100 years ago. What I found interesting was her very personal and intuitive approach to political action in ‘how to start a revolution‘, her latest book and the way she wanted to make Christianity….human again!
Nadezhda paired questions about the celebrity (Hollywood) culture when the audience wanted to know something about Madonna. She met Madonna, shook her shoulders: ‘well she’s just a person’! Nadezhda doesn’t need these kind of adoration, this new class-people for being famous, being somebody, as even we adapt in our Calvinistic anguish the American fake-rule-society.
Now I know Russia a bit of my travelling / touring with my friends from the Ey Uchnjem / Pskov ensemble and they are also very kind (human) how they approach people during our concerts. They talk to everyone, they are humanly accessible, sensible. Russian heroes live in the neighbourhood, around the corner and their souls are tangible, compassionate for, let me say it again, for everyone. No cheating, because here we are dealing with people who were in prison for wanting to change a culture of intolerance and blind obedience to the rulers. I had a nice conversation with Nadezhda after her presentation about my activities as a singer in Pskov region, and in the documentary ‘Fishing for Amber’, where Pussy Riot is being discussed by ’the collective’.
Moving was the end when someone asked Nadezhda ‘what could you do better, make any mistakes, regret thing’? Nadezhda gave a surprising answer: I wanted to be more nicer, I wanted to be warm and kind, she said, “I want to be more human”!
So let this message go round the world, to all the narcissistic leaders on the planet, let it go round and…to ourselves.