Russian activist group Pussy Riot have broken their hiatus following their controversial imprisonment in 2012, releasing their first song and video in English, the harrowing “I can’t breathe”.
Posting the track to their YouTube channel last night, Pussy Riot described the release as a tribute to Eric Garner, whose death by a police chokehold in July last year stirred controversy and sparked nation-wide debate and protest in the US. The public reaction to a Grand Jury decision to not indict the NYPD officer who put Garner in the fatal chokehold inspired waves of protesters to stage ‘die-ins’ and ‘lie-ins’ across the country – a protesting act that saw groups lie down in dozens of locations across the country as a symbolic, defiant gesture against police brutality.
“This song is for Eric and for all those from Russia to America and around the globe who suffer from state terror – killed, choked, perished because of war and state sponsored violence of all kinds – for political prisoners and those on the streets fighting for change. We stand in solidarity,” Pussy Riot said. The song strays from the band’s punk roots, with the band telling the Guardian, “The absence of our usual aggressive punk vocals in this song is a reaction to this tragedy.”
The video accompanying ‘I Can’t Breathe’ shows a single-take of two convicted and previously-imprisoned members of Pussy Riot—Masha Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova—being ‘buried alive’ in Russian police riot uniforms. The song concludes with a spoken reenactment of Eric Garner’s struggle with police and last words – “I can’t breathe,” repeated eleven times.
Watch below.
Via The Guardian.
