Music is not a crime
Throughout November, we, anti-war Russians in Turin, like opponents of Putin’s regime all over the world, followed the fate of the St Petersburg street musicians Stoptime.
We worried about them and about those who came out in their support in different Russian cities.
It seemed that things were heading for the worst: a series of “carousel” arrests left no hope for a lenient outcome.
We planned an action to express our dissent and draw more attention.
📢 Fortunately, the musicians were released and were able to leave Russia.
Today they no longer face criminal prosecution, but this is a rare exception.
The Russian judicial system has long turned from the right to judge into the right to convict, leaving the accused no chance of justice.
People are persecuted not only for their beliefs, but also for supporting others, for music, for lyrics, for anything that even slightly fails to fit the “norm”.
That is why we decided to stage a performance in support not only of the Stoptime musicians, but of everyone who dares to speak, sing, play and think freely.
🎸 On Saturday 6 December, in Piazza Castello, we sang songs by Monetochka, Noize MC and Pornofilmy, playing street musicians, while a colleague of ours, in the role of a police officer, symbolically arrested the performers… until he himself was surrounded by dancing “swans” and driven away in disgrace.
💬 None of us expected how strong the therapeutic effect of this performance would be. To act out neutralising a security officer, something not yet possible in reality, is to imagine, at least for a moment, another world, a just order of things in which protest is not punished but can be heard.
Yes, for now it is only a performance.
But it is our way of not keeping silent, not giving up and continuing to fight, for ourselves and for each other.
🤝 Thanks to our friends at the Adelaide Aglietta Radical Association for their unfailing support, and to the musicians of Graffiti Italiani for the professional recording of an Italian translation of one of the songs.
📣 We continue our activism in Turin and welcome everyone who shares our position.
Materials
Song lyrics in Italian and Russian:
- “Ty soldat” (You are a soldier), Monetochka
- “Kooperativ Lebedinoe Ozero” (Swan Lake Cooperative), Noize MC
Audio:
The full playlist is here.
The texts read in Italian during the event are here.
Video
- “Kooperativ Lebedinoe Ozero” (filmed by E.A.)
Photos
Thanks to Daniele Degiorgis, Robi Colarullo and Daniela Pantalone, Ekaterina Tarasenko and E.A. for skilfully capturing the most significant moments of the action.
The full photo archive is here.