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[jefflewis]

If you have time, please read this letter from Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova: "Why I have gone on hunger strike."

It's upsetting, and leaves one wondering what to do... but at the very least it should be passed around and learned about:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/23/pussy-riot-hunger-strike-nadezhda-tolokonnikova


(By the way, it's not as long as the page length suggests, most of the page is occupied by comments.)

[misshelenc]

I read it, part of me is like 'surely not, in this day and age??' and the other part already knew such things were going on and worse.
It's right that it mostly makes you feel powerless and like you want to help but have no idea how, maybe spreading the word is enough to get people thinking and talking about it, and collectively it can get on the political agenda.
xxx
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You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

Yeah... I hate that feeling of utter impotence in the face of terrible injustice... and of course the world is full of such injustice, it always ends up feeling easier to just shut it all out, rather then be overwhelmed by the impossibility of battling it all... but still, surely we can do SOMEthing?!?! A petition seems so flimsy, even fund-raising seems useless, although I suppose all better than nothing?
I guess the only thing we know we can do right now is just pass the info around. It really IS true that a tidal wave of public opinion HAS sometimes had an impact on historical events.

[misshelenc]

I suppose as well it's choosing what issues to fight for, like you said there are only so many, and we only have one pair of hands! I try and talk to people about how I feel about things and that but it doesn't make any difference really because I hardly speak to anyone, and I am not good with conflict and get easily shouted down. Someone more stubborn than me would be better but I will share it with those I can. There was a story about investigating 'slave prisons' on the front of one of the UK papers today, made me think of this, although they were talking about another one, not in Russia. So yeah, the most useful thing is to get people talking and aware of the issues. Human rights for prisoners is a weird one here in the UK as people think ours have too many on the whole, and the European Union are very into giving prisoners rights too, so they have got more lenient in recent years. But obviously that's not what we're talking about, the average stupid Brit would tend to be all for prison being hell, despite the fact that these are people imprisoned for their beliefs and not a violent crime or something, and that innocent people get sent to prisons all the time.
Sorry, I'm probably not making any sense, I can't really express myself too well.
xxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

Isn't there some famous quote from somebody, like "you can judge a society by the conditions on their prisons" or something like that?

[misshelenc]

yeah, I think it's the way they treat their most vulnerable, maybe? Weakest? I can't remember the wording of it but it's the same as saying that how you treat animals or older people, or children, or anyone without a voice is indicative of the nature of who you are.
I found this if anyone is interested.
http://www.care2.com/causes/4-reasons-pussy-riot-in-gulag-not-work-camp.html

xxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

THanks for the link!
It's essentially a summary of the other info, but has some additional info and news too.

[misshelenc]

Yes that's what I thought, in case anyone wanted a little up date or just wanted to know if anyone out there was listening, it's proof at least a tiny bit that there are people trying to spread the word xx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.