South by Southwest Festival: Pussy Riot denounces the war in Ukraine
Nadejda Tolokonnikova, from the group Pussy Riot, during the women's march and rally for justice against abortion in Austin, Texas, on October 2, 2021. AFP - SERGIO FLORES
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
At the 35th South by Southwest (SXSW), a festival of innovation, film and music, we also talk about the war in Ukraine.
Advertising
Read more
With our special correspondent in Austin
,
Thomas Harms
The founder of Pussy Riot, activist Nadejda Tolokonnikova came to present her new autonomous and non-hierarchical organization, the DAO Unicorn (Decentralized Autonomous Organization which collects in particular
NFTs
to defend LGBTQ + rights.
During her appearance on stage, which attracts a lot of people, she obviously could not help but recall her fierce opposition to Vladimir Putin.
But in concert, she does not hold a political discourse, except as a taste.
The majority of young people present that evening did not know the story of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who spent two years in prison after performing
a punk prayer in the Moscow cathedral in 2012.
At the time, she was already opposed to Vladimir Putin and his anti-LGBTQ measures.
“People there are persecuted”
Denounced as a foreign agent by the Russian authorities, the founder of Pussy Riot immediately reacted
during the invasion of Ukraine.
She raised more than 7 million dollars in 24 hours.
“
Putin started his war in Ukraine and we wanted to help.
We launched this NFT, with the image of the Ukrainian flag, and the image is outside the blockchain, so unless he destroys the entire planet he will not be able to destroy this work
, ”she explains. .
This new technology also makes donations completely anonymous.
“
So people in Russia can donate for Ukraine.
People there are persecuted, their bank accounts are frozen.
But with crypto-currencies we can ignore it.
I think we have shown that we can tackle global problems thanks to cryptos
”, adds the activist.
This Tuesday, the Pussy Riot activist is participating in another conference at South by Southwest with the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Filipina Maria Ressa, on “How to fight a dictator?
".
The festival program was also changed on Sunday for this.
►
To read also: For Nadejda of Pussy Riot, "a single person can lead a fight"
(
December 28, 2013
)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ukraine
United States
Musics
Vladimir Poutine