Pussy Riot - I Can't Breathe

From their clip description:

Pussy Riot's first song in English is dedicated to Eric Garner and the words he repeated eleven times before his death. 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's Masha and Nadya are being buried alive in the Russian riot police uniforms that are worn during the violent clashes of police and the protesters fighting for change in Russia. A pack of "Russian Spring" brand cigarettes is on the ground at the beginning. "Russian Spring" is a term used by those who are in love with Russia's aggressive militant actions in Ukraine, and the cigarettes are a real thing.

Pussy Riot - Putin Will Teach You

This is the video being made when they were beaten by Cossacks on Thursday.

With the song and video, Pussy Riot is asking for a boycott of the games, claiming that Putin is restricting human rights. The tune touches on Russia's new federal law prohibiting "gay propaganda" ("50 billion and a gay-driven rainbow/ Rodnina and Kabaeva will pass you those flames/ In prison they will teach you how to obey") as well as the state of Russia during the Olympics ("Sochi is blocked - Olympic surveillance/ Special forces, weapons, crowds of cops"). "The Olympics has turned the police state into a total police state and the authoritarian regime into a totalitarian regime with preventive arrests," collective member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said at the press conference, according to the Post. "The Olympics has created an environment of sweeping violations of human rights in Russia. We are banned from speaking out here."

RUSSIA: Cossacks Whip Members Of Pussy Riot At Sochi Demonstration

NBC News reports:

Russian Cossacks used whips and pepper spray Wednesday to attack members of Pussy Riot, the protest punk band opposed to President Vladimir Putin, a filmmaker traveling with the band said. The filmmaker, Simon Ostrovsky, said on Twitter that members of the band were putting on their trademark colorful balaclavas, getting ready to do a song in downtown Sochi, when they were jumped. The Associated Press reported that police arrived and questioned witnesses but made no arrests. One male member of the band was left bloodied after the attack by the Cossacks, militia sometimes used by Russian authorities to patrol streets, the AP said. On Tuesday, police in Sochi detained two members of Pussy Riot for several hours to question them about a theft at their hotel. They were released and left a police station singing and raising their fists.

Russians and ugly Americans are cheering the attack at the below YouTube clip.

UPDATE: The original clip by Russia Today has been yanked, doubtlessly at the demand of the government. Here's the same video from Britain's Telegraph.


UPDATE II: The IOC doesn't seem very bothered.

Russian Snowboarder Cheers Pussy Riot

Details.

Sen. John McCain Defends Gays And Pussy Riot In Pravda Op-Ed Column

"I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

"They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule. [snip] President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness?" - Sen John McCain, responding to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times.

RELATED: According to Politico, McCain wrote for the wrong Pravda.

The Arizona Republican published his anti-Putin piece on Pravda.ru on Thursday, an English and Russian news website that was founded in 1999. But McCain said he was hoping to publish in the Communist newspaper Pravda, meaning “truth” in Russian, which was founded in 1912. That publication, after being banned when the Soviet Union collapsed, was rekindled and is still circulated by today’s Russian Communist Party. Pravda.ru and the paper are unrelated media outlets, except for the name.

The "wrong" Pravda defends themselves:

We did not want to disclose in advance our agreements with McCain's spokesperson about the publication of his column. In light of recent events, I want to remind everyone that the Soviet Pravda has two successors now: Pravda.Ru and Pravda of the Communist Party. We proved at court that we were the same successor to newspaper Pravda, established in 1912, as the current, low-circulation press body of the Communist Party.