Features
Pussy Riot Duo For Roskilde
While Pussy Riot started as a punk band, rather than perform music, the two members heading for Demark’s Roskilde Festival will instead talk about their political causes.
Nadezda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, who earlier this year spoke at Tallinn Music Week in Estonia, will speak about human rights, their political activism and their time in a Russian jail as a result of it.
Since their release from prison, where they served two years for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred,” Tolokonnikova and Alekhina have been campaigning for freedom of expression, prison reform and human rights around the world.
During their stay in the country, they will also visit Danish prisons and meet with Danish human rights organizations and politicians.
“Roskilde Festival is non-profit, and we have a decade-long tradition of focusing on human rights. So it is natural that the festival supports the two activists and their work with a donation,” said festival representative Christina Bilde, explaining that the only money to change hands will be the euro 40,000 ($55,000) the festival’s given to the Pussy Rioters’ new Zone Of Rights charity.
Roskilde is also hosting a one-day seminar on how outdoor events can better sort their trash to avoid throwing out any treasure. What gets discussed July 2 is hardly likely to be treasure in the way most people think of it, as the event run by GO Group and Green Events Europe will more likely discuss how festivals can make themselves more eco-friendly through better waste management.
GO Group and Green Events Europe are two of the leading organizations making festivals aware of how they impact the environment.
There will be a field trip to Roskilde’s waste sorting system and another panel on how cities and festivals can learn from each other regarding waste disposal.
Roskilde, Denmark’s largest festival and one of the largest in northern Europe, is effectively a city in its own right. The crowd and helpers create a population of around 135,000, which – between June 29 and July 6 – means it will be the country’s fourth-largest city. This year’s sold-out Roskilde features The Rolling Stones, Arctic Monkeys, Stevie Wonder, Damon Albarn, Drake, Outkast, and Trentemøller.