After presenting the excellent and raucous Riot Days at Summerhall Maria Alyokhina is at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and in conversation with Yanis Varoufakis, the co-founder of pan-european progressive political movement DiEM25. Maria Alyokhina is a member of protest group Pussy Riot and was imprisoned in Russia in 2012.
The conversation is introduce by Book Festival Director Nick Barley who states that Maria “has given so much for the right to speak out”. This leads the way for both Yanis and Maria to have a lively and informative discussion. The conversation begins with Yanis asking Maria how she managed to get to Edinburgh and how Russian authorities attempted to prevent her trip. Maria states that “Russia is an interesting and unpredictable country. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow”. Despite this unpredictability the activist still undertakes acts of protest with Pussy Riot and is constantly looking to challenge authority and raise awareness of issues.
When discussing Maria’s Riot Days memoir Yanis Varoufakis compares the work to poetry and that it “brings out a sense of continuity” and does not present a conclusion to a situation. Instead Riot Days is “a report from the battlefield”. Yanis highlights the section of the book that discusses the female guards in the prison that incarcerated Maria. The activist writes about how the guards themselves were victims, with a set of rules to follow, a uniform to wear and oppressive male senior guards to put them in their place. From this you get a sense of empathy from Maria and understand that she is campaigning for rights for all. Maria states that: “freedom is not about prison. It is about a personal feeling.”
Maria concludes by mentioning the book is a “manual for doing” and reminds the audience that activism is an active process that has to be constantly undertaken. During the audience Q and A she is asked about any fear she has when undertaking her protests. This allows the writer to respond with an inspiring and telling statement – “Don’t allow your fears to grow and if they do, make fun of them”.
The event was a late addition to the Edinburgh International Book Festival programme, but took place in a sold out Main Theatre. It was part of the Killing Democracy? Strand of the Book Festival. This is a series of conversations programmed by Yanis Varoufakis with guests including Jeremy Corbyn and Shami Chakrabarti.