“When political protests become fanatic”

According to the Elie Wiesel, fanaticism today is a symptom of people fearing to take responsibility for their own choices, fearing to have their own moral consciences. Wiesel suggests that fanaticism is a kind of degraded conformity, an escape from moral responsibility by joining a party, a gang, a banner, and a dogma: “The fanatic thinks he can tear down the wall of his cell by joining other fanatics. No need to think – the Party does the thinking for him, and the deciding for him.” Wiesel’s essay here well defines who is fanatic, and proposes the idea that “we cannot continue to live with fanaticism.” In January 2012, a feminist punk collective, called Pussy Riot, has organized a provocative concert in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which is the main church of orthodoxy in Russia, singing a song against the Russian president and the political situation in Russia. There is a big debate in the society about it, and while some people are totally against them, and find their actions inappropriate, others support them. However, it is hard to deny that singing inappropriate slogans, dressing indecently and making political protests in the main church of the country is radical and fanatic.
First of all, Pussy Riot can be considered fanatic even because of their name and style. Their name itself is a provocation. The word riot means a violent disturbance of the peace by the crowd. The combination of these two words already can tell a lot about the people in this band. It’s a very effective way to get as much attention as possible by choosing such name. For example, there are a lot of feminist bands, but they are no as popular as Pussy Riot. Likewise, Pussy Riot is a feminist punk collective, who always wear trademark brightly co...

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...nd violent, because they made their performance in the church, which means that they have hurt religious people, for whom church is the holy place. Pussy Riot have not only distracted people who was praying, but also insulted and outraged all religious people in Russia and cultural heritage that belongs to this church. They have committed a kind of crime, and therefore they have been imprisoned. If in this situation they would have escaped punishment, it means that everybody can come to the church and organize performances like this. They are fanatic, and in order to fight fanaticism we need to show that for such actions people will get punished. Pussy Riot has attracted attention of people from all over the world. Obviously, they could not manage to do it by making peaceful demonstrations and protests. So, only fanatic could create such resonance in the society.