Pussy Riot members to advise WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 19 November, 2014, 10:43pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 19 November, 2014, 10:43pm
The Guardian
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are teaming up with Julian Assange. Photo: AFP
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, two members of the Russian Pussy Riot collective, have agreed to sit on the advisory board of an international whistle-blower organisation of which Julian Assange is a trustee, after meeting the WikiLeaks founder at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The two women, who were imprisoned in Russia for protesting against Vladimir Putin and who are currently touring Britain, said they found they had "more in common than we expected" with Assange. The Australian has not left the embassy since June 2012 after seeking political asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sexual assault.
Assange had asked them to join the advisory board of the Courage Foundation, alongside the philosopher Slavoj Zizek, the Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg and others, and they had accepted, the two women said. The organisation, of which Assange is one of three trustees, raises funds for the legal defence of whistle-blowers, including Edward Snowden.
Asked if there was any contradiction in members of a feminist collective pledging their support for a man who is wanted over sexual assault allegations, Tolokonnikova said: "We did not review this charge that has been directed at him. We do not think it is in relation to the things that he is doing right now.
"We also try to … see the direction of one's intentions in the future, what he is trying to do and is doing right now."
Assange's legal team maintain that he has not been charged with any offence.
The women are in Britain to promote their campaign for prison reform in Russia, and an alternative news agency website called Mediazona, both of which they founded following their release from prison last December after 21 months in jail.
The handful of news organisations invited to cover their visit to the embassy did not include RT, the Kremlin-backed broadcaster that hosted Assange's chatshow The World Tomorrow, which normally follows the Australian's movements closely. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have been outspoken in their criticism of the channel, dismissing it as a source of pro-Kremlin propaganda. "Some people on the left regard it as an alternative source of media … but leftists in the West should realise it's in no way a leftist channel."
They had raised the question of RT with Assange, said Alyokhina, "and obviously we disagree with Assange on the issue, but it is enough that we definitely agree on the most important things".
