Pussy Riot members have been jailed for 2 years following a protest in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. I am not judging what they did and whether it was right or wrong. I wonder, however, how we, in the United Kingdom, would have reacted if protesters had behaved in a similar way in St Paul's Cathedral in London instead of camping outside. I also wonder how our american compatriots would have reacted if something similar had been staged in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York or the French would have reacted if this had occurred in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Would the protesters have been arrested and charged in a similar manner or would have been allowed to go unheeded?
Some of us would certainly applaud such protest as it allows expression of our displeasure with the establishments. Would the establishment and the rest of society share our liberal views or would they encourage judges to deliver severe sentences to these protesters, like the sentences given to the English protesters earlier this year after they caused serious disruption following an evening of riot in some UK cities. I do not know whether I really have the answer. In the western democracies we elect governments to rule us and our governing establishment enacts laws that judges act on. It is likely that public outcry whipped up by the media also influences our legislators and our judicial systems in the way they behave.
Good Bye and Good Luck until the next time.
Knight Owl.
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