M.I.A versus Pussy Riot: the Reality of Rebellion

I recently saw a trailer for M.I.A’s documentary about, what I assume since the trailer did not divulge much, her life and her roots. M.I.A was born in London to parents of Tamil descent. Allegedly her father was one of the founding members of the Eelam Revolutionay Organisation of Students, otherwise known as EROS (ironically), an affiliate of the Tamil Tigers of Eelam, a separatist military organisation founded in 1976. Their objective was to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for the Tamil people, a bloody mission which became known as the Sri Lankan Civil War, which continued to wreak havoc until 2009.

To be honest, I cannot tell you much about what the documentary is about. It seems to provide raw footage into the life of M.I.A whilst demonstrating that the world is truly against her and her rebellious mission to make music, all because she comes from a father who was once affiliated with the Tamil Tigers. And that seems to be M.I.A’s thing; the world is always against her. She tries to bring art to the world and they, the public, turn her and what she represents into pop culture; she tries to show them the ugly truth of the world and yet everyone ignores her; she constantly gets slammed by “haters” who obviously don’t understand her or her music. It seems like all M.I.A is doing is fighting an upward battle; truly trying to enlighten the masses of the type of world we live in.

In Russia, two girls have been sent to two separate penal colonies. One of these young women went on hunger strike for eleven days because she was against the heightened security control at her facility: a measure she believed was taken in order to cause other prisoners in the facility, many of them convicted of serious crimes, to turn against her. After 11 days, she terminated her strike since the conditions she demanded, that security be returned to normal, were met. Maria Alekhina is 25 years old and has a son who waits for her return.

Pussy Riot is composed of between 11 to 15 members. Those who have not been imprisoned have fearlessly talked to foreign media to demonstrate their outrage at the imprisonment of their fellow band members as well as explain, in a well-spoken manner, both in English and Russian, what they represent as a group: feminism, LGBT rights and opposition to Vladimir Putin and his relationship to the Russian Orthodox Church, hence their “guerrilla” performance in a Russian Cathedral.

I am not a fan of punk. I just have to put that out there. The screaming into a microphone about everything that angers you just doesn’t quite hit home for me. However, when it comes to political and social activism, I admire the members of Pussy Riot and their punk music; they fought and stood by their principles, even when it lead them to imprisonment. When you hear a member of Pussy Riot speak, they are eloquent and direct in their message. They have caused a wave, a spark to spread across the world and no matter what happens in the end, they fought for what they believed in and inspired others to do so.

M.I.A does not seem to know what she is fighting for. I have watched and listened to interview after interview, music video after music video and there are only very small moments where she comes across as an independent thinking, socially thoughtful individual. At times she is painful to watch, as she seems to have no words to make meaning of what she feels, and when she does, they come out in clichés. As for what she is fighting for, your guess is as good as mine.  Her music is considered by some to be “avant garde” and she was named by Esquire magazine as one of the most influential people of the 21^st century in 2010. Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Yet, I have yet to read or hear of what she is aiming to achieve.

This article is not trying to slam M.I.A. It is just a questioning of what she is about. I am sure she has a vision of the world she would like to live in and she has, in her music videos and music, made the Western world meet the East, but only to a point and only enough to satisfy the craving of pop culture for something rebellious. She and her legacy will pass within a blink of an eye. Pussy Riot, on the other hand, will live within the minds of all who wish to see a change in the mentality of their society. Is that what M.I.A truly wants but cannot seem to achieve?