"we seem to have forgotten that popular culture once produced people who thought it was their duty to decry some of the most ingrained aspects of their societies"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/19/pussy-riot-power-of-punk?newsfeed=true

From Pussy Riot, a lesson in the power of punk

Putin may have more serious critics, but Pussy Riot have shown the west how artistic dissent can still make a difference

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    John Harris

"In the west, we seem to have forgotten that popular culture once produced people who thought it was their duty to decry some of the most ingrained aspects of their societies, and thereby become lightning-rods for dissent. But the rise to prominence of Tolokonnikova et al proves that outside the UK and US, old ideas can assume new shapes and actually take on even greater power (and survive even an endorsement from that cause-squashing menace Madonna, which takes some doing)."