Madonna will give a concert this week in Moscow, which presents an onstage opportunity to show her—and pretty much all of the West’s—support for Pussy Riot. Three of the more than ten members of the all-girl punk band (actually more of an art collective) have been under arrest since they performed a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour during an anti-Putin rally. Now, accused of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, they face seven years in prison. It’s a spurious charge intended to make an easy example out of free-thinking feminists, but which has had the surprising effect of galvanizing whole swaths of sympathetic Russians.

So far Madonna has remained quiet on the subject, except to say in an interview on state-run Russian television that she was sorry the members of Pussy Riot had been arrested. Meanwhile, other musicians—including Sting, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis, Faith No More, Pete Townshend, Peter Gabriel, Franz Ferdinand—have turned the once-local incident into an international cause célèbre by doing everything from wearing T-shirts to penning letters to newspapers. But if anyone can relate to the Pussy Riot’s struggle, it’s controversy-courting, church-baiting, women-empowering Madonna. Will the Material Girl show what she’s made of and bust out Putin Don’t Preach or Like a Punk Prayer? (The Guardian)