Artist Petr Pavlensky sets fire to Russian Federal Security Service building

“There's no greater evil than law-abiding citizens,” says Petr Pavlensky.

Petr Pavlensky has made radical protest an art. The Russian conceptual artist has staged many disturbing public exhibitions. His political protests include self-mutilation, vandalism and the shock factor. He has wrapped himself in barbed wire, sewn his mouth shut, cut off his own earlobe and nailed his scrotum to the Red Square to protest censorship and oppression.

His most recent stunt entitled “Threat” seems pretty tame in comparison with some of his other work until you realize it has to do with vandalisation of a federal building. NBC News reports on Oct. 9 that Pavlensky set fire to the doors of the Russian Federal Security Service, a building which used to house the Soviet-era KGB.

Video footage showed the gaunt 31-year-old standing in front of the building’s burning doors. Pavlensky was dressed in black, staring straight into a camera and holding a gas can.

The Washington Post described the act as “arguably his most combative artwork yet.” According to police reports, the artist is being investigated for vandalism that is “motivated by hatred or hostility to a social group.” If he is charged, he could face up to three years in prison.

Pavlensky posted a video of “Threat” on Vimeo, but it is no longer available. In the caption, he explained that he was demonstrating against governmental terrorism. “The burning door of the Lubyanka is the glove thrown by society into the face of the terrorist threat,” he wrote. "The Federal Security Service acts using the method of ceaseless terror and holds power over 146,000,000 people. Fear turns free people into a sticky mass of desperate bodies."

In a 2012 protest against the jailing of Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevitch, Pavlensky sewed his own mouth shut. When asked what he wanted to say by sewing up his mouth, he said, “I showed the situation of the contemporary artist in Russia, living in an environment where there’s a ban on publicity, the tightening of censorship and suppression of public statements in contemporary art.”

Pavlensky’s work is all about publicity. The ability to shock is snatching up the attention of many people and it is also racking up potential jail time. The artist is already on trial for a vandalism charge from 2013 where he and a group of helpers set fire to a barricade made of tires that emulated anti-government protests which overthrew the government of Ukraine.

“There's no greater evil than law-abiding citizens,” Pavlensky said earlier this month.

As Pavlensky waits for his trial, he has made a vow of silence in the courtroom. Officials have tried to commit him to a mental asylum but he was found to be sane in medical evaluations.. And as far as jail goes, Pavlensky doesn’t seem worried. "Criminal cases open a door for me to get inside the mechanics of the system — the investigators, the court system, psychiatrists — and allow me to work there."

Gitz Crazy Boy, Bree Davies, inspiration, collaboration and starting where you are for social action

My neighborhood is now a "hot" neighborhood where buyers can buy "pre-scrape" lots, have the existing houses torn down to make room for homes that fit many more people into those lots for $300,000-$500,000 or more per unit. This is a drastic change that means current residents must leave in order to find new housing that is hopefully affordable. Of course, this is good for the buyers and in many cases for anyone who can sell during what seems to be a big economical boom in Denver.

One of my favorite and most transformative experiences from my time at the last Arise Music Festival was meeting and talking with a man named Gitz Crazy Boy. Gitz is a Blackfoot and Dene youth worker and environmental activist who fights a fierce fight via peaceful activism against tar sands extraction in his Native lands. He's been featured in the documentary "The Yes Men Are Revolting", and travels far and wide to educate people about what is happening with the tar sands in Canada, why tar sands extraction is unethical and destructive and what can be done about it.

Gitz was a panelist during a talk at Arise about activism and doing the self work necessary to create change. The panel moved along with an aim to instill hope for those who were in attendance. I -- and I assume many of us who were in attendance that day -- see a lot of injustice and foul play in our respective worlds on a daily basis. However, feeling a bit helpless and unable to voice what is felt, it is often difficult to see whether we (can I say we?) are able to produce effective and long lasting change that is inclusive of a much larger scope than current paradigms based on consumption and capitalism allow. I know that I yearn to see changes in an unscrupulous world that seems to be ruled by an ethic of discarding, not only raw materials from the earth, but people themselves. I also know that I am not alone in this yearning.

During the workshop, Gitz made the answer to the internal dilemmas I was feeling radically clear and palpable. "You need to get the ideas of deus ex machina and tech ex machina out of your minds right now," he said during the panel. He pointed out that we all have a choice: We can sit back and watch things happen or we can do something about what is happening.

Later that day, I crossed paths with Gitz on the festival grounds. I decided to shirk my usual social awkwardness and just walk straight up to him to if nothing else, thank him for what he said at the panel. We chatted for a good while, and during that chat, he reiterated a detail from the panel that didn't quite hit me until we were talking face to face. He said that all anyone has to do is to start in their own neighborhoods. It seemed so simple but I remember feeling lost and frantic, already overwhelmed. The comment was familiar. It ran along the same lines as the common slogan from environmental movements everywhere: "Act locally; Think globally." The imperative was evident.

I wanted to do something but even in that moment, I wasn't sure I had any power. At the same time, I was thinking about one of the biggest sticks in my spine about the drastic changes that are happening in my current neighborhood. I've lived here a little more than three years and I have seen the neighborhood change from a place where I felt comfortable, a place where my neighbors would greet and talk with me, to a place where barely anyone says anything at all (I have even been run away from in this new iteration of the 'hood). I have seen this neighborhood literally scraped up, its past residents bought or pushed out. It's uncomfortable and angering.

I thought that maybe I would write letters to all of the old neighbors that are left, ask them what they think about what is happening in the neighborhood, or at least say, "Hi." I didn't do that, though.

Three weeks after that panel, I admittedly was back to my insecurities about whether or not there was anything I could do. But then, I had a coffee meeting with a local writer a few days ago from Westword and The Colorado Independent. Her name is Bree Davies.

Bree and I learned that gentrification is a subject that flips both of our emotional switches.  We learned that while I have been taking pictures of my neighborhood and posting them into an album on Facebook, she has been reporting, blogging, tweeting, talking with people and taking pictures, as well. Our talks continued after that coffee meeting and then there was that question again: What do we do and where do we start?

Bree suggested that we put together a Tumblr showing others what is happening and what the changes look like. We'll include stories, insights, news blurbs, information, talks with people who are involved with these changes, and just about anything we can think of. We also have made this project available for others so they can share their thoughts, ideas, concerns, stories and images, as well.

If you are in Denver and the changes are disconcerting to you, if you are an artist who lives here, a teacher, a resident of any kind who is affected, we want to hear from you. We want this conversation to be huge and to make waves. Starting from where we are, we can make big changes. Let's rock the boat and let's start here: http://disappearingdenver.tumblr.com/.

The Black Hills Unity Concert initiates its second year for restorative justice

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The Black Hills Unity Concert brings together musicians, artists, activists and concerned citizens in efforts to raise awareness over the Black Hills Initiative.

Black Hills Unity Concert / YouTube

The second Black Hills Unity Concert begins tomorrow, Aug. 28. The event brings together Native American tribes and leaders, musicians, artists, activists and concerned citizens who support efforts for the Black Hills Initiative, a movement aimed at restoring the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Native stewards of the land, the Great Sioux Nation.

Black Hills Unity Concert / Promotional Poster

Last year, the free concert brought thousands of people from all over the world in efforts to raise awareness and increase support for the cause. Unity Concert organizers and participants come together again this year urging the United States government to keep its word. “Honor the treaties,” stresses a note onthe event’s Facebook page.

As reported by EcoWatch, Aug. 26, this year’s concert features almost all Native American performers, activists from the Climate Change and Black Lives Matter movements and many others. “The Unity Concert is becoming a gathering place for the intersection of various movements that are addressing society’s woes and failures, especially in the area of restorative justice and with a focus on the return of the Black Hills,” says Peter Yarrow on EcoWatch.

The Unity Concert is headed by lead organizer Lyla June Johnston, a young poet and activist who founded The Taos Peace and Reconciliation Council, a non-profit organization that works to heal inter-generational trauma and ethnic division in northern New Mexico.

This year’s performers include Bethany & Rufus, Cody Blackbird, Nahko Bear,Peter Yarrow, Supaman, The Jeremy Goodfeather Band and Ulali. The event will also host community prayer, workshops and talks educating event attendees about Native American arts, language, culture, and environmental and restorative justice.

The Black Hills Unity Concert goes through Sunday, Aug. 30. The concert is free and open to the public and takes place at the Elk Creek Resort. There is plenty of room for camping (free tent camping is available in certain areas) and load in begins at noon, Aug. 28. For more information about the the Unity Concert of the Black Hills, visit their website or follow the event on Twitter and Facebook.

*originally published at the now defunct Examiner.com