As an activist, writer and musician, I find the assertions that “the Pussy Riot movement is unlikely to lead to any change,” and that “the reality remains that the majority of people are not politically driven by music” to be extremely troubling. I believe these comments are not only undermining to Pussy Riot and the advocacy of free speech in Russia, but they are also derogatory to the entire idea of art as protest. I would like to take this time to briefly explain just why it is that I so adamantly disagree and why art of all kinds is essential in the national political dialogue.

Art has the unique power to make difficult and complex issues more accessible to the public. This is true not only for music, but for all forms of art. For example, there are very few people in the world who, during their leisure time, would willingly elect to read an academic report on the meat packing industry in the early 1900s.

However, millions of people, all across the globe have read Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. There is love, violence, sex and drama. People actually want to read this book. Do you know what the most common takeaway from this book is? The meat packing industry had some serious faults.

This book played (and continues to play) an integral part in helping people to realize the inherent necessity of government regulation in a capitalistic economy. While I imagine the vast majority of readers would not, or could not, phrase this theme in this way, the important thing is that they know it.

They may not be able to exactly put it into words, but this book fundamentally changed the way they see their nation, the way they see immigrants, the way they see industry and the way they see capitalism. Music – and rock & roll in particular – is capable of having the same sort of effect on its audiences.

In last week’s article, Professor Weinstein claims, “Rock ultimately is understood by the vast majority of those who listen to it as entertainment, not politics.”

I find this claim to be misleading; the idea that people naturally separate their entertainment from their politics is inherently flawed. The world is not so binary. One does not simply turn off one’s political awareness because he to music, or reading a book.

All art, whether it consciously intends to be or not, is a commentary on the world in which we live. I find it difficult to believe that an individual could listen to 2Pac’s “Changes” and not think at least a little bit about racial and social inequality. (“I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself/Is life worth living should I blast myself?/I’m tired of bein’ poor & even worse I’m black./ My stomach hurts so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch.)

I find it difficult to believe that someone could listen to “Ohio” by Crosby Stills Nash and Young and not think about the Kent State shootings. (Four dead in Ohio./Gotta get down to it/Soldiers are gunning us down/ Should have been done long ago./What if you knew her/And found her dead on the ground/How can you run when you know?”)

The article also accuses protest music of too often “preaching to the choir.” While I disagree with this idea (think about all of the rich, white, young men you know who listen to 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, or Chance the Rapper), I also do not believe that there is anything wrong with preaching to the choir.

Inspiration is the engine of protest and protest is the cornerstone of political engagement. Can you picture the Civil Rights movement without “We Shall Overcome”? What about the Afrocentricity movement without Public Enemy or hip-hop? What about the anti-Vietnam war movement without Bob Dylan, Neil Young, or good old fashioned rock & roll?

Rock & roll, like all art, expresses all our commonly held sentiments, both personal and political. It says things in ways we could never say before. It explores new ideas and new ways of seeing the world. It exposes us to way others feel and see the world.

Art challenges the way we see things, and if nothing else, at least makes us consider the issues and viewpoints of its creators. As George Orwell writes, “All art is propaganda.” Woody Guthrie, the 1940’s folk singer who wrote “This Land is Your Land,” also famously wrote on his guitar “This Machine Kills Fascists.”

And I believe it. Songs like “This Land is Your Land” are an integral part of our culture and our inheritance. It is a song about who we are and where we have been.

It is now up to bands like Pussy Riot to uphold this legacy.