>a prominent feature of dissidents in the USSR and Putin’s Russia is that they often retreated into private worlds (samizdat literature, organizing cultural events privately in their own flats, writing for their desk drawer) instead of overtly challenging the regime. To the point where such dissidents can be suspicious of those who are vocal
How times change. I can't speak on places I've never been, but in my homeland I have organized events in my home for folks from Russia and other places. I had a reputation as being a "milquetoast neoliberal" right up until the moment some old comrades saw me standing next to a crowd with my backpack despite always being the one who stood by the door, opening it only if it seemed certain it would be broken down to demand a warrant as folks filed out the back.
In modern times, activism seems performative -- lots of people who retweet and reshare things not attached to their real name, while a much smaller number took incredible risks -- financial, social, personal... to change the very architecture of the internet to make resistance more possible.
But I didn't bust a window during the G20 or write "ACAB" on my Tinder, so I'm not cool enough for the local collective.
It's ok to be VOCAL, as in... go to a protest. But if you do it performative, not with the expectation this is the beginning of a slow suicide... you're a fool.
We've got a generation that forgets things like the original members of one of the few true Russian punk bands I've encountered did not speak English, were thrown into a literal gulag, then had the name carried on by another generation as they rotted in the worst types of jail.
The "ulterior motive" you mention I oft see is oganized crime... they hate "the state" so they can keep young women (and men) addicted to drugs, pimped out, and, if they get out of line, scooped up by "the state" they claim to hate as they go muck about in so called civil society, stymying progress that would bring about true change such folks could live in harmony rather than scam credit cards and hook folks on overpriced black market drugs that if legalized, would still cause issues, but be more like alcohol in terms of issues created rather than a pathway to white slavery.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: to be a dissident is a forever decision, often a form of slow suicide, and no one should be shamed for taking another path, for life is precious and not everyone is suited for this work.
(I wasn't. I made bad decisions, and I'm stuck with them.)