Russian culture is an instrument of imperialism and colonialism.
- Thread starter Nowhereman
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Nowhereman
Member
I know nothing about their relationships with the government. But for now, one of them completely deleted her FB profile - and her old email is also unavailable. And the second's posted on 24 Feb, "War is over! If you want it." photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono - and then never touched this topic again.
Compared to that, my only anti-russists FB friend in Moscow. He writes anti-war and pro-Ukrainian posts at least weakly. When I've asked him in PM:
- How could you be so liberal and anti-putinist - and still live in Moscow? - the answer was,
- Ha-ha! Do you think it's easy? I almost never go outside. I now regret my family, and I didn't leave when it was possible. Now it isn't. I only wait for Ukraine to win with the help of the West - and for "huilo"-s regime to fall.
Eponine
Active member
Ah I see. I thought "internal immigration" meant they physically moved somewhere else, possibly against their will (which, sadly, has happened to many Chinese dissidents). Maybe they just avoid talking about politics for their safety.
That's very brave of him. Hope he'll be able to stay safe, or even better, leave the country.
It's basically impossible to post anything like that on Chinese websites, because there are so many "sensitive words" that will cause a failure when you try to post. And non-Chinese websites/apps like FB, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. are pretty much all blocked. Some people use VPN to access these sites, but even that might get you in trouble.
Nowhereman
Member
Oh, sorry, it's a "soviet" term - and now I see it needs explanation. (I turned 15 just before the independence of Ukraine - but I was quite a smart kid in a family who didn't believe the soviet propaganda, so I started understanding all around my 8-10 y.o.) The "Internal immigration" term meant then "immigration into yourself" - or at most "into your most reliable friends circle" (those who definitely wouldn't report on you for some "anti-soviet" joke).
There was a soviet anecdote:
Two cellmates:
- And what for are you imprisoned?
- For laziness.
- What do you mean?
- We were telling anti-communist anecdotes in some company. After returning home, I thought, "I don't know some people from that company. I need to call the KGB and report on them." But it was too late, I was tired, so I decided I'll report on them in the morning. But the next morning, a KGB officer came to arrest me because of the report of one of that people.
Thank you. I hope so too.
My best friend used to live six or eight months in China with her then-boyfriend. She called these limitations "a Great Chinese Firewall". My FB friend in Moscow also needs to use VPN for FB.
Nowhereman
Member
But partly, you're right. One of them got married and bought with her husband a house in a small village near Moscow (maybe she sold her apt in Moscow).
The second one has moved from SPb to Pethergoff - a small touristic town near SPb. Then one of our common friends told me she returned to SPb (where her children and grandchildren live - yes, she got married quite early, so she had her first daughter at 19 and her first grandchild at 40).
Nowhereman
Member
By the way, most of my Moscovian friends moved out from russia. Some to Ukraine. And some to other countries. Poland, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, the UK, the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, and others.
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Eponine
Active member
I figured it was like that after your explanation. I had never heard of "internal immigration" in that sense before, but it's totally understandable in a society where people will report each other for anti-government speech.
Yeah, it's also called "Great Firewall" (GFW for short) by Chinese people. There was a time when Twitter wasn't blocked when I was still in China (I left in 2010), but internet censorship has got much worse since then. I didn't know FB is blocked in Russia too, but it's no surprise for an authoritarian country.