New dissidents are coming forth behind the Iron Curtain that supposedly fell twenty years ago. Unable to use the media that are under tight control of the state, which is in the hands of new tycoons and their stooges, they are turning to the World Wide Web. And they now provide the only voice of freedom behind the Iron Curtain. Although the state persecutes them all the time, and often viciously, they are managing to survive and offer a glimpse of what is actually happening behind the scenes. Battered by the repressive system, new dissidents are learning how to cope with all forms of repression. Sooner or later, they will be instrumental in bringing the Iron Curtain down. But this time for good.

Addendum (May 17, 2016)

To my chagrin, this is but one more example of wishful thinking on my part. Sure enough, there are occasional critics of post-communist regimes, but few of them have what it takes to confront the powers that be. More important, none of them enjoy the silent but sturdy support of the people that graced the dissidents of yesteryear. Which is why the term has gradually vanished from the scene. No-one is a dissident nowadays. And the very notion of “new” dissidents is but my own heartfelt invention. Feeling oppressed by the crooked Croatian state and its equally crooked courts, I hoped to see likeminded people pressing all around me. Whence this pitiful piece. As for the Iron Curtain, now it is being rebuilt by the post-communist regimes themselves. They find the so-called west to be too effeminate by half. To them, free speech smacks of gay and lesbian rights, anyway.