# Where would an authoritarian world government send dissidents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 7, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011 "2025-05-07T15:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cmyers1980](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyers1980/32/11814_2.png) [@Cmyers1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cmyers1980)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/1 "2025-05-07T15:48:38Z")
In the book Brave New World the World State sends dissidents to any number of islands for them to live the rest of their lives in peace and stop them from causing issues for the rest of society. Assuming a single authoritarian government ruled the world in 2025 but didn’t want to execute dissidents, troublemakers and the like, what single location would be the best place to send and keep them indefinitely? It has to be a place unpleasant enough that no one would want to go there, large enough to potentially hold and sustain millions of people and not economically valuable enough to be a significant loss to the world government. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/2 "2025-05-07T15:50:35Z")
Siberia has always been a popular choice - huge and distinctly unpleasant. I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/3 "2025-05-07T16:09:31Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Siberia has always been a popular choice Within the United States, the Dakotas would serve just fine for that use. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/4 "2025-05-07T16:34:52Z")
Off world colonies where they could fight it out with replicants. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/5 "2025-05-07T16:37:05Z")
_Brave New World_ was written in the very early 1930s. Do we know what Aldous Huxley thought about the German Trains to Oblivion? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/6 "2025-05-07T17:55:16Z")
New Zealand. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s small, isolated, and far, far away. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/7 "2025-05-07T18:02:18Z")
I think an authoritarian regime would want to punish dissidents. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/8 "2025-05-07T18:04:18Z")
To their graves. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/9 "2025-05-07T18:05:45Z")
Almost all of Australia is comprised of Nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/10 "2025-05-07T18:06:44Z")
Iceland. You want to send your dissidents some place with an unpleasant climate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/11 "2025-05-07T18:08:13Z")
In silence, to assist deniability. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/12 "2025-05-07T18:09:37Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Almost all of Australia is comprised of Nowhere I was thinking, “Isn’t that the traditional use of Australia?” Given this is a world-wide State, and the world population is much higher now than in the mid-20th century when someone last tried this kind of thing, they’ll need a lot more space. The inhospitable middle of Australia seems to fit the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/13 "2025-05-07T18:11:35Z")
I think far too many people are treating this like a “sending the pet out to the country” situation just to feel better and/or be in denial. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/14 "2025-05-07T18:12:38Z")
IIRC the Nazis for a time considered deporting Jews to Madagascar. Of course, it never happened, but it was at the time very undeveloped and it would have sort of been like sending people to live in abandoned lots – they wouldn’t have lived very long. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/15 "2025-05-07T18:14:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think far too many people are treating this like a “sending the pet out to the country” situation just to feel better and/or be in denial. Or we’re not fighting the premise of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/16 "2025-05-07T18:20:52Z")
> [@Cmyers1980](#): > > It has to be a place unpleasant enough that no one would want to go there, large enough to potentially hold and sustain millions of people and not economically valuable enough to be a significant loss to the world government. Big enough to sustain millions of people (and they won’t like it), but not be the target of a World Wide State, and this mythical place can’t be seen as a future Enemy Of The State by either The State or The Exiles? Not without an unbreakable force field. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/17 "2025-05-07T18:37:47Z")
> [@Cmyers1980](#): > > It has to be a place unpleasant enough that no one would want to go there, large enough to potentially hold and sustain millions of people and not economically valuable enough to be a significant loss to the world government. I think you just described Gaza. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/18 "2025-05-07T18:43:09Z")
I picked New Zealand because it has several traits that make it an attractive dumping ground. It’s a nice place compared to Siberia, sure, but cut it off from the rest of the world and see how things go. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/19 "2025-05-07T18:49:45Z")
Why wouldn’t such a world government regime just build several big gulags? There’s no need for exile, just imprison them. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011/20 "2025-05-07T18:50:48Z")
Because it is a short hop to Australia. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-would-an-authoritarian-world-government-send-dissidents/1018011.md?page=2)