When three members of Russian punk-rock activist group Pussy Riot were imprisoned for singing an anti-government song in 2012, the global outrage at their strong-armed treatment spread largely through social media.



“While Masha and I were sitting behind bars, these dissenters worked wonders,” Nadya Tolokonnikova recently wrote for the Guardian. “They flew a paraglider over the plush palaces of Russian officials – Putin's friends – outside the city, and uploaded the photos online.”

It demonstrated that through social media ordinary people could mobilise and take a stand against the rich and powerful – a reality that makes Russian President Vladimir Putin afraid, she wrote.

Tolonnikova and fellow band member Masha Alekhina will discuss how they came to be feared by such a powerful man as headliners of the sixth Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney.

Festival curator Ann Mossop said this year the festival was about those who had shown fearlessness in challenging the established, often paying a high price for it.

“As part of that it’s important to look at the use of social media over the past few years and how it has been used to mobilise people from a very grassroots level to political activism, for example through the Arab Spring,” she said.

“I’m sure that’s an issue for Putin.”

The women from Pussy Riot will be joined by Russian journalist and author Masha Gessen to discuss their disdain for the Russian president.

As author of both The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, and Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, Gessen is well-place to tackle the topic.

“We co-operate with Melbourne Writers Festival which is happening around the same time, and we saw Masha Gessen would be speaking,” Mossop said.

“We have tried to get Pussy Riot at our festival before, and we were finally able to through her help.”

Gessen will also debate Spectator Australia editor and research associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Tom Switzer, on the topic Appeasing Putin.

For his part, Switzer will be arguing that the US and EU should not be interfering with Russia’s military incursion into the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

“The West has aggravated this situation by interfering in the internal affairs of a democratically elected pro-Russian government in Kiev,” he said.

“At first glance, festival attendees will probably denounce my ‘dangerous’ idea that the West should appease Putin. But I hope that after hearing me they will recognise that my case for Washington and Brussels to take into account Russian susceptibilities is plausible.”

Freedom of speech and the repercussions of that will be a central theme of the Festival of Dangerous ideas this year. Celebrated bestselling author and activist Salman Rushdie is also among the headliners and will speak about his commitment to the freedom to write, having experienced censorship throughout his career.

Experimental psychologist Steven Pinker will attempt to debunk the idea that violence is an inevitable consequence of human nature, and argue that we are living through the most peaceful periods of our history.

And former Liberal Party leader and Australia’s 22nd prime minister Malcolm Fraser will feature in a session called How many dangerous ideas can one person have?

The program includes a range of other guests who will discuss topics including slavery, mass extinction, surrogacy and the rise of women.

The Festival of Dangerous Ideas will take place at the Sydney Opera House from August 30-31. The full line-up can be found here and tickets are on sale from Monday 30 June.