Dissident

Dissidents are individuals or groups who oppose the prevailing attitudes or policies on religious, political or social spheres.

The English term "Dissenters' was used as a collective name for people who differed in their religious beliefs, the official church in their country and for that reason often were neglected and discriminated against.

However, the term became known to describe people who oppose the political line in totalitarian-ruled countries, especially the former Eastern Bloc (the USSR and satellite states), such as Andrei Sakharov , Andrei Amalric , Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vaclav Havel . Dissidents were faced with long sentences, exile or admission to a psychiatric facility.

Dissent usually takes the form of non-violent resistance. Also militancy occurs, but there is soon talk of guerrilla warfare or terrorism . ==See also [  edit ] ==
 * Nomenklatura
 * Literati
 * Apparatchik
 * 1984
 * Whistleblower (detector improprieties)