political dissidents
Critics of power
Political dissidents are people who openly oppose or criticize their government's policies or actions, especially in countries where such opposition is dangerous.
The term implies courage and risk—dissidents face imprisonment, exile, or worse for speaking out: Soviet dissidents were often sent to labor camps.
In democratic contexts, the phrase sounds dramatic; ordinary protesters aren't usually called dissidents.
- Arab Spring2010s Middle Eastern revolutions
- pro-democracy movementCampaign for representative government
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- human rights advocacyPromoting fundamental freedoms for all
human rights organizations · exile · torture · civil disobedience · Velvet Revolution · assassination · censorship · banned books · gulag · prison camp · whistleblowing · prisoner of conscience · samizdat · anti-authoritarianism · forced labor camps · labor camp · underground publishing · hunger strike
- notable peopleartists, leaders, writers, scientists, musicians
- Cold War CzechoslovakiaPrague Spring, Velvet Revolution, Charter 77, normalization, Bratislava
- prison campsconcentration camp, prison camps, labor camp, gulags, internment camp
- historical figureshistorical figures, leaders, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Joan of Arc
- notable figureshistorical figures, dignitary, luminary, presidents, celebrity
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
political dissidentsloyalists
Faithful to established authority
party faithful · true believers · party members · apparatchiks · collaborators
political dissidentsconformists
Those obeying social norms
collaborators · apparatchiks · yes-men · sycophants · bootlickers
political dissidentsruling elite
Dominant governing class
party officials · power brokers · government officials · autocrats · oppressors
political, politics, politic, politically, politicize, politicized, politicization, politician, politicians