A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system , doctrine , belief , policy , or institution . In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th century, coinciding with the rise of authoritarian governments in countries such as Fascist Italy , Nazi Germany , Imperial Japan , Francoist Spain , the Soviet Union (and later Russia ), Saudi Arabia , North Korea , Turkey , Iran , China , and Turkmenistan . In the Western world , there are historical examples of people who have been considered and have considered themselves dissidents, such as the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza . In totalitarian countries, dissidents are often incarcerated or executed without explicit political accusations, or due to infringements of the very same laws they are opposing, or because they are supporting civil liberties such as freedom of speech .
40-507: Karl Wolf Biermann ( German pronunciation: [ˈvɔlf ˈbiːɐ̯ˌman] ; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident . He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song " Ermutigung " and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Biermann was born in Hamburg , Germany. His mother, Emma (née Dietrich), was a German Communist Party activist, and his father, Dagobert Biermann , worked on
80-693: A United Ireland . Irish republican dissident groups include the Irish Republican Socialist Party (founded in 1974 – its currently-inactive paramilitary wing is the Irish National Liberation Army ), Republican Sinn Féin (founded in 1986 – its paramilitary wing is the Continuity IRA ), and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (founded in 1997 – its paramilitary wing is the Real IRA ). In 2006
120-763: A book of poetry, Die Drahtharfe , through the West German publisher Klaus Wagenbach. In December 1965, the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany denounced him as a " class traitor " and placed him onto the performance and publication blacklist. At this time, the Stasi developed a 20-point plan to " degrade " or discredit his person. While blacklisted, Biermann continued to write and compose, culminating in his 1968 album Chausseestraße 131 , recorded on equipment smuggled from
160-468: A person who had left for the West without permission (i.e. a defector), by illegally crossing the border or travelling abroad with a passport, but not returning and (sometimes) applying for asylum abroad. Such persons' citizenship was usually revoked, and their left behind property (if there was any to their name) would revert to the state. Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features in
200-543: A report stating its findings, which claimed that the collective detention of political prisoners by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a violation of the country's international legal obligations, as the authorities are holding the detainees without charge and not allowing them a chance to challenge their imprisonment. The imprisonment has also risked the safety of the detainees by posing fatal risks to their health by keeping them behind bars without providing proper medical aid amid
240-483: A report that she contributed to was falsified by the Biden administration. She said that the report falsely stated that Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza. Dissidents and activists were among the earliest adopters of encrypted communications technology such as Tor and the dark web , turning to the technology as ways to resist totalitarian regimes, avoid censorship and control and protect privacy. Tor
280-592: Is the father of ten children, three of them with his second wife Pamela Biermann, née Rüsche. Dissident The term dissident was used in the Eastern Bloc , particularly in the Soviet Union , in the period following Joseph Stalin 's death until the fall of communism . It was attached to citizens who criticized the practices or the authority of the communist party . Writers for the non-censored, non-conformist samizdat literature were criticized in
320-732: The Arab Spring , widely used Tor in order to stay safe while exchanging their ideas and agendas. Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi American dissident and journalist. He was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul by agents of the Saudi government, allegedly at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman . Various other human rights activists from Saudi Arabia have been either silenced or punished. This also happens if
360-585: The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Bahrain, especially concerning the cases of detained dissidents Nabeel Rajab , Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Ibrahim Sharif . With 48 votes in favor, the MEPs condemned Bahrain for its human rights violations and called for an immediate release of all the political activists , prisoners in conscience , human rights defenders , journalists and peaceful protesters. The European Parliament also demanded that
400-589: The Humboldt University of Berlin . From 1957 to 1959, he was an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble . At university he changed courses to study philosophy and mathematics under Wolfgang Heise until 1963, when he completed his thesis. Despite his successful defense of his thesis, he did not receive his diploma until 2008 when he was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree. In 1960, Biermann met composer Hanns Eisler , who adopted
440-890: The Mykonos restaurant assassinations , the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany actively silences exiled Iranian dissidents. Even so, in 2023, the Woman Life Freedom Movement won the Sakharov Prize and imprisoned anti-regime journalist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran condemned the decision. The UAE has been accused of imprisoning critics. Like many other Middle Eastern countries, it does not allow criticism of
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#1732790950481480-521: The Prague spring and led to much of the elite being removed from political and intellectual positions. In the ensuing era of normalization , the unlikely dissident union of former Communists, counter-cultural youth and Christians formed a so-called underground or 'parallel' culture, which led Charter 77 and related movements eventually meeting success in the Velvet Revolution , in which
520-635: The Second World War , he became a member of the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ) and in 1950, he represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the FDJ's first national meeting. Upon finishing school at the age of 17, Biermann emigrated from West to East Germany where he believed he could live out his Communist ideals. He lived at a boarding school near Schwerin until 1955, and then began studying political economics at
560-697: The Stasi Records Agency revealed that the reviewers were under the impression that he was a regular user of stimulants, leading to the rejection of his application. In 1964, Biermann performed for the first time in West Germany . A performance in April 1965 in Frankfurt am Main on Wolfgang Neuss ' cabaret program was recorded and released as an LP titled Wolf Biermann (Ost) zu Gast bei Wolfgang Neuss (West) . Later that year, Biermann published
600-504: The UK wrote a letter to the vice-chancellor of an educational institution, the University of Huddersfield , stating that it was at risk of “indirect implication in human rights abuse”. The university was running a master's course, MSc in security science, for the officers of Bahrain's Royal Academy of Policing, the building which was also being used for torturing dissidents. In April 2021,
640-769: The Wende that eventually toppled the Communist government. In 1998, he received the German national prize. He supported the 1999 NATO Kosovo War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . In the Arab–Israeli conflict he supports Israel and is critical of the fact, as he sees it, that, under the influence of antisemitic views, a majority of Germans lack both understanding and empathy for the Israeli side. He lives in Hamburg and in France. He
680-434: The current government and by extension the previous regime , instead seeking the establishment of democratic institutions. A partnership council called Mahsa had formed between Reza Pahlavi and other opposition groups in support of the future of Iran’s democracy movement [ fa ] in 2022. The government in 2023 charged 107 exiled Mujahideen with treason. Dissidents have formed Iran Human Rights . Despite
720-724: The Óglaigh na hÉireann emerged, which is a splinter group of the Continuity IRA. Mark Smith was a mid-level British diplomat, who resigned as a counter-terrorism official at the British embassy in Dublin. He was protesting against the sale of British weapons to Israel and said that "the state of Israel is perpetrating war crimes in plain sight". Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration resigned in protest because of
760-741: The Bahraini government take all necessary measures to respect the law and make sure that its actions remain in full compliance with the international standards of human rights. In March 2023, Bahrain hosted a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. However, on 8 March 2023, officials cancelled the entry visas issued to the HRW officials on 30 January 2023 to attend the 146th Congress of the IPU. Bahraini authorities have imposed restrictions on expression, association and assembly in violation of
800-474: The East German music monopoly VEB Deutsche Schallplatten . Due to being blacklisted, Biermann was unable to use a professional recording studio to record the album, forcing him to record in his apartment at Chausseestraße 131 using a Grundig tape recorder and a Sennheiser omnidirectional microphone smuggled in from West Germany. Because of this, the sound of traffic outside his apartment can be heard in
840-708: The Hamburg docks. Biermann's father, a Jewish member of the German Resistance , was sentenced to six years in prison for sabotaging Nazi ships. In 1942, the Nazis decided to eliminate their Jewish political prisoners and Biermann's father was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp , where he was murdered on 22 February 1943. Biermann was one of the few children of workers who attended the Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium (high school) in Hamburg . After
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#1732790950481880-466: The authorities, demonstrating for reform, or even writing books – was defined as being simultaneously a criminal act (e.g., violation of Articles 70 or 190–1), a symptom (e.g., "delusion of reformism"), and a diagnosis (e.g., " sluggish schizophrenia "). Czechoslovak dissidents emerged after the 1948 Communist coup and increased after the Warsaw Pact invasion that ended the liberalizing moment of
920-650: The background. In 1969, Biermann received the Fontane Prize, an award established by the state of Berlin in 1948. Biermann caused a minor scandal by publicly passing it on to the Außerparlamentarische Opposition (APO), a political protest group that played a central part of the German student movement . The same action had also been taken by Peter Schneider , an earlier recipient of the prize. Biermann also transferred 10,000 DM of
960-501: The building of the Berlin Wall . The play was officially banned and Biermann was forbidden to perform for six months. Although a committed communist, Biermann's nonconformist views soon alarmed the East German establishment. In 1963, he was refused membership in the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), although no reason was given at the time for his rejection. After the Wende , documents available from Biermann's file at
1000-445: The constitution and international human rights law. Chausseestra%C3%9Fe 131 Chausseestraße 131 is the second LP recorded by East German Liedermacher and poet Wolf Biermann , after Wolf Biermann (Ost) zu Gast bei Wolfgang Neuss (West) , an album recorded together with Wolfgang Neuss . It was his first album released after the Socialist Unity Party officially blacklisted him from performing or releasing music through
1040-784: The country's international human rights obligations. On 31 March 2023, three men, Jalal Al-Kassab, Redha Rajab and Mohammed Rajab, were sentenced to prison for a year and faced a fine in Bahrain. They were prosecuted under a law criminalizing the "ridicule" of all books recognized as religious in Bahrain, including the Quran and the Bible . The men were members of a Bahraini religious and cultural society that promotes open discussion of Islamic issues. Human rights groups claimed that they were indicted for exercising his freedom of expression . Iranian dissidents are composed of scattered groups that reject
1080-593: The daughter of Robert Havemann and mother of two of Biermann's children. In West Germany, his manager was the musician Diether Dehm , who was secretly a Stasi informer reporting on Biermann's activities to the GDR authorities. Now living in the West, Biermann continued his musical career, criticizing East Germany's Stalinist policies. He was able to perform publicly again in East Germany on 1 and 2 December 1989 during
1120-409: The dissidents. Several human rights organizations and international leaders have consistently denounced Bahrain's poor human rights records. The Human Rights Watch World Report 2021 also highlighted that Bahrain continued its repressive actions against the dissidents, including acts against online activities, peaceful critics and opposition activists. In January 2021, forty cross-party MPs of
1160-466: The embodiment of Soviet ideology and who were willing to speak out against them. The term dissident was used in the Soviet Union in the period following Joseph Stalin 's death until the fall of communism . It was used to refer to small groups of marginalized intellectuals whose modest challenges to the Soviet regime met protection and encouragement from correspondents. Following the etymology of
1200-555: The formerly imprisoned writer and Charter 77 spokesperson Václav Havel became a key political leader. Aung San Suu Kyi is a famous Myanmar dissident who also won the Nobel Peace Prize. The term dissident has become the primary term to describe Irish republicans who politically continue to oppose Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and reject the outcome of the referendums on it. These political parties also have paramilitary wings which espouse violent methods to achieve
1240-588: The government. Many Emirati dissidents have been languishing in jail, some of them for a decade. A March 2023 report by HRW stated that Egyptian authorities systematically refused to issue or renew ID cards for dozens of foreign dissidents, journalists and human rights activists over the past few years. The denial was possibly intended to pressure them to return to near-certain persecution in Egypt. By arbitrarily denying citizens valid passports and other overseas identification documents, Egyptian authorities violated both
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1280-518: The individual lives outside the country. If a dissident is not a Saudi citizen, they will probably face deportation . The Fact Finding Panel (FFP), an independent jury of British parliamentary members and international attorneys, was tasked with reviewing the detention of former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Nayef and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz . In mid-December 2020, the panel published
1320-431: The official newspapers. Soon, many of those who were dissatisfied with Eastern Bloc regimes began to self-identify as dissidents. This radically changed the meaning of the term: instead of being used in reference to an individual who opposes society, it came to refer to an individual whose non-conformism was perceived to be for the good of the society. In Hungary, the word disszidens was used in contemporary language for
1360-491: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic . Another monarchy of the Middle East , Bahrain , is known for violating the rights of peaceful critics of the government, including political activists and human rights defenders . A report released by Amnesty International in 2017 revealed that the country opted for several repressive tactics, including arbitrary detention, torture and harassment between June 2016 and June 2017 to crush
1400-638: The state security. In 1976, while Biermann was on an officially sanctioned tour of West Germany, the GDR government stripped him of his citizenship. He was not allowed to return to the GDR. Biermann's exile provoked protests by leading East German intellectuals, including actor Armin Mueller-Stahl and novelist Christa Wolf . In 1977, he was joined in West Germany by his wife at the time, Christine Barg, as well as actress Eva-Maria Hagen , her daughter Catharina ( Nina Hagen ), and Sibylle Havemann,
1440-522: The term, a dissident is considered to "sit apart" from the regime. As dissenters began self-identifying as dissidents , the term came to refer to an individual whose non-conformism was perceived to be for the good of a society. Political opposition in the USSR was barely visible and, with rare exceptions, of little consequence. Instead, an important element of dissident activity in the Soviet Union
1480-605: The west in his apartment at Chausseestraße 131 in Mitte , the central borough of Berlin. To break this isolation, artists like Joan Baez and many others visited him at his home during the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1973. Karsten Voigt , chairman of the West German Socialdemocratic Youth ( Jusos ) protested against the suppression of the freedom of opinion and information by
1520-562: The young artist as a protégé. Biermann began writing poetry and songs. Eisler used his influence with the East German cultural elite to promote the songwriter's career, but his death in 1962 deprived Biermann of his mentor and protector. In 1961, Biermann formed the Berliner Arbeiter-Theater ("Berlin Workers' Theater"), which was closed in 1963 before the production of Biermann's show Berliner Brautgang , which documented
1560-550: Was informing society (both inside the Soviet Union and in foreign countries) about violation of laws and of human rights. Over time, the dissident movement created vivid awareness of Soviet Communist abuses. Soviet dissidents who criticized the state faced possible legal sanctions under the Soviet Criminal Code and faced the choice of exile , the mental hospital , or penal servitude . Anti-Soviet political behavior, in particular, being outspoken in opposition to
1600-522: Was widely used by protestors against the Mubarak regime in Egypt in 2011. Tor allowed Egyptian dissidents to communicate anonymously and securely, while sharing sensitive information. Also, Syrian rebels widely used Tor in order to share with the world all of the horrors that they witnessed in their country. Moreover, anti-government dissidents in Lebanon, Mauritania, as well as other nations affected by
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