Dissidents are people who disagree with and work to change, or bring down entirely, established religious or political systems or ideals. The etymology of the word traces its origin to the 16th century Latin "dissidentem" meaning "to be remote, disagree, be removed from". As a noun, dissident is used to refer to Protestants. Modern usage of the noun in a political arena dates to 1940 associated with the rise of totalitarian governments.[1]