Charter 77

For the band, see Charta 77 (band).

Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was considered a political crime.^[1] After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, many of its members played important roles in Czech and Slovak politics.

Founding and political aims

Motivated in part by the arrest of members of the psychedelic band Plastic People of the Universe, the text of Charter 77 was prepared in 1976. In December 1976, the first signatures were collected.^[2] The charter was published on 6 January 1977, along with the names of the first 242 signatories, which represented various occupations, political viewpoints, and religions. Although Václav Havel, Ludvík Vaculík and Pavel Landovský were detained while trying to bring the charter to the Federal Assembly and the Czechoslovak government and the original document was confiscated,^[3] copies circulated as samizdat and on 7 January were published in several western newspapers (including Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Times or New York Times) and transmitted to Czechoslovakia by Czechoslovak-banned radio broadcasters like Radio Free Europe or Voice of America.

Charter 77 criticized the government for failing to implement human rights provisions of a number of documents it had signed, including the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia, the Final Act of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Basket III of the Helsinki Accords), and United Nations covenants on political, civil, economic, and cultural rights. The document also described the signatories as a "loose, informal, and open association of people . . . united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world." It emphasized that Charter 77 is not an organization, has no statutes or permanent organs, and "does not form the basis for any oppositional political activity." This final stipulation was a careful effort to stay within the bounds of Czechoslovak law, which made organized opposition illegal.

After 30 years, many of those from both Czechoslovakia and the UK who were personally involved in the Charter 77 movement and helped to gain international support and to draw attention to the petition gathered on 29 March 2007 at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London, to look back and share their experience and memories of one of the little known but most significant events of modern European history.^{[citation needed]}

Reaction of the government

The government's reaction to the appearance of Charter 77 was harsh. The official press described the manifesto as "an antistate, antisocialist, and demagogic, abusive piece of writing," and individual signers were variously described as "traitors and renegades," "a loyal servant and agent of imperialism," "a bankrupt politician," and "an international adventurer." However official press never published full text, as it was considered as illegal print and its spreading was considered as a political crime. However an official group of artists and writers was mobilized to into an "anti-charter" movement which included Czechoslvoakia's foremost singer Karel Gott as well as prominent comedic writer Jan Werich who later claimed he had no idea of what he was doing whilst signing the anti-charter.

Several means of retaliation were used against the signers, including dismissal from work, denial of educational opportunities for their children, suspension of drivers' licenses, forced exile, loss of citizenship, and detention, trial, and imprisonment. Many members were forced to collaborate with the communist secret service (the StB, czech: Státní bezpečnost).

The treatment of Charter 77 signatories prompted the creation in April 1978 of a support group, the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted (Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných - VONS), to publicize the fate of those associated with the charter. In October 1979 six leaders of this support group, including Václav Havel, were tried for subversion and sentenced to prison terms of up to five years.

Repression of Charter 77 and VONS members continued during the 1980s. Despite unrelenting harassment and arrests, however, the groups continued to issue reports on the government's violations of human rights. Until the Velvet revolution, Charter 77 had approximately 1,900 signatories.^[3]

Influence

Under the dictatorship, the influence of Charter 77 remained limited. It didn't reach wide groups of people and most of its members were from Prague. The majority of Czechoslovak citizens knew of the organization only because of the government's campaign against it.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1980s, as the Eastern Bloc regimes weakened, members of Charter 77 saw their opportunity and became more involved in organizing opposition against the regime in power. During the days of the Velvet Revolution, members of the group negotiated the smooth transfer of political power from dictatorship to democracy. Many were elevated into high positions in the government (e.g. Václav Havel became the President of Czechoslovakia) but since most had no experience in active politics (such as skills in diplomacy or knowledge of capitalism) they met with mixed success.

Charter 77 included people who had a wide range of opinions and, after reaching their common goal, the group's presence faded. An attempt to make the group the focal point of an all-encompassing political party (the Civic Forum) failed and in 1992 the organization was officially dissolved.

Signatories (selection)

• Petr Chudožilov
• Gábor Demszky
• Jiří Dienstbier
• Jiří Hanzelka
• Jiří Gruša
• Jiří Hájek
• Václav Havel
• Zbyněk Hejda
• Josef Hiršal
• Jaroslav Hutka
• Vladimír Kadlec
• Eva Kantůrková
• Svatopluk Karásek
• Alexandr Kliment
• Vladimír Klokočka
• Pavel Kohout
• Jiří Kolář
• Marta Kubišová
• Rudolf Kučera
• Vaclav Lamser
• Milan Machovec
• Václav Malý
• Zdeněk Mlynář
• Jan Patočka
• Petr Pithart
• Anna Šabatová
• Jaroslav Seifert
• Jiřina Šiklová
• Milan Uhde
• Petr Uhl
• Ludvík Vaculík
• Dominik Tatarka
• Anna Fárová
• Ladislav Hejdánek
• Tomas Laslo
• Florin Kovach
• Vincent Cheremi

See also

• Charter 88 – a British movement inspired in part by Charter 77.
• Charter 97 – a Belarus movement inspired in part by Charter 77.
• Charter 08 – a Chinese movement inspired in part by Charter 77.

References

1. ^ S t a n o v i s k o Generálního prokurátora ČSSR, předsedy Nejvyššího soudu ČSSR, ministra spravedlnosti ČSSR a generálního prokurátora ČSSR k „Prohlášení Charty 77“
2. ^ Totalita.cz: Charta 77
3. ^ ^{a b} Podpisy Prohlášení Charty 77 (1977-1989)

External links

• Initial declaration of Charter 77 on January 1, 1977 (in Czech)
• Initial declaration of Charter 77 on January 1, 1977 (in English)
• Scanned original signatures of Charter 77 signers