Freedom Charters
Winter 2012, Wednesday 10:00 AM - 1:15 PM

Steven Schroeder

We will focus on the following documents, all available online:

• US Declaration of Independence (1776)
• US Constitution (1787-1789, with amendments 1789-1992)
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (France, 1789)
• David Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829
• The People's Charter (1838, UK)
• The Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Documents of the Paris Commune (1870-1871, France)
• Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1918)
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• The Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1949)
• Freedom Charter (South Africa, 1955)
• Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society (1962)
• Black Panther Party Platform and Program (1966)
• Charter 77 (Czechoslovakia, 1977)
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996)
• Charter 08 (China, 2008)

• US Declaration of Independence (1776)
• US Constitution (1787-1789, with amendments 1789-1992)
• additional reading:
  • Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, Federalist Papers (1788)
  • Antifederalist papers | Antifederalist papers (another version, numbered to correspond with the Federalist)
  • The Declaration of Independence with Jefferson's draft and Congress's draft

• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (France, 1789)
• additional reading:
  • Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1792)
  • French text of the Declaration [added 18 january]
  • Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) [added 18 january]

• David Walker's Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829

• The People's Charter (1838, UK)
• The Communist Manifesto (1848)
• Documents of the Paris Commune (1870-1871, France)
• additional reading:
  • G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right (Germany, 1820)
  • Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (Germany, 1843)
  • documents related to the Chartist movement (UK, 1832-1842) [added 24 january]

• Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1918)
• The Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1949)
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996)
• additional reading:
  • Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1982) [added 31 january]
  • Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project [added 31 january]
  • Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [added 7 february]
  • European Convention on Human Rights [added 7 february]
  • Rowan Williams on Civil and Religious Law in England [added 7 february]

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
• additional reading:
  • Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism [added 18 january]
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [added 7 february]
  • International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights [added 7 february]
  • International Law - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights [added 8 february]

• Freedom Charter (South Africa, 1955)
• Port Huron Statement of the Students for a Democratic Society (1962)
• Black Panther Party Platform and Program (1966)
• additional reading:
  • The May Events Archive (France, 1968)

• Charter 77 (Czechoslovakia, 1977)
• Charter 08 (China, 2008)
• additional reading:
  • Plastic People of the Universe, "The One Hundred Points," (Czechoslovakia, 1977)
  • Albert Einstein Institution (includes documents by Gene Sharp) [added 7 february]

• Mihailo Markovic, "Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights" (1981)
• Agnes Heller, "The Concept of Dynamic Justice" (from Beyond Justice, 1987)
• Jacques Derrida, "What is Ideology?" (from Spectres of Marx, 1994):
• Jurgen Habermas, "Communicative Ethics" (1998)

• Robert Kurz, "Paradoxes of Human Rights" (2003)
• Slavoj Žižek, "Against human rights"
• Slavoj Žižek, "The Obscenity of Human Rights: Violence as Symptom"
• David Kennedy, "The International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?" Harvard Human Rights Journal, 2002

• Václav Havel and Adam Michnik, "After the Velvet, an Existential Revolution?"