Charter 08
Encyclopedia
Charter 08 is a manifesto
initially signed by over 350 Chinese intellectual
s and human rights
activists. It was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
, adopting name and style from the anti-Soviet Charter 77
issued by dissident
s in Czechoslovakia. Since its release, more than 10,000 people inside and outside of China have signed the charter.
One of the authors of Charter '08, Liu Xiaobo
, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 2010.
an poet and essayist, Woeser; and Bao Tong
, a former senior Communist Party
official, who all faced a risk of arrest and jail. The Charter calls for 19 changes including an independent legal system, freedom of association and the elimination of one-party rule
. "All kinds of social conflicts have constantly accumulated and feelings of discontent have risen consistently," it reads. "The current system has become backward to the point that change cannot be avoided." China remains the only large world power to still retain an authoritarian system that so infringes on human rights, it states. "This situation must change! Political democratic reforms cannot be delayed any longer!"
Specific demands are:
The opening paragraph of the charter states:
The Chinese government
has said little publicly on the Charter. On 8 December 2008, two days before the 60th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
, Liu Xiaobo was detained by police, hours before the online release of the Charter. He was detained and later arrested on 23 June 2009, on charges of "suspicion of inciting the subversion of state power." Several Nobel Laureates have written a letter to President Hu Jintao
asking for his release. In response, the Chinese government is trying to crush the dissidents: at least 70 of its 303 original signatories have been summoned or interrogated by police while domestic media have been forbidden to interview anyone who has signed the document. Police have also searched for or questioned a journalist, Li Datong
, and two lawyers, though none have been arrested. State media
has been banned from reporting on the manifesto. A blogging website
popular with activists, bullog.cn
, which may have had ties to the Charter, has been shut down.
On 25 December 2009 Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" activities by the court. On 8 October 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".
and Germany
, as well as the opposition in Taiwan
, have condemned the harassment of supporters of Charter 08 as well as hailing the Charter. International press has generally covered the Charter positively, and international NGOs have supported its message. Other international figures, including the Dalai Lama
, have also voiced their support and admiration of the Charter. There were also protests in Hong Kong demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo and other signatories.
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
initially signed by over 350 Chinese intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activists. It was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
, adopting name and style from the anti-Soviet Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 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...
issued by dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
s in Czechoslovakia. Since its release, more than 10,000 people inside and outside of China have signed the charter.
One of the authors of Charter '08, Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 2010.
Demands
Many of the original signatories were prominent citizens inside and outside the government, including lawyers; a TibetTibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an poet and essayist, Woeser; and Bao Tong
Bao Tong
Bao Tong was former Director of the Office of Political Reform of the CPC Central Committee and the Policy Secretary of Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the State Council, from 1980 to 1985. He was also Director of the Drafting Committee for the CCP 13th Party Congresses, known for its strong support for...
, a former senior Communist Party
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
official, who all faced a risk of arrest and jail. The Charter calls for 19 changes including an independent legal system, freedom of association and the elimination of one-party rule
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
. "All kinds of social conflicts have constantly accumulated and feelings of discontent have risen consistently," it reads. "The current system has become backward to the point that change cannot be avoided." China remains the only large world power to still retain an authoritarian system that so infringes on human rights, it states. "This situation must change! Political democratic reforms cannot be delayed any longer!"
Specific demands are:
- Amending the ConstitutionConstitution of the People's Republic of ChinaThe Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the highest law within the People's Republic of China. The current version was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982 with further revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004. Three previous state constitutions—those of...
. - Separation of powersSeparation of powersThe separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
. - Legislative democracy.
- An independent judiciary.
- Public control of public servants.
- Guarantee of human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. - Election of public officials.
- Abolition of Hukou system.
- Freedom of associationFreedom of associationFreedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
. - Freedom of assemblyFreedom of assemblyFreedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
. - Freedom of expression.
- Freedom of religionFreedom of religionFreedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
. - Civic education.
- Free markets and protection of private propertyPrivate propertyPrivate property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
, including privitizing state enterprises and land. - Financial and tax reform.
- Social securitySocial securitySocial security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
. - Protection of the environmentEnvironmental protectionEnvironmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...
. - A federated republic.
- Truth in reconciliationTruth and Reconciliation CommissionThe Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected...
.
The opening paragraph of the charter states:
Mainland China
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
has said little publicly on the Charter. On 8 December 2008, two days before the 60th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly's
United Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
, Liu Xiaobo was detained by police, hours before the online release of the Charter. He was detained and later arrested on 23 June 2009, on charges of "suspicion of inciting the subversion of state power." Several Nobel Laureates have written a letter to President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
asking for his release. In response, the Chinese government is trying to crush the dissidents: at least 70 of its 303 original signatories have been summoned or interrogated by police while domestic media have been forbidden to interview anyone who has signed the document. Police have also searched for or questioned a journalist, Li Datong
Li Datong
Li Datong was the Managing Editor of Freezing Point, a section of China Youth Daily. He was fired, and his popular column closed, because of a published letter condemning censorship and government intrusion into the press in China...
, and two lawyers, though none have been arrested. State media
Media of the People's Republic of China
Media of the People's Republic of China primarily consists of television, newspapers, radio, and magazines. Since 2000, the Internet has also emerged as an important communications medium....
has been banned from reporting on the manifesto. A blogging website
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
popular with activists, bullog.cn
Bullog.cn
Bullog.cn was a Chinese-language blogging website, created by Chinese internet celebrity Luo Yonghao. Before it was shut down, it was considered to be one of the most liberal and edgy blog portals in Chinese cyberspace.- History :...
, which may have had ties to the Charter, has been shut down.
On 25 December 2009 Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" activities by the court. On 8 October 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".
Response outside mainland China
A number of governments, including those of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, as well as the opposition in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, have condemned the harassment of supporters of Charter 08 as well as hailing the Charter. International press has generally covered the Charter positively, and international NGOs have supported its message. Other international figures, including the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
, have also voiced their support and admiration of the Charter. There were also protests in Hong Kong demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo and other signatories.
See also
- Charter 77Charter 77Charter 77 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...
- Human rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
- Law of the People's Republic of ChinaLaw of the People's Republic of ChinaLaw of the People's Republic of China is the legal regime of the People's Republic of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau....
- Fifth ModernizationFifth ModernizationThe Fifth Modernization originally began as a signed wall poster placed by Wei Jingsheng on December 5, 1978 on the Democracy Wall in Beijing.-Summary:...
(Wei JingshengWei JingshengWei Jingsheng is a Chinese activist known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement, most prominent for authoring the document Fifth Modernization on the "Democracy Wall" in Beijing in 1978. He is generally known for getting arrested and spending 15 years in prison due to the document...
)
External links
- Full text of Charter 08: Original Chinese or Original Chinese (pdf), English translation by Perry Link, English translation by Human Rights in China
- Charter 08 main site (Chinese) -- includes updated news and signature lists
- Charter 08 main site (English) -- includes updated news and ability to sign the charter online
- "News about Charter 08," China Digital TimesChina Digital TimesChina Digital Times is a bilingual "collaborative news website covering China’s social and political transition and its emerging role in the world," according to the site's About page...
- "Chinese Support Charter 08," History News NetworkHistory News NetworkHistory News Network is a project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Although the HNN resides on GMU's server, it operates independently of the university as a non-profit corporation registered in Washington State...
- "Over 300 sign 'Charter 08', a manifesto for human rights in China, but some are already arrested," Asia News