[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 35 (Thursday, March 1, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ``CHARTER 77 MOVEMENT''

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 1, 2007

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, as Chairman of the Commission 
on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I am privileged to add my voice 
today to those honoring Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia's first post-
communist President, and the Charter 77 movement which, 30 years ago, 
he helped to found.
  Three decades ago, the Charter 77 movement was established and its 
founding manifesto was formally delivered to the Communist regime in 
Prague. The goals of the Chartists--as signatories came to be known--
were fairly straightforward: ``Charter 77 [they stated] is a loose, 
informal and open association of people of various shades of opinion, 
faiths and professions united by the will to strive individually and 
collectively for the respect of civic and human rights in our own 
country and throughout the world--rights accorded to all men by the two 
mentioned international covenants, by the Final Act of the Helsinki 
conference and by numerous other international documents opposing war, 
violence and social or spiritual oppression, and which are 
comprehensively laid down in the U.N. Universal Charter of Human 
Rights.''
  The phrase ``people of various shades of opinion'' was, in fact, a 
charming understatement regarding the diversity of the signatories. 
Founding members of this movement included Vaclav Maly, a Catholic 
priest banned by the regime; Vacla Benda, a Christian philosopher; 
former Trotskyite Peter Uhl; former Communists like Zdenek Mlynar and 
Jiri Hajek, both of whom were ousted from their leadership positions in 
the wake of the 1968 Soviet attack that crushed the Prague Spring 
reforms; and, of course, Vaclav Havel, a playwright and dramatist. 
Notwithstanding the many differences these people surely had, they were 
united by a common purpose: to compel the Communist regime to respect 
the international human rights agreements it had freely adopted.
  Interestingly, the Charter 77 movement was never a mass dissident 
movement--fewer than two thousand people ever formally signed this 
document. But, to use a boxing analogy, Charter 77 punched above its 
weight. Its influence could be felt far beyond the number of those who 
openly signed on and, ultimately, in the battle of wits and wills with 
the Communist regime, Charter 77 clearly won.
  And most importantly, Charter 77--like other human rights groups 
founded at roughly the same time in Moscow, Vilnius, Warsaw and 
elsewhere--looked to the Helsinki process as a vehicle for calling 
their own governments to account. Although it is sometimes said that 
the Helsinki process helped to bring down communism, it is really these 
grass roots movements that gave the Helsinki process its real meaning 
and its true legitimacy.
  Thirty years ago, a small, courageous band of people came together 
and said, ``We believe that Charter 77 will help to enable all citizens 
of Czechoslovakia to work and live as free human beings.'' Today, we 
remember their struggle and praise their enduring contributions to 
democracy and human rights.

                          ____________________