Charter 08

The Charter 08 ( Chinese  零八宪章 , Pinyin Língbā Xianzhang ) is, now more than 5000 signed Chinese intellectuals and civil society activists from originally 303 Manifesto , which for political reforms and democratization in the People's Republic of China calls.

“A hundred years have passed since China's first constitution was written. 2008 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Democratic Wall in Beijing and the tenth anniversary of the Chinese signature of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights . We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tian'anmen massacre of students demonstrating for democracy. Among the people of China, who have endured human rights disasters and countless struggles during these years, there are now many who clearly recognize that freedom, equality and human rights are universal values ​​of humanity, and that democracy and constitutional government are a basic framework for protection these values ​​are. "

The charter is one of the rare documents drafted in China calling on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to allow greater freedom of expression and free elections . His name is a reference to Charter 77 , with which dissidents criticized the communist regime in Czechoslovakia .

A total of 303 people, including Liu Xiaobo , Ai Weiwei , and the well-known bloggers Tsering Woeser and Zeng Jinyan , lawyers and a disgraced former Communist Party functionary, defied the threat of arrest and went public as the first to sign. The charter calls for 19 measures to improve the human rights situation in China. Among other things, an independent judiciary, the freedom to form associations and an end to the one-party system are required . "All kinds of social conflicts have been accumulating incessantly and feelings of dissatisfaction have grown steadily," it says. "The current system has become so backward that change is no longer avoidable." China is the only great power that still maintains an authoritarian system that restricts human rights in this way. “This situation has to change! Political democratic reforms can no longer be postponed! "

Requirements of the Charter 08

The signatories of Charter 08 advocate:

• A new constitution
• Separation of powers
• Democratic legislation
• An independent judiciary
• Public scrutiny of officials
• Ensuring human rights
• Regular election of government officials
• The equality of town and country
• The freedom to form associations
• Freedom of assembly
• freedom of speech
• Religious freedom
• The introduction of civic education
• Protection of private property
• A financial and tax reform
• The introduction of social security
• Environmental protection
• A federal republic
• A truth commission .

Arrest and conviction of signatories, international reactions to it

Protesters protest in Hong Kong against the arrest of Liu Xiaobo

On December 8th, 2008, two days before the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly , police arrested Liu Xiaobo from his home. Only hours after his arrest, the text of Charter 08 was published on the Internet.

The then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier declared on December 10, 2008:

“We must not be silent. Not in relation to China either, and certainly not in view of the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, who was arrested two days ago in China for wanting to distribute the “Charter 2008” appeal. An event that once again documents the unsatisfactory human rights situation. "

Well-known dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009 for his signature for human rights. Against this there were protests from all over the world, including by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel . In 2010, Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize .

Reactions

The opinions on the content of Charter 08 vary widely.

Politically left and socialist voices from the West criticized the fact that Charter 08 is “also economically a liberal program” that “does not exactly correspond to the global zeitgeist after the outbreak of the financial crisis”. In particular, the rural population is threatened with the loss of livelihoods due to the privatization of land that is being demanded. On the other hand, despite all the necessary criticism of the privatization of basic human needs, "the experiences of many people - not only those of the Chartists - with the state-owned companies in China are not the best".

Qin Hui from Beijing's Tsinghua University takes a differentiated position . While he shares the demand for freedom of expression and democratic rights, he criticizes that Charter 08 ignores the social problems of large sections of the population: "I do not agree with the views, but I firmly support the right to express them". Similar to Au Loong-yu from the Globalization Monitor in Hong Kong : The demand for the protection and development of private property makes it an instrument of privatization.

Representatives of orthodox Marxist positions often reject the charter. The American Trotskyist newspaper Workers Vanguard describes Charter 08 as “an explicit program for capitalist counterrevolution”. The US-based publicist Zheng Zhao Xi sees it similarly: “What the 'Charter08' proposes in this regard does not mean building a society for the people, but the society of a 'jungle society' with natural laws.” She therefore wants “imperialism help to eradicate the great strategy of communism from the surface of the earth ”.

Liu Xiaobo, symbolic also for the other signatories of Charter 08, received the Homo Homini Prize 2008 in Prague on March 11, 2009 from Václav Havel , the former Czech dissident and president.

In 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of human rights .

See also

• Constitution of the People's Republic of China
• Charter 77
• Charter 97

Web links

Commons : Charter 08  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Original Chinese text and German translation of Charter 08 ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
• Fear of increased repression , taz.de, December 21, 2008
• “Charter 08” already signed by 5000 Chinese , faz.net, December 21, 2008
• Repression in China is heading for a new peak , spiegel.de, December 11, 2008
• Project Working Worlds China - Germany on 'Charter 08'

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 《零八 宪章》 签名 已 超过 5000 人 More than 5000 have signed Charter 08
2. ↑ English translation of the entire text of Charter 08
3. ^ Chinese dissidents emulate anti-Soviet heroes with Charter 08, Telegraph.co.uk, Dec. 9, 2008
4. ↑ Leading Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, arrested over freedom charter, Times Online, Dec. 10, 2008
5. ↑ Keyword "Charter 08" - Manifesto for Democracy and Human Rights ( Memento from December 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Tagesschau.de
6. ↑ Mark Siemons: The Chinese Unyielding in FAZ of December 10, 2008 (fax.net) accessed on December 16, 2012
7. ↑ Speech by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 2008
8. ↑ mirror online December 25, 2009
9. ↑ Mark Siemons, Beijing: China interrogate goes over discussing overview of positions in FAZ of December 18, 2008 (faz.net), accessed on December 16, 2012.
10. ↑ Felix Wemheuer: "The Disturbers of Heavenly Peace" in: Jungle World No. 5 from January 29, 2009
11. ↑ Helmut Weiss: “On the dispute about Charter 08” in: Sozialistische Zeitung , October 2009, p. 14
12. ↑ Qin Hui: "Commentary on 'Charter 08'"
13. ↑ Au Loong Yu: "Charter 08 - Charter of Human Rights excluding the working population"
14. ↑ Charter 08: Program for “Democratic” Counterrevolution in: Workers Vanguard No. 933, March 27, 2009
15. ↑ Zheng Zhao Xi: "The background to the creation of the 'Charter 08'"
16. ↑ Vaclav Havel honors a chinese prisoner , (Nybooks.co, English)