Word: czechoslovakia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wanted to ease the pressure and show that it was serious about the reforms it had promised." The GDR government at that point was already under enormous pressure not only from inside of the country, where cries to lift travel restriction were becoming louder and louder, but also from Czechoslovakia, which was struggling to cope with the mass exodus of East Germans who were fleeing to the West via its borders...
Charter 08 - which is based on Charter 77, a human-rights manifesto signed by dissidents in Czechoslovakia in 1977 - calls for several political reforms in China including direct elections, a separation of political powers, free speech, legalization of political parties and the creation of an independent judiciary. Critically, it doesn't call for the Communist Party to step down, but envisions a system that advances beyond one-party rule, says Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong?based researcher for the NGO Human Rights Watch. "It does not say, 'We should set up a party to topple the Party.' They...
...Charter 08, which takes its title and inspiration from the "Charter 77" document that demanded rights for Czechoslovakia in 1977, called for an extensive list of rights in China, including free speech, freedom to form political parties, an independent legal system and direct elections. The 4,000-word document was released during a time of several sensitive anniversaries, including 100 years after the promulgation of China's first constitution, 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 30 years after Beijing's "Democracy Wall" movement. The charter was first signed by 303 intellectuals living...
...China scholar Perry Link was subsequently posted on the website of the New York Review of Books. In his introduction, Link notes that the document takes its title and inspiration from Charter 77, which was issued in January 1977 by Czech and Slovak intellectuals calling for human rights in Czechoslovakia and abroad. Like its historical predecessor, Charter O8 recalls moments throughout Chinese history when intellectuals felt an obligation to speak out against shortcomings of the state, such as the 100 Days Reform of 1898, when scholars pressed the crumbling Qing dynasty to reform...
...economic woes that are pushing voters to the right; in part it's immigration, which has long been an emotive issue for Austrians. Austria's location in the heart of Central Europe has made it a favored destination for several generations of migrants, from Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and, most recently, the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Against this modern reality stands Austria's relish of its historical role as a bulwark against eastern encroachments. The repulse of the Ottoman Empire's army from Vienna in 1683, when Muslim hordes were feared to be on the verge...