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Charter88 is a British pressure group that advocates constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution in the United Kingdom. It began as a letter to the New Statesman magazine in 1988 and it took its name from Charter 77 - the Czech dissident movement co-founded by Václav Havel. It also has a faint echo of the far more popular mid-19th Century Chartist Movement of England that resulted in an unsuccessful campaign for a People's Charter. Much of the original drive behind the organization has been drained and rendered moot by a parallel movement to enact a written constitution for a United Europe. The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. ...
Václav Havel (official portrait) Václav Havel, GCB, CC (IPA: ) (VA-slav HA-vel) (born October 5, 1936) is a Czech writer and dramatist. ...
Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Chartism is also an alternative term for technical analysis A movement for social and political reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, Chartism gains its name from the Peoples Charter of 1838, which set out the main aims of the movement. ...
Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification - by Athelstan AD 927 Area - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK) 50,346 sq mi Population - 2006 est. ...
Chartism is also an alternative term for technical analysis Chartism was a movement for social and political reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century. ...
The United States of Europe is a name often given to one version of the possible future unification of Europe as a national and sovereign federation of states similar in formation to the United States of America. ...
Brief history
Formation Charter88 was created by 348 progressive (mainly liberal and social democratic) British intellectuals and activists organised by Anthony Barnett. They signed a letter to the New Statesman magazine as "a general expression of dissent" following the 1987 General Election triumph of the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ...
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a political party of the United Kingdom that existed nationwide between 1981 and 1988. ...
The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ...
1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. ...
The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ...
A prime minister is the most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ...
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ...
The organization was offered space within the offices of the New Statesman magazine, then based in Shoreditch. It was to move later to the Institute of Community Studies (now The Young Foundation) in Bethnal Green. Its initial activity resulted in the creation of a Charter which the public was invited to sign and to support with financial contributions. It was not conceived as a political party and it attempted to reach out for support from people of all walks of life who believed in the concept of basic individual freedom. Andrew Puddephatt, former General Secretary of Liberty, subsequently became the director of Charter88 in 1995. The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ...
Shoreditch Town Hall Shoreditch is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. ...
The Young Foundation is an organisation whose proclaimed mission is to undertake research to identify and understand social needs and then develop practical initiatives and institutions to address them. ...
Bethnal Green is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. ...
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. ...
Source of inspiration Charter88 closely followed the same methodology that had been employed by Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia during 1977. Charter 77 originally appeared as a manifesto published in a West German newspaper that was signed by 243 Czechoslovak citizens representing various occupations, political viewpoints, and religions. The manifesto was then reprinted and circulated as a document inviting other signatures and by the mid-1980s it had been signed by 1,200 people. The Charter 77 (Charta 77 in Czech and in Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in Czechoslovakia from 1977 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. ...
For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...
West Germany was the informal but almost universally used name for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 until 1990, during which years the Federal Republic did not yet include East Germany. ...
The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ...
Charter 77 criticized the government for failing to implement human rights provisions of a number of documents it had agreed to. Charter 77 described its own signatories as a "loose, informal, and open association of people . . . united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world."
Unlike Charter 88, Charter 77 emphasized that it was not an organization, had no statutes or permanent organs, and "does not form the basis for any oppositional political activity." This final stipulation was a careful effort to stay within the bounds of Czechoslovak law, which at that time made organized opposition illegal.
The Original Charter88 The Original Charter of Charter88 was brief, to the point and had echos of the United States Declaration of Independence: A declaration of independence is a proclamation of the independence of an aspiring state or states. ...
We have had less freedom than we believed. That which we have enjoyed has been too dependent on the benevolence of our rulers. Our freedoms have remained their possession, rationed out to us as subjects rather than being our own inalienable possession as citizens. To make real the freedoms we once took for granted means for the first time to take them for ourselves. The time has come to demand political, civil and human rights in the United Kingdom. We call, therefore, for a new constitutional settlement which will: - Enshrine, by means of a Bill of Rights, such civil liberties as the right to peaceful assembly, to freedom of association, to freedom from discrimination, to freedom from detention without trial, to trial by jury, to privacy and to freedom of expression.
- Subject Executive powers and prerogatives, by whomsoever exercised, to the rule of law.
- Establish freedom of information and open government.
- Create a fair electoral system of proportional representation.
- Reform the Upper House to establish a democratic, non-hereditary Second Chamber.
- Place the Executive under the power of a democratically renewed Parliament and all agencies of the state under the rule of law.
- Ensure the independence of a reformed judiciary.
- Provide legal remedies for all abuses of power by the state and by officials of central and local government.
- Guarantee an equitable distribution of power between the nations of the United Kingdom and between local, regional and central government.
- Draw up a written constitution anchored in the ideal of universal citizenship, that incorporates these reforms.
The inscription of laws does not guarantee their realisation. Only people themselves can ensure freedom, democracy and equality before the law. Nonetheless, such ends are far better demanded, and more effectively obtained and guarded, once they belong to everyone by inalienable right. Add your name to ours. sign the charter now!
Support Since 1988 approximately 85,000 people have signed the Charter, although the aim of the movement has changed considerably over the years and not everyone who has signed the Charter now supports the aims of Charter88. It was following repeated defeat of the Labour Party and repeated election of Margaret Thatcher that Charter88 was born. 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ...
Among its many early supporters in the British entertainment industry was singer Billy Bragg. He had earlier given his support to the left-wing Red Wedge British youth political movement. Red Wedge closely allied itself with Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock in his unsuccessful attempt to defeat the Conservative Party. However, following the General Election, the founders of Charter88 soon found themselves at odds with the mainstream of the Labour Party. Stephen William Bragg (born December 20, 1957), known as Billy Bragg, is an English musician renowned for his blend of folk, punk-rock, and protest music, and his poetic lyrics dealing with political as well as romantic themes. ...
In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition...
Red Wedge was a collective of UK musical artists who attempted to inform younger voters of the Labour Partys policies during the period leading up to the 1987 General Election. ...
The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ...
Rt. ...
The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ...
In 1983 the left of centre Michael Foot had been succeeded as Party leader by Neil Kinnock. He led the Labour Party to abandon some of its traditional left-wing positions and in 1988 Kinnock is alleged to have denounced Charter88 as a movement of "Wankers, whiners and whingers." 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Michael Foot For other people named Michael Foot, see Michael Foot (disambiguation). ...
Rt. ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Mulher sentada de coxas abertas, 1916 drawing by Gustav Klimt Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation, particularly of ones own genitals and often to the point of orgasm, which is performed manually, by other types of bodily contact (except for sexual intercourse), by use of objects or tools, or by...
Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley resigned in 1992 following a further Labour Party defeat at the polls. They were succeeded by John Smith who suffered an untimely death in 1994. It was following the death of John Smith that Neil Kinnock reversed himself and added his own signature to Charter88. Tony Blair who succeeded Smith was chosen to lead the party which then abandoned traditional socialism and subsequently won victory for the Labour Party in 1997. Blair then acknowledged his agreement with many of the present aims and intentions of Charter88. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
John Smith QC (September 13, 1938 – May 12, 1994) was a British politician who served as leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden and unexpected death from a heart attack on 12 May 1994. ...
1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...
For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the UK Labour Party, and Member of the UK Parliament...
1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Charter 99 In 1999, a group called Charter 99 was formed with the intention of promoting reform of the United Nations and other international bodies, but never really got off the ground. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...
The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...
Today On February 8, 2005, Charter88 entered into partnership with new grass-roots organisations in order to launch its Elect the Lords Campaign, which began with an advert in The Guardian newspaper. The associated organisations are: February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...
- The New Politics Network was created in December 1999 following the winding up of Democratic Left which was the legal successor organisation to the Communist Party of Great Britain. Unlike its predecessor, the New Politics Network is politically independent and committed to working across the political spectrum.
- The Active Citizens Transform was founded in 2004 by Charles Secrett, former Executive Director of the environmental organization Friends of the Earth and by Ron Bailey. It is a new political movement aiming to mobilise citizens who they hope will transform Britain into a vibrant, participatory and sustainable society.
It is currently working to get the Armed Forces (Parliamentary Approval for Participation in Armed Conflict) Bill passed through Parliament in cooperation with Clare Short. In United Kingdom politics ,the New Politics Network is an independent political and campaigning think tank, concerned specifically with issues relating to democratic renewal and popular participation in politics. ...
1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...
Democratic Left is the name of a number of political parties: In Ecuador, Democratic Left led by Guillermo Landazuri. ...
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist party in the United Kingdom. ...
Active Citizens Transform was founded in 2004 by Charles Secrett, former Executive Director of the environmental organization United Kingdom. ...
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Friends of the Earth is an international network of environmental organizations in 70 countries. ...
Clare Short PC (born 15 February 1946) is a dowdy, matronly British politician and a member of the British Labour Party. ...
References - Picture of former Director Andrew Puddephatt
See also The United Kingdom has five distinct types of elections: general, local, regional, European and mayoral. ...
This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...
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