Human rights, political dissent, and the transition to systems of liberty in the Communist Bloc
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2020
CONFERENCE: JUNE 13-14, 2020
On June 13, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation convened From the Helsinki Accords to the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Beyond, a conference generously supported by the Polish National Foundation.
The signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975 provided a new impetus to bolster human rights in international politics. Western democracies—especially the U.S.—integrated human rights concerns into its relations with the Communist Bloc. At the same time, behind the Iron Curtain, a wave of political dissent washed over the Soviet Bloc and would eventually bring about the peaceful collapse of these single party communist dictatorships in 1989.
Conference Program
8:00 – 9:20 AM EST
Dissidence and Human Rights in Eastern Europe since Helsinki
- Łukasz Kamiński, Ph.D., President, Platform of European Memory and Conscience and Professor, University of Wrocław, on human rights and national opposition: Polish dissidence 1976-1989
- Professor Cristina Petrescu, University of Bucharest, on human rights in Romania since Helsinki (1975-1989)
- Aaron Rhodes, Ph.D., President, Forum for Religious Freedom–Europe and Human Rights Editor, Dissident.com, on the ideas of human rights and its impact during and after Soviet rule
9:30 – 10:50 AM EST
Human Rights in the Policy of Western Democracies Toward Poland
- Professor Wanda Jarząbek, Institute of Political Sciences, on Basket III provisions in French and West Germany policy towards Poland – a comparative approach
- Professor Paweł Jaworski, University of Wrocław, on human rights in the policy of Scandinavian countries toward Poland 1975-1981
- Professor Jacek Tebinka, University of Gdansk, on human rights in the policy of the Great Britain and Canada toward Poland
11:00 AM – 12:20 PM EST
The Catholic Church and Human Rights
- Monika Jabłońska, Ph.D. Candidate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, on John Paul II and human rights in Poland
- Professor Robert Letz, Scholarly Committee Member, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, on the role of human rights in situation of Slovak church and persecution of Christians in Slovakia in 1975-1989
- Professor Bożena Szaynok, University of Wrocław, on the Catholic Church, human rights and opposition in Poland: the case of the Dominican Ludwik Wiśniewski
12:30 – 1:50 PM EST
The Political Opposition, Human Rights, and Changes in Eastern Europe in 1989
- Petr Jasek, Ph.D., Ustav Pämati Naroda, on the political opposition, human rights, and political changes in Czechoslovakia in 1989
- Réka Földváryné Kiss, Ph.D., Chair, Committee of National Remembrance, on the political opposition, human rights, and political changes in Hungary in 1989
- Professor Dragoş Petrescu, University of Bucharest, on the political opposition, human rights, and political changes in Romania in 1989
2:00 – 3:20 PM EST
U.S. Policy Toward the Eastern Bloc
- Professor László Borhi, Associate Professor of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, on the U.S. policy toward Hungary in the 1970’s and 1980’s
- Itai Sneh, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, City University of New York, on human rights bridging anticommunism and legitimate activism: from Helsinki to Gdansk, but not Bucharest
- Professor Jakub Tyszkiewicz, Senior Fellow in Polish Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Professor of History, University of Wrocław, on the U.S. human rights policy and the Polish opposition (1975-1981)
