Questions

• Vladimir Tismaneanu: What source do you use in your classroom to help students understand the events of 1989?
• Vladimir Tismaneanu: How do you teach the letters found in Adam Michnik's book?
• Vladimir Tismaneanu: How do you teach Adam Michnik's book in the classroom?
• Vladimir Tismaneanu: How do you help your students interpret the passage you read about an independent, self-governing union?
• Bradley Abrams: How do you help students make sense of 1989?
• Bradley Abrams: What sources do you use to teach 1989?
• Bradley Abrams: What else is significant about the Declaration of the Creation of Charter 77?
• Bradley Abrams: How did the regime respond to Charter 77?
• Bradley Abrams: Why is the 28th of January remarkable?
• Bradley Abrams: How do you put the anti-Charter into context for students?
• Padraic Kenney: What is remarkable about the poem and the leaflet together?
• Padraic Kenney: How should students interpret the poem?
• Padraic Kenney: What is significant about the poem?
• Padraic Kenney: Does this poem help explain the strike?
• Padraic Kenney: How do you analyze the leaflet?
• Padraic Kenney: What is significant about the leaflet?
• Padraic Kenney: What sources help us understand the strikes?
• Maria Bucur: Is there a particular source that is important to study?
• Maria Bucur: How do students study 1989 in your classroom?
• Maria Bucur: What is difficult to understand about the "Common European Home" speech?
• Maria Bucur: What is important about Ceausescu's last speech?
• Maria Bucur: How do you help students understand Ceausescu's last speech?
• Maria Bucur: What is unique about viewing Ceausescu's last speech?
• Bradley Abrams: How do you use the Charter Declaration and the anti-Charter together with students?

Bradley Abrams: How do you use the Charter Declaration and the anti-Charter together with students?

Transcription

I’d ask them to read it blind first. I might juxtapose it with Charter 77.

This first paragraph which has national stuff. Does that surprise you? Workers are international, right? It’s not supposed to be a national debate. What sort of things strike you as being uncommunist about it? What kinds of things strike you as being terribly, terribly communist? The threat of world war brought on by imperialist war-mongers. Okay. That’s an easy one. And then I’d tell them this document is from January 28th 1977. Does that tell you anything?

And somebody might pick up, you know, that was not right after Charter 77 came out. Yes, what does that then tell you about the document? And then I might say, what if I told you that this document was read out at Prague’s National Theater? Why do you think that might have happened? And see if anybody figures out that this was something that people were called upon to sign and then I might say, well, what kind of people do you think. What kinds of language are there in here? What are they talking mostly about?

At the bottom, it’s signed by five artistic organizations, unions, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, and so on. Why do you think these organizations are listed at the bottom of this document? And ask to try and get them to put it together. And when they see it whole, you can see light bulbs starting to off in people’s heads and it’s one of the joys of teaching that you can see that but I think that by giving out information in drips and drabs about it rather than laying it all for them is a much more fruitful experience for the students.

How to Cite

Bradley Abrams, interview, "How do you use the Charter Declaration and the anti-Charter together with students?." Making the History of 1989, Item #629 (accessed May 28 2021, 3:26 pm)