Independence Movements

05/04/2026

The South African Freedom Charter

02/02/2025

11 BILLS
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554027472577&mibextid=JRoKGi

Non-governmental organisation (NGO)

12/29/2024

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

A milestone document in the history of human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It has been translated into over 500 languages.

12/29/2024

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.

12/29/2024

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript -transcription-of-the-1789-joint-resolution-of-congress-proposing-12-amendments-to-the-u-s-constitution-2

[get-content name="print-page-left" include-tag="false" /] Note: The following text is a transcription of the enrolled original of the Joint Resolution of Congress proposing the Bill of Rights, which is on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. The spelling and punctuation...

08/01/2024

BLACK
LIVES
MATTER

Full Text of Demands
End Zero Tolerance. Focus our Schools on Restorative Justice.

The use of zero tolerance in public schools stops now. The over-policing, out of control suspensions, and expulsions must be brought to an immediate end. To rebuild our structures, we will focus our resources on restorative justice-the organic appointment of community leaders; mediation and processing; and equitable perspectives on rehabilitation. Ending zero tolerance and focusing our schools around restorative justice will honor an autonomous voice and vision for students, staff and faculty.

Black Teacher Pushout Ends Now! Hire and Retain Black Teachers in our Schools.

Nine U.S. cities demonstrate a rapid decline in the number of Black Teachers: Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC. This leaves a mighty burden on the Black Teachers and Service Providers who are left behind and viewed as “disciplinarians.” Racist policies in schools and biased skills exams eliminate Black and Brown teaching candidates. We must increase teacher retention and opportunities for teachers of color.

The elimination of Black teachers is an aggressive push towards homogenizing education in America, creating the School to Prison Pipeline, and honoring the pervasive system of racism from which our country gains its roots. Studies show that students excel academically when they are taught from someone in their own racial group. This message of inequity negatively impacts our student's aptitude for learning and limits the scopes of their dreams. Our Black Teachers need our support and deserve to no longer be abandoned.

Black History/Ethnic Studies Mandated K-12

A classroom is incomplete if there is only one history taught to its students. The exclusion of Black History and Ethnic studies curriculum ends now. Our students of color deserve to feel empowered in the classroom, by seeing themselves in the curriculum and reading materials. Black History and Ethnic Studies must be included in K-12 classrooms. To effectively do this, all teachers are mandated to participate in university and certification programs before blindly infusing Black history or Ethnic Studies into their curriculum. This will ensure that these changes occur with informed tools and dedication.

Fund Counselors Not Cops

Our newest demand is simple: children need counselors not cops. Schools today spend an enormous amount of their financial resources hiring school resource officers and local police officers. These same schools often lack enough counselors for students to receive the support they need. We have seen videos of horrifying interactions with police officers and Black students in school and each week we hear of Black people having the police called on them for simply existing while Black. The reality is our schools need counselors for children. The amount of racial trauma and adverse childhood experiences Black students experience continues to increase. We demand that schools provide counselors who have manageable caseloads that allow them to provide quality service to all students.











BLACK
LIVES
MATTER


The Black Lives Matter Movement is guided by the following principles.

We seek to expand student understanding of these principles through the week of action.

1. Restorative Justice

As we forge our path, we intentionally cultivate and sustain an environment that is rooted in compassion and empathy, where we can make mistakes, grow, and express the fullness of our humanity.

2. Empathy

We cultivate empathy by seeking understanding and engaging comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

3. Loving Engagement

Our interactions are guided by a commitment to embody justice, peace, and liberation.

4. Diversity

We recognize, accept, and celebrate the unique qualities that make us different and the shared perspectives, circumstances, and commonalities that connect us.

5. Globalism

We recognize that we’re part of the global Black family in a common struggle toward liberation. We stay attuned to the different ways we are impacted including our privilege as Black folx who exist in different parts of the world alongside our other contexts.

6. Q***r Affirming

We reclaim the word q***r as an act of defiance and in solidarity with those who have paved the way for us to live openly. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of cis-heteropatriarchal assumptions. We foster a network in which all people can be genuine and express their authentic, embodied selves.

7. Trans Affirming

We are self-reflexive and consistently do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege. We hold space for our siblings who are agender, inters*x, transgender, and gender expansive to participate and lead. We uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be targeted and subjected to violence. We work outside of the binary to achieve full liberation.

8. Collective Value

We are guided by the fact that all Black lives, regardless of s*x assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, s*xual orientation, economic status, ability, disability, education, location, age, immigration status, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, matter. None of us are free until we are all free.

9. Intergenerational

We cultivate a communal network free from ageism and adultism because of our belief in the leadership and learning potential of all people, regardless of age. We recognize and celebrate the intergenerational relationships that have always been and must continue to be when working for justice.

10. Black Families

We make our spaces family-friendly and enable caregivers to fully participate with their children. We oppose the practice that demands double duty, where one is expected to parent in private but engage in public work. We recognize that family includes our chosen families.

11. Black Villages

We disrupt the narrow Western prescribed nuclear family structure expectation. We support each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially “our” children. We believe that radical care belongs in the public sphere.

12. Unapologetically Black

We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others. We proudly embrace our Blackness.

13. Black Women

We build a space that affirms Black women by centering their experiences. We recognize the many ways patriarchy shows up so consistently work to maintain a space free from s*xism and misogyny, actively disrupting patriarchal culture.

07/28/2024

IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

01/12/2024

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Preamble

The people of Venezuela, exercising their powers of creation and invoking the protection of God, the historic example of our Liberator Simon Bolivar and the heroism and sacrifice of our aboriginal ancestors and the forerunners and founders of a free and sovereign nation; to the supreme end of reshaping the Republic to establish a democratic, participatory and self reliant, multiethnic and multicultural society in a just, federal and decentralized State that embodies the values of freedom, independence, peace, solidarity, the common good, the nation's territorial integrity, comity and the rule of law for this and future generations; guarantees the right to life, work, learning, education, social justice and equality, without discrimination or subordination of any kind; promotes peaceful cooperation among nations and furthers and strengthens Latin American integration in accordance with the principle of nonintervention and national self-determination of the people, the universal and indivisible guarantee of human rights, the democratization of imitational society, nuclear disarmament, ecological balance and environmental resources as the common and inalienable heritage of humanity; exercising their innate power through their representatives comprising the National Constituent Assembly, by their freely cast vote and in a democratic Referendum, hereby ordain the following:

Excerpts from:

The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Title III
Duties, Human Rights and Guarantees

Chapter I
General Provisions

Article 19: The State shall guarantee to every individual, in accordance with the progressive principle and without discrimination of any kind, not renounceable, indivisible and interdependent enjoyment and exercise of human rights. Respect for and the guaranteeing of these rights is obligatory for the organs of Public Power, in accordance with the Constitution, the human rights treaties signed and ratified by the Republic and any laws developing the same.

Article 20: Everyone has the right to the free development of his or her own personality, subject only to the limitations deriving from the rights of others and public and social order.

Article 21: Al persons are equal before the law, and, consequently:
1.-No discrimination based on race, s*x, creed or social standing shall be permitted, nor, in general, any discrimination with the intent or effect of nullifying or encroaching upon the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on equal terms, of the rights and liberties of every individual.
2.-The law shall guarantee legal and administrative conditions such as to make equality before the law real and effective manner; shall adopt affirmative measures for the benefit of any group that is discriminated against, marginalized or vulnerable; shall protect in particular those persons who, because of any of the aforementioned circumstances, are in a manifestly weak position; and shall punish those who abuse or mistreat such persons.
3.-People will only be officially addressed as Citizens, except for diplomatic forms.
4.-No titles of nobility or hereditary distinctions shall be recognized.

Article 22: The recitation of rights and guarantees contained in this Constitution and in international instruments concerning human rights are not to be understood as negating others inherent to individuals, not expressly mentioned in such recitation. The absence of a law regulating these rights shall not adversely affect the exercise thereof.

Article 23: The treaties, pacts and conventions relating human rights which have been executed and ratified by Venezuela have a constitutional rank, and prevail over internal legislation, insofar as they contain provisions concerning the enjoyment and exercise of such rights that are more favorable than those established by this Constitution arid the laws of the Republic, and shall be immediately and directly applied by the courts and other organs of the Public Power.

Article 24: No legislative provision shall have retroactive effect, except where it imposes a lesser penalty. Procedural laws shall apply from the moment they go into effect, even to proceedings already in progress; however, in criminal proceedings, evidence already admit ted shall be weighed in accordance with the laws that were in effect when the evidence was admitted, insofar as this benefits the defendant.
When there are doubts as to the rule of law that is to be applied, the most beneficial to the defendant will prevail.

Article 25: Any act on the part of the Public Power that violates or encroaches upon the rights guaranteed by this Constitution and by law is null and void, and the public employees* ordering or implementing the same shall incur criminal, civil and administrative liability, as applicable in each case, with no defense on grounds of having followed the orders of a superior. Article 26: Everyone has the right to access the organs comprising the justice system for the purpose of enforcing his or her rights and interests, including those of a collective or diffuse nature to the effective protection of the aforementioned and to obtain the corresponding prompt decision.
The State guarantees justice that is free of charge, accessible, impartial, suitable, transparent, autonomous, independent, responsible, equitable and expeditious, without undue delays, superfluous formalities or useless reinstating.

Article 27: Everyone has the right to be protected by the courts in the enjoyment and exercise of constitutional rights and guarantees, including even those inherent individual rights not expressly mentioned in this Constitution or in international instruments concerning human rights.
Proceedings on a claim for constitutional protection shall be oral, public, brief, free of charge and unencumbered by formalities, and the competent judge shall have the power to restore immediately the legal situation infringed upon or the closest possible equivalent thereto. All time shall be available for the holding of such proceedings, and the court shall give constitutional claims priority over any other matters.
The action for the protection of liberty or safety, may be exercised by any person and the physical custody of the person of the detainee shall be transferred immediately to the court, without delay.
The exercise of this right shall not be affected in any way by the declaration of a state of exception or restriction of constitutional guarantees.

Article 28: Anyone has the right of access to the information and data concerning him or her or his or her goods which are contained in official or private records, with such exceptions as may be established by law, as well as what use is being made of the same and the purpose thereof, and to petition the court of competent competence for the updating, correction or destruction of any records that are erroneous or unlawfully affect the petitioner's right. He or she may, as well, access documents of any nature containing information of interest to communities or group of persons. The foregoing is without prejudice to the confidentiality of sources from which information is received b journalist, or secrecy in other professions as may be determined by law.

Article 29: The State is obliged to investigate and legally punish offenses against human rights committed by its authorities.
Actions to punish the offense of violating humanity rights, serious violations of human rights and war crimes shall not be subject to statute of limitation. Human rights violations and the offense of violating humanity rights shall be investigated and adjudicated by the courts of ordinary competence. These offenses are excluded from any benefit that might render the offenders immune from punishment, including pardons and amnesty.

Article 30: The State has the obligation to make full reparations to the victims of human rights violations for which it may be held responsible, and to the legal successors to such victims, including payment of damages.
The State shall adopt the necessary legislative measures and measures of other nature to implement the reparations and damage compensation provided for under this article.
The State shall protect the victims of ordinary crimes and endeavor to make the guilty parties provide reparations for the inflicted damages.

Article 31: Everyone has the right, on the terms established by the human rights treaties, pacts and conventions ratified by the Republic, to address petitions and complaints to the intentional organs created for such purpose, in order to ask for protection of his or her human rights.
The State shall adopt, in accordance with the procedures established under this Constitution and by the law, such measures as may be necessary to enforce the decisions emanating from international organs as provided for under this article.

Chapter II
Nationality and Citizenship
Section One: Nationality

Article 32: Are Venezuelans by birth:
(1) Any person who was born within the territory of the Republic.
(2) Any person who was born in a foreign territory, and is the child of a father and mother who are both Venezuelans by birth.
(3) Any person who was born in a foreign territory, and is the child of a father or a mother, who is Venezuelan by birth, provided they have established residence within the territory of the Republic or declared their intention to obtain the Venezuelan nationality.
(4) Any person who was born in a foreign territory, and is the child of a father or a mother who is Venezuelan by naturalization, provided that prior to reaching the age of 18, they establish their residence within the territory of the Republic, and before reaching the age of 25 declare their intention to obtain the Venezuelan nationality.

(1) No person shall be arrested or detained except by virtue of a court order, unless such person is caught in fraganti. In the latter case, such person must be brought before a judge within forty-eight hours of his or her arrest. He or she shall remain free during trial, except for reasons determined by law and assessed by the judge on a case-by-case basis.
(2) The bail as required by law for the release of a detainee shall not be subject to tax of any kind.
(3) Any person under arrest has the right to communicate immediately with members of his or her family, an attorney or any other person in whom he or she reposes trust, and such persons in turn have the right to be informed where the detainee is being held, to be notified immediately of the reasons for the arrest and to have a written record inserted into the case file concerning the physical or mental condition of the detainee, either by himself or herself, or with the aid of specialists. The competent authorities shall keep a public record of every arrest made, including the identity of the person arrested, the place, time, circumstances and the officers who made the arrest.
(4) In the case of the arrest of foreign nationals, applicable provisions of international treaties concerning consular notification shall also be observed.
(5) The penalty shall not extend beyond the person of the convicted individual. No one shall be sentenced to perpetual or humiliating penalties. Penalties consisting of deprivation of liberty shall not exceed 30 years.
(6) Any authority taking measures involving the deprivation of liberty must identify himself or herself.
(7) No person shall remain under arrest after a release order has been issued by the competent authority or such person's sentence has been served.
(1) No person shall be subjected to penalties, tortures, cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment. Every victim of torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment effected or tolerated by agents of the State has the right to rehabilitation.
(2) Any person deprived of liberty shall be treated with respect due to the inherent dignity of the human being.
(3) No person shall be subjected without his or her freely given consent to scientific experiments or medical or laboratory examinations, except when such person's life is in danger, or in any other circumstances as may be detained by law.
(4) Any public official who, by reason of his official position, inflicts mistreatment or physical or mental suffering on any person or instigates or tolerates such treatment, shall be punished* in accordance with law.

(1) Legal assistance and defense are inviolable rights at all stages and levels during the investigation and proceeding. Every person has the right to be notified of the charges for which he or she is being investigated, to have access to the evidence and to be afforded the necessary time and means to conduct his or her defense. Any evidence obtained in violation of due process shall be null and void. Any person declared guilty shall have the right to appeal, except in the cases established by this Constitution and by the law.
(2) Any person shall be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
(3) Every person has the right to be heard in proceedings of any kind, with all due guarantees and within such reasonable time limit as may be legally detained, by a competent, independent and impartial court established in advance. Anyone who does not speak Spanish or is unable to communicate verbally is entitled to an interpreter.
(4) Every person has the right to be judged by his or her natural judges of ordinary or special competence, with the guarantees established in this Constitution and by law. No person shall be put on trial without knowing the identity of the party judging him or her, nor be adjudged by exceptional courts or commissions created for such purpose.
(5) No person shall be required to confess guilt or testify against himself or herself or his or her spouse or partner, or any other relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second degree of affinity.
(1) A confession shall be valid only if given without coercion of any kind.
(6) No person shall be punished for acts or omissions not defined under preexisting laws as a crime, offense or infraction.
(7) No person shall be placed on trial based on the same facts for which such person has been judged previously.
(8) Every person shall request from the State the restoration or remediation of a legal situation adversely affected by unwarranted judicial errors, and unjustified delay or omissions. The foregoing is without prejudice to the right of the individual to seek to hold the magistrate or judge personally liable, and that of the State to take action against the same.

01/12/2024

PREAMBLE

We the people of Zimbabwe,

United in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality, and our heroic resistance to colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression,

Exalting and extolling the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives during the Chimurenga / Umvukela and national liberation struggles,

Honouring our forebears and compatriots who toiled for the progress of our country,

Recognising the need to entrench democracy, good, transparent and accountable governance and the rule of law,

Reaffirming our commitment to upholding and defending fundamental human rights and freedoms,

Acknowledging the richness of our natural resources,

Celebrating the vibrancy of our traditions and cultures,

Determined to overcome all challenges and obstacles that impede our progress,

Cherishing freedom, equality, peace, justice, tolerance, prosperity and patriotism in search of new frontiers under a common destiny,
Acknowledging the supremacy of Almighty God, in whose hands our future lies,

Resolve by the tenets of this Constitution to commit ourselves to build a united, just and prosperous nation, founded on values of transparency, equality, freedom, fairness, honesty and the dignity of hard work,

And, imploring the guidance and support of Almighty God, hereby make this Constitution and commit ourselves to it as the fundamental law of our beloved land.

PEOPLE’S RIGHTS

" everyone has the right to work in just and favourable conditions;49 the right to form or join a trade union of his or her choice;50 the right to social security (including social insurance);51 the right to protection of the family;52 the right to an adequate standard of living (inclusive of adequate food...”

All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”

“Rights that shall not be limited or violated are the right to life (with the exception of the death penalty as provided), right to human dignity, right not to be tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, right not to be placed in slavery or servitude, right to a fair trial, and the …”

“The constitution protects the right of individuals to choose and change their religion as well as to privately or publicly manifest and propagate their religion through worship, teaching, practice, and observance”

“Every child shall have the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion; Parents, and where applicable, legal guardians shall have a duty to provide guidance and direction in the exercise of these rights having regard to the evolving capacities, and best interests of the child; States Parties shall...”

“The Constitution in section 56, provides a strong framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of women and men, girls and boys in Zimbabwe. It recognizes the equality of all persons and goes further to explicitly outlaw discrimination on the grounds of s*x or gender.”

“The Zimbabwe constitution's Bill of Rights enshrines a number of fundamental rights including the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression as well as political participation.”

01/12/2024

Vietnamese Declaration of Independence

Compatriots of the entire nation assembled:

All people are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of the French Revolution made in 1791 also states: All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.

Those are undeniable truths.

Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French colonists, in the name of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.

In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.

They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, Center, and South of Vietnam in order to destroy our national unity and prevent our people from being united.

They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slaughtered our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in bloodbaths.

They have fettered public opinion; they have practiced obscurantism against our people.

To weaken our race they have forced us to use o***m and alcohol.
In the field of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people and devastated our land.

They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. They have monopolized the issuing of bank notes and the export trade.

They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty.
They have hampered the prospering of our national bourgeoisie; they have mercilessly exploited our workers.

In the autumn of 1940, when the Japanese fascists violated Indochina's territory to establish new bases in their fight against the Allies, the French imperialists went down on their bended knees and handed over our country to them. Thus, from that date, our people were subjected to the double yoke of the French and the Japanese. Their sufferings and miseries increased. The result was that, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, from Quảng Trị province to northern Vietnam, more than two million of our fellow citizens died from starvation.

On March 9 [1945], the French troops were disarmed by the Japanese. The French colonialists either fled or surrendered, showing that not only were they incapable of "protecting" us, but that, in the span of five years, they had twice sold our country to the Japanese.

On several occasions before March 9, the Việt Minh League urged the French to ally themselves with it against the Japanese. Instead of agreeing to this proposal, the French colonialists so intensified their terrorist activities against the Việt Minh members that before fleeing they massacred a great number of our political prisoners detained at Yên Bái and Cao Bằng.

Notwithstanding all this, our fellow citizens have always manifested toward the French a tolerant and humane attitude. Even after the Japanese Putsch of March 1945, the Việt Minh League helped many Frenchmen to cross the frontier, rescued some of them from Japanese jails, and protected French lives and property.

From the autumn of 1940, our country had in fact ceased to be a French colony and had become a Japanese possession. After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people rose to regain our national sovereignty and to found the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The truth is that we have wrested our independence from the Japanese and not from the French.

The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated, Emperor Bảo Đại has abdicated. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a century have fettered them and have won independence for the Fatherland. Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been established the present Democratic Republic.

For these reasons, we, the members of the Provisional Government, representing the whole Vietnamese people, declare that from now on we break off all relations of a colonial character with France; we repeal all the international obligation that France has so far subscribed to on behalf of Viet-Nam, and we abolish all the special rights the French have unlawfully acquired in our Fatherland.
The whole Vietnamese people, animated by a common purpose, are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer the country.

We are convinced that the Allied nations, which at Tehran and San Francisco have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.

A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent!

For these reasons, we, the members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that:

Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already. And thus the entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.

— Signatories: Hồ-chí-Minh, president, Trần-huy-Liệu, Võ-nguyên-Giáp, Chu-văn-Tấn, Dương-đức-Hiền, Nguyễn-văn-Tố, Nguyễn-mạnh-Hà, Cù-huy-Cận, Phạm-ngọc-Thạch, Nguyễn-văn-Xuân, Vũ-trọng-Khánh, Phạm-văn-Đồng, Đào-trọng-Kim, Vũ-đình-Hòe, Lê-văn-Hiến.

1940 – 1045 – Occupation of Vietnam by Japan
August Revolution of 1945 – 26th – Hgang Nang; Ha Noi:
Ho Chi Minh presides over Comunist Party of Vietnam, Provisional Revolutionary Governmnent of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam