ABSTRACT
Hundreds of thousands of other citizens have been denied the "freedom from fear" cited in the Preamble to the first pact; they live in constant peril of losing their jobs or if they express their opinions. Freedom of speech is suppressed by the government's management of all mass media, including the publishing and cultural institutions. A whole range of civil rights is severely restricted or completely suppressed by the effective method of subordinating all institutions and organizations in the State to the political directives of the ruling Party's apparatuses and the pronouncements of highly influential individuals. Some citizens—privately at their places of work, or through the media abroad have drawn attention to these systematic violations of human rights and democratic freedoms and have demanded a remedy in specific cases. Charter 77 is founded on the concepts of solidarity and friendship of people who share a concern for the fate of ideals to which they have linked their lives and work.
