Failures, Limits and Competition: Campaigns on Behalf of Eastern European Dissidents in Cold War Belgium, 1956–1989
In: East Central EuropeSearch for other papers by Kim Christiaens in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Manuel Herrera Crespo in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article examines the ways in which campaigns supportive of dissidents and human rights in Eastern Europe developed in Belgium during the Cold War. The Belgian case study reveals the critical role of internationally oriented Catholic organizations and social movements in these campaigns. This Catholic activism has often been neglected in mainstream accounts focusing on left-wing or liberal support for Eastern European dissidents or human rights, but it is key to understanding the development of campaigns and their relationships, both real and imagined, with other causes, especially movements with a North – South orientation. Catholic ngo s and social movements constituted a site where activism on behalf of dissidents and human rights in Eastern Europe encountered and entangled with solidarity movements oriented toward the “Third World”. Revealing crossovers and connections, this article argues that the engagement with and images of Eastern European dissidents cannot be understood apart from the development of North – South movements. It also reveals tensions and limitations that have remained neglected in universalizing human rights narratives stressing connections and flows.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Katholiek Documentatie Centrum (kdc), Nijmegen, Archive Pax Christi (pxi)
-
– 1534, Correspondence Oliver McTernan, Pax Christi International seminar on church and détente, August 26–27 1980
-
– 766, Etienne De Jonghe, Op zoek naar gemeenschappelijke grond: De gesprekken tussen Pax Christi Internationaal en de Russisch-Orthodoxe kerk, Brussel, 19 February 1993, 1.
-
Leuven University Archive (kul Archive), Leuven, Archive rector Honoré Van Waeyenbergh (Archive Van Waeyenbergh), nr. 7481 (A): Hongaarse studenten, Correspondence Van Waeyenbergh en Muzslay, 1956–1958.
-
Documentatie- en Onderzoekscentrum voor Religie, Cultuur en Samenleving (kadoc-ku Leuven), Leuven, Archive Hulp aan Hongaarse Jeugd (hhj) 5:
-
– “West Europa niet medeschuldig aan het Hongaarse drama? Harde woorden van pater Stefan Muzslay S.J.” 31 January 1957a.
-
– “Radio toespraak door E. P. Muzslay, S. J.” 31 March 1957b.
-
– “Hongaarse jeugd in ballingschap: arbeidersjongens en scholieren worden vergeten.” De Standaard, 2 June 1957c.
-
– “Hulp aan Hongaarse Jongeren een Mislukking.” Gazet Van Antwerpen, 20 June 1957d.
-
– “Waarschuwing bij geldomhalingen voor Hongaarse kinderen.” De Standaard, 22 November 1957e.
-
– “Wat verwachten de Hongaren in België?” Gazet Van Antwerpen, 5 November 1959a.
-
– “Pater Muzslay, bestuurder van “hulp aan Hongaarse Jeugd in Balllingschap.” Hield Radiotoespraak op 3de verjaardag van Hongaarse opstand. 5 November 1959b.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Archive acv/csc Bestuursorganen (acv bo), “procès-verbal de la réunion du Bureau en communiqué à la presse,” 1956–1957.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Archive Kerk in Nood (kin/oph) 7:
-
– “Interview met Pater Werenfried van Straaten,” 1969.
-
– “Kapelwagens Oostpriesterhulp van Duitsland naar Latijns-Amerika.” De Standaard, 25 January 1971a.
-
– “‘Der Buffel’ Begin van een onmetelijk werk: De kapelwagensaktie van Oostpriesterhulp door de geschiedenis heen.” Christelijk Informatie Platform, 25 January 1971b.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Archive acv/csc Dienst Internationale Betrekkingen (acv ib) 43:
-
– Contacts with Czechoslovakia, “Invitation Solidarity march” 2 February 1977.
-
– Correspondence from Jef Houthuys to Karel Hoffman, May 1978
-
– “Issue of Rudolf Battek,” 31 June 1980.
-
– “Visit Hungarian Delegation,” 24 April 1981.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Aktiekrant: Wereldsolidariteit (ws ak):
-
– “Jaarrekening wereldsolidariteit.” 1980, 2: 4.
-
– “Actie Polen.” 1982a, 13: 4.
-
– “Een volk blijft vechten voor zijn vrijheid.” 1982b, 16: 3.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Archive World Confederation of Labour (wcl):
-
– 611, “Les aspirations à la liberté et à la démocratie du peuple tchécoslovaque,” 1968.
-
kadoc, Leuven, Archive Pax Christi België/Vlaanderen (pxb/v):
-
– 27, “Rencontre des Cultures, Rencontre des Hommes: Amérique latine,” 1960.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Verslag van de vergadering van de Oost-Westkomissie,” 12 December 1983.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Verslag van de vergadering van de Oost-Westkomissie,” 16 May 1984a.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Verslag van de vergadering van de Oost-Westkomissie,” 19 November 1984b.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Verslag van de vergadering van de Oost-Westkomissie,” 17 December 1984c.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Verslag van de vergadering van de Oost-Westkomissie,” 23 January 1985a.
-
– 148, Vredespolitiek: Themagroep Oost-West ontspanning-mensenrechten, “Pax Christi nodigt uit: Karel Bartosek,” 19 March 1985b.
-
– 389, Oost-West Werkgroep 1990, Correspondance, “Gregory Lokshin to Etienne De Jonghe,” 3 September 1990a.
-
– 389, Oost-West Werkgroep 1990, “Verslag van de vergadering van de werkgroep Oost-West,” 10 September 1990b.
-
Amsab Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (amsab), Ghent, Archive Jong Socialisten (js):
-
– 712b, Correspondence, 1 Mei Komitee to Z. Enc Ambassadeur van de C.S.S.R.
-
– 712, Correspondence, Frank Beke to Anne Léger, 26 October 1979.
-
– 712, “Aan de ‘aktiviteiten’ van het 1 Mei Komitee. Betreft: Kampagne ‘oproep Moskou ’80,’” 23 April 1980a.
-
– 712, Dossier “Oproep Moskou 80,” 1980b.
-
– 712, “Vrijlating van alle politieke gevangenen – peterschap,” 1982.
-
– 712a, “En cours de route, le comité du Premier Mai a été amené à peciser ses raisons d’être et ses objectifs.”
-
Amsab Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (amsab), Ghent, Robotnik informatiebulletin van het Vlaamse 1 Mei Komitee voor de verdediging van de demokratische vrijheden en arbeidersrechten in Oost-Europa (1) January 1980.
-
Bange, Oliver, and Poul Villaume. 2017. “Introduction.” In The Long Détente: Changing Concepts of Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1950s and 1980s, edited by Oliver Bange and Poul Villaume, 1–17. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2017.
-
Berger, Stefan, and Norman LaPorte. 2010. “Great Britain: Between Avoiding Cold War and Supporting Free Trade Unionism.” In Solidarity with Solidarity: Western European Trade Unions and the Polish Crisis: 1980–1982, edited by Idesbald Goddeeris, 129–157. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010.
-
Berman, Paul. 1996. A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
-
Bouwman, Bastiaan. 2018. “From Religious Freedom to Social Justice: The Human Rights Engagement of the Ecumenical Movement from the 1940s to the 1970s.” Journal of Global History 13: 252–273.
-
Boydens, Isabelle. 1995. “Un movement pour la Paix au coeur des tensions nationales et internationales: Pax Christi: Histoire de la branche francophone belge (1953–1975).” Belgisch tijdschrift voor nieuwste geschiedenis – Revue belge d’histoire contemporaine (btng-rbhc) 3–4: 481–537.
-
Bracke, Maud. 2007. Which Socialism? Whose Détente? West European Communism and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968. Budapest: Central European University Press.
-
Bracke, Maud, and James Mark. 2015. “Introduction: Between Decolonization and the Cold War: Transnational Activism and its Limits in Europe 1950s–1990s.” Journal of Contemporary History 50, no 3: 403–417.
-
Brier, Robert et al. 2013. Entangled Protest: Transnational Approaches to the History of Dissent in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Osnabruck: Fibre Verlag.
-
Brier, Robert. 2021. Poland’s Solidarity Movement and the Global Politics of Human Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Caestecker, Franck. 2016. “Vluchtelingen uit Hongarije in 1956. Het Belgisch verhaal” [Refugees from Hungary in 1956. The Belgian Story]. Brood & Rozen 4: 21–47.
-
Chauvier, Jean-Marie. 2008. “‘Gauches Solidaires’: les comites belges solidaires des luttes pour les droits démocratiques à l’Est.” Colloque International L’autre printemps 21/22 Novembre 2008. Deuxième Journée. Les mouvements de solidarité de la gauche en Belgique et la échelle internationale, Brussels, Centre des archives communistes, pacifistes, de solidarité internationale et de lutte contre le colonialisme et l’apartheid, en Belgique.
-
Chourchoulis, Dionysios. 2020. “Understanding the Long Détente and its Crisis in the Cold War International History.” Journal of Contemporary History 55, no. 3: 666–678.
-
Christiaens, Kim. 2013. “Diplomatie activisme en effectieve solidariteit. Een nieuw perspectief op de mobilisatie voor Vietnam (1960–1975)” [Diplomacy, activism and effective solidarity. A new perspective on the mobilization for Vietnam]. Brood en Rozen 18, no. 1: 4–27.
-
Christiaens, Kim. 2015a. “European Solidarities with 1956 Hungary During the Cold War: Critical Reflections and Themes.” The International Journal for Education, Law and Policy 15: 111–119.
-
Christiaens, Kim. 2015b. “Globalizing Nicaragua? An Entangled History of Sandinista Solidarity Campaigns in Western Europe.” In Making Sense of the Americas: How Protest Related to America in the 1980s and Beyond, edited by Jan Hansen, Christian Helm, and Frank Reichherzer, 155–177. New York: Campus, 2015b.
-
Christiaens, Kim. 2019. “The Failure of a Third Way: The World Confederation of Labor and the Globalization of Solidarność during the 1980s.” In Christian Democracy and the Fall of Communism, edited by Michael Gehler and Piotr H. Kosicki, 47–83. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2019.
-
Christiaens, Kim et. al. 2015. “The Low Countries and Eastern Europe during the Cold War: Introduction.” Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies 39, no. 3: 221–231.
-
Christiaens, Kim et. al. 2016. “The Benelux and the Cold War: Re-interpreting West-West Relations.” Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies 40, no. 1: 1–9.
-
Christiaens, Kim, and Idesbald Goddeeris. 2020. “Competing Solidarities? Solidarność and the Global South during the 1980s.” In Alternative Globalizations: Eastern Europe and the Postcolonial World, edited by Artemy Kalinovsky, James Mark, and Steffi Marung, 288–310. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2020.
-
Christiaens, Kim, and Jos Claeys. 2020. “Forgotten, Friends and Allies: Belgian Social Movements and Communist Europe (1960s–1990s).” In International Solidarity in the Low Countries during the Twentieth Century: New Themes and Perspectives, edited by Kim Christiaens, John Nieuwenhuys, and Charel Roemer, 159–182. Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenburg, 2020.
-
Christiaens, Kim, Jos Claeys, and Idesbald Goddeeris. 2020. “Connecting the East to the South: Eastern European Dissidents and Third World Activism during the 1970s.” Ventunesimo Secolo 46, no. 2: 33–57.
-
Christiansen, Samantha, and Zachary Scarlett. 2013. The Third World in the Global 1960s. New York: Berghahn.
-
Coolsaet, Rik. 2008. “België in de Koude Oorlog” [Belgium in the Cold War]. In De Koude Oorlog: Een nieuwe geschiedenis (1917–1991), edited by Yves Vanden Berghe, 354–360. Leuven: Acco, 2008.
-
Claeys, Jos. 2020. “Christelijke vakbonden van hoop naar ontgoocheling: Het Wereldverbond van de Arbeid en de transformatie van het voormalige Oostblok na 1989” [Christian Trade Unions from Hope to Disappointment: The World Confederation of Labor and the Transformation of the Former Eastern Bloc after 1989]. Trajecta 29, no. 1: 49–83.
-
Creve, Piet. 1997. “‘Vroeg invallende winters’ België en de Hongaars en Tsjecho-Slovaakse crisissen van 1956 en 1968” [“Early Deploying Winters”: Belgium and the Hungarian and Czechoslovakian Crises of 1956 and 1968]. In Oost West West Best: België onder de Koude Oorlog 1947–1989, edited by Mark Van den Wyngaert and Lieve Beullens, 111–116. Tielt: Lannoo, 1997.
-
De Graaf, Beatrice. 2004. Over de Muur: de DDR, de Nederlandse kerken en de vredesbeweging [Over the Wall: The gdr and the Dutch Churches and the Peace Movement]. Amsterdam: Boom.
-
Defoort, Hendrik. 2003. “‘In hun ogen waren we de helden van de strijd tegen het communism.’ Over 1956, Hongaarse Vluchtelingen en hun herinneringen” [“In their Eyes, We Were the Heroes of the Struggle against Communism”: About 1956, Hungarian Refugees and their Memories]. Brood & Rozen 8, no. 2: 63–75.
-
Eckel, Jan, and Samuel Moyn. 2014. The Breakthrough: Human Rights in the 1970s. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press.
-
Gagyi, Agnes, and Mariya Ivancheva. 2019. “The Reinvention of ‘Civil Society’: Transnational Conceptions of Development in East-Central Europe.” In Funding, Power and Community Development, edited by Niamh McCrea and Fergal Finnegan, 55–69. Bristol: Policy Press, 2019.
-
Goddeeris, Idesbald. 2010a. “Introduction: Solidarity, Ideology, Instrumentality, and Other Issues.” In Solidarity with Solidarity: Western European Trade Unions and the Polish Crisis, 1980–1982, edited by Idesbald Goddeeris, 1–18. Lanham: Lexington Books.
-
Goddeeris, Idesbald. 2010b. “Belgium: The Christian Emphasis.” In Solidarity with Solidarity: Western European Trade Unions and the Polish crisis, 1980–1982, edited by Idesbald Goddeeris, 243–265. Lanham: Lexington Books.
-
Goddeeris, Idesbald. 2011. “The Limits of the Transnational.” Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire 89, no. 3–4: 1237–1248.
-
Heurtebize, Frederic. 2017. “Eurocommunism and the Contradictions of Superpower Détente.” Diplomatic History 41, no. 4: 747–771.
-
Hogebrink, Laurens. 199. “A Reappraisal of the Recent Past in the West.” Religion State and Society 25, no. 1: 54–56.
-
Hooghe, Marc. 2003. “Een bewegend doelwit. De sociologische en historische studie van de (nieuwe) sociale bewegingen in Vlaanderen” [A Moving Target. The Sociological and Historical Study of the (New) Social Movements in Flanders]. Belgisch tijdschrift voor nieuwste geschiedenis – Revue belge d’histoire contemporaine (BTNG-RBHC) 34, no. 3: 331–357.
-
Kaldor, Mary. 2003. Global Civil Society: An Answer to War. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishing.
-
Kenney, Padraic. 2002. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1956a. “Radiotoespraak van zijne eminentie kardinaal Mindszenty aan de wereld en aan het Hongaarse volk.” Echo der Liefde. Special Issue: Hungary: 4–6.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1956b. “Pater Werenfried bij Kardinaal Mindszenty.” Echo der Liefde. Special Issue: Hungary: 16–18.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1956c. “Brief van Hongaarse arbeider aan de vrije volkeren uit het Westen.” Echo der Liefde. Special Issue: Hungary: 26–28.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1956d. “Vrijheid of dood.” Echo der Liefde. Special Issue: Hungary: 32–33.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1957. “Naklanken over Hongarije.” Echo der Liefde, no. 14–15: 14.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1959. “Brief van Werenfried van Straaten.” Echo der Liefde (September–October): 1.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1962. “Ontmoeting in Santiago.” Echo der Liefde (November–December): 3.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1964. “Monseigneur aan het front.” Echo der Liefde (January–February): 3.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1968a. “Priesters bij hun volk.” Echo der Liefde (October–November): 2.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1968b. “Brief van Werenfried van Straaten.” Echo der Liefde (December): 1.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1985. “De Paus dankt u voor uw edelmoedigheid.” Echo der Liefde, no. 3A: 3.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1986. “De Heroïsche Herder: Jozsef Kardinaal Mindszenty.” Echo der Liefde (July): 2.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1987. Hulp aan vervolgde en bedreigde Christenen overal ter wereld. Westerlo: Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1990a. “Extra brief van pater Werenfried.” Echo der Liefde, Special issue: 1.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1990b. “Op weg naar de vrijheid.” Echo der Liefde, no. 4: 2.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp. 1991a. “Onze opgave in Oost-Europa.” Flash 3, no. 4: 2.
-
Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp 1991b. “Geestelijke Wedergeboorte in de Oekraïne.” Echo der Liefde (June): 2–3.
-
Komaromi, Ann. 2012. “Samizdat and Soviet Dissident Public.” Slavic Review 71, no. 1: 70–90.
-
Kouki, Hara. 2011. “Human Rights as a Transnational Vocabulary of Protest: Campaigning against the Political Abuse of Psychiatry in the Soviet Union.” In Protest beyond Borders: Contentious Politics in Europe since 1945, edited by Hara Kouki and Eduardo Romanos, 49–69. New York: Berghahn, 2013.
-
Laqua, Daniel, and Charlotte Alston. 2021. “Activism and Dissent under State Socialism: Coalitions and Campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s.” Labour History Review 86, no. 3: 295–311.
-
Levêque, M. 1957. “Hoe Polen verraden werd.” Echo der Liefde 1: 4.
-
Lievens, Johan. 2019. De Vrijheid van Onderwijs [The Freedom of Education]. Mortsel: Intersentia.
-
Oger, Hélène. 2011. “Les amitiés belgo-polonais. Analyse de la revue éditée entre 1952 et 1959 par l’absl éponyme.” Master’s thesis, UCL Louvain-La-Neuve.
-
Mikkonen, Sami, and Pia Koivunen. 2015. Beyond the Divide: Entangled Histories of Cold War Europe. New York: Berghahn.
-
Patryk Pleskot. 2011. Solidarność, Zachód i węże. Służba Bezpieczeństwa wobec emigracyjnych struktur Solidarności 1981–1989 [Solidarity, the West, and Snakes: The Security Service in the Face of the émigré Structures of Solidarity 1981–1989]. Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance.
-
Pax Christi International. 1991. A World Together: Pax Christi on Migration, Refugees, Racism, Antwerp: Pax Christi International. Antwerp: Pax Christi Belgium.
-
Peeters, Vital. 1977. “Arbeiders van Europa verenigt u, voor de veiligheid, samenwerking en de vrede in Europa.” De Gids op Maatschappelijk Gebied 68, no. 2: 178–181.
-
Pieters, Conny, Bertrand Lafontaine, and Leentje Jult. 1998. “Protestacties in België als reactie op de communistische regimes in Oost Europa: De arbeidersopstand in Hongarije (1956), de Russische inval in Tsjechoslowakije (1968) en de militaire staatsgreep in Polen (1981–1982).” Master’s thesis, Rijks Universiteit Gent.
-
Rupnik, Jacques. 2013. “The Legacies of Dissent. Charter 77, the Helsinki Effect, and the Emergence of a European Public Space.” In Samizdat, Tamizdat, and Beyond: Transnational Media During and After Socialism, edited by Friederike Kind-Kovacs and Jessie Labov, 320–328. New York: Berghahn, 2013.
-
Stocq, Aurélie. 2003. “Le Chanoine Raymond Goor (1908–1996). Prix international Lénine de la Paix. Itinéraire d’un prêtre au service du rapprochement East-Ouest et de l’amitié entre les peoples.” Master’s thesis, UCL Louvain-La-Neuve.
-
Stouthuysen, Patrick. 2004. “Oud en Nieuw één. De vredesbeweging als atypische nieuwe sociale beweging.” BTNG-RBHC 34, no. 3: 399–419.
-
Szulecki, Kacper. 2019. Dissidents in Communist Central Europe: Human Rights and the Emergence of New Transnational Actors. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
-
Tulli, Umberto. 2016. “Bringing Human Rights In: The Campaign against the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and the Origins of the Nexus between Human Rights and the Olympic Games.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 33, no. 16: 2026–2045.
-
Vandecruys, Koen. 1988. “Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp: schets van haar geschiedenis en van haar pastorale aktiviteiten” [Church in Need/ Aid to the Eastern Priests: A sketch of its History and Pastoral Activities]. Master’s thesis, KU Leuven.
-
Vanormelingen, Robert. 2021. “De laatste generaal van de Koude Oorlog: Werenfried van Straaten, Oostpriesterhulp en de evolutie van hun anticommunisme” [The last General of the Cold War: Werenfried van Straaten, Aid to the Eastern Priests and the Evolution of its Anti-Communism]. Master’s thesis, KU Leuven.
-
Van Straaten, Werenfried. 1969. Waar god schreit: In Europa en Azië, in Latijns Amerika, in Afrika, achter het IJzeren Gordijn [Where God cries, in Europe and Asia, in Latin America, in Africa and behind the Iron Curtain]. Tongerlo: Vught.
-
Van Straaten, Werenfried. 1990. “Onze opgave in Oost Europa” [Our Task in Eastern Europe]. In De katholieke Kerk in Oost Europa. Vervolging, vrijheid en wedergeboorte, edited by Paul Richard Blum, 11–22. Königstein: Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp.
-
Vekemans, Roger. 1990. “De ineenstorting van het communisme in Oost Europa en de theologie van de bevrijding in Latijns Amerika” [The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and Liberation Theology in Latin America]. In De katholieke Kerk in Oost Europa. Vervolging, vrijheid en wedergeboorte, edited by Paul Richard Blum, 124–135. Königstein: Kerk in Nood/Oostpriesterhulp, 1990.
-
Villaume, Poul, and Odd Arne Westad. 2010. “Introduction: The Secrets of European Détente.” In Perforating the Iron Curtain: European Détente, Transatlantic Relations and the Cold War, 1965–1985, edited by Poul Villaume and Odd Arne Westad, 7–18. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculaneam Press, 2010.
-
Walgrave, Stefaan. 1994. Nieuwe sociale bewegingen in Vlaanderen: een sociologische verkenning van de milieubeweging, de derdewereldbeweging en de vredesbeweging [New Social Movements in Flanders: A Sociological Exploration of the Environmental Movement, the Third World Movement and the Peace Movement]. Leuven: KU Leuven Sociologisch Onderzoek Instituut.
-
Werbrouck, Fréderique. “Les réactions de l’opinion publique et du monde politique belge face à la révolution hongroise de 1956.” Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Special issue, Hongarije: 70–88.
-
Westad, Odd Arne. 2007. The Global Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Witte, Els, Dirk Luyten, and Alain Meynen. 2016. Politieke geschiedenis van België: van 1830 tot heden. Antwerpen: Manteau.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 112 | 112 | 37 |
| Full Text Views | 62 | 62 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 98 | 98 | 6 |
Failures, Limits and Competition: Campaigns on Behalf of Eastern European Dissidents in Cold War Belgium, 1956–1989
In: East Central EuropeSearch for other papers by Kim Christiaens in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Manuel Herrera Crespo in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article examines the ways in which campaigns supportive of dissidents and human rights in Eastern Europe developed in Belgium during the Cold War. The Belgian case study reveals the critical role of internationally oriented Catholic organizations and social movements in these campaigns. This Catholic activism has often been neglected in mainstream accounts focusing on left-wing or liberal support for Eastern European dissidents or human rights, but it is key to understanding the development of campaigns and their relationships, both real and imagined, with other causes, especially movements with a North – South orientation. Catholic ngo s and social movements constituted a site where activism on behalf of dissidents and human rights in Eastern Europe encountered and entangled with solidarity movements oriented toward the “Third World”. Revealing crossovers and connections, this article argues that the engagement with and images of Eastern European dissidents cannot be understood apart from the development of North – South movements. It also reveals tensions and limitations that have remained neglected in universalizing human rights narratives stressing connections and flows.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 112 | 112 | 37 |
| Full Text Views | 62 | 62 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 98 | 98 | 6 |