Where Do We Come From and Where Are We Going: Essays on Totalitarianism, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Philosophy of History, 1987-2026
Martin Palouš studied natural science, philosophy, and international law and was Senior Fellow and Director of the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy at Florida International University. He is President of International Platform for Human Rights in Cuba and belonged to the original signatories of Charter 77, serving as its spokesperson in 1986, and in 1989 participated in the creation of Civic Forum during Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution. After the fall of communism, he was a member of parliament, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States (2001-2005), and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations (2006-2011). He has lectured at many universities around the world and is the author of numerous publications in political philosophy, contemporary history, international relations, and international law.
This collection of texts, written between the 1980s and 2026, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Charter 77. Led by his participation in public debates between Charter 77 signatories and other residents of the community that restored democracy in Central Europe after 1989, veteran Czech diplomatic Martin Palouš believes that bearing witness is one’s duty, and that all testimony is important. Palouš’s meaningful encounter with philosophy, first within his family under communism, and later as a student of the philosopher Jan Patočka, led him to sign the Charter 77 Declaration and then become a “velvet revolution” politician, civil society activist, diplomat, NGO official, and, later, a university professor at Czech and American universities.
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