May 5–6, 2007

Living Without Freedom

A History Institute for Secondary School Teachers

Sponsors:

Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education,
A Division of the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Students grow up in a free society; it is the only kind of society they really know. To appreciate and comprehend the benefits of freedom, students need to know what it’s like to live without freedom—or worse, in conditions of harsh repression, even genocide. To help teachers teach students about life without freedom, FPRI’s Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education, in cooperation with the National Constitution Center and the National Liberty Museum, assembled some of the world’s leading analysts—and witnesses—of countries without freedom. The conference will help teachers define totalitarianism while examining the history of the idea of freedom.

Conference Report

Living Without Freedom: A History Institute for Teachers, Trudy Kuehner (reporter), 9/2007

Speakers and Topics

China: The Cultural Revolution and Beyond: Wei Jingsheng; Eli Lesser, National Constitution Center; Alan Luxenberg, FPRI’s Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education; Read China: The Cultural Revolution and Beyond, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
The Soviet Gulag: David Satter, Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation, and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Read The Soviet Gulag, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
When Repression Masquerades as Social Justice: Confessions of a Cuban Boy: Carlos Eire, Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University; and author of Waiting for Snow in Havana, the 2007 featured book in One Book/One Philadelphia, organized by the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Mayor’s Office; Read When Repression Masquerades as Social Justice: Confessions of a Cuban Boy, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
Genocide: The Cases of Rwanda and Sudan: Alan J. Kuperman, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas; Download related presentation (1.4MB Powerpoint file); Read Genocide: The Cases of Rwanda and Sudan, FPRI FootNotes, 5/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
Freedom: The History of an Idea: J. Rufus Fears, University of Oklahoma; Read Freedom: The History of an Idea, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2007; (This event is open to participating teachers and to FPRI and NLM Trustees, and to FPRI Partners at the Silver Level and above); View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
North Korea: The Nadir of Freedom: Kongdan Oh, Institute for Defense Analyses; Read North Korea: The Nadir of Freedom, FPRI FootNotes, 5/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
Living Without Freedom in China: Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin; Read Living Without Freedom in China, FPRI FootNotes, 6/2007; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)
Ideas for the Classroom: Moderated by Paul Dickler and James Sanzare of FPRI’s Marvin Wachman Fund; View in RealPlayer; Listen to streaming MP3; Download MP3 audio file (MB)

Classroom Lessons

American Civil Religion: Reflections on Freedom (35K Microsoft Word document): Craig Perrier (2007)
Living With or Without Freedom (48K Word document): Susan Mitchell (2007); The lesson compares the freedoms Americans enjoy owing to the country’s founding documents with the lack of freedom for citizens of totalitarian states. The goal is for students to understand and appreciate the freedoms they enjoy as Americans. Often students take them for granted and are unaware these rights aren’t universal.
Comparing Regimes: Critical Reading of Memoirs and Experiences from Totalitarian Regimes (38K Word document): Larry Rogers (2007); What does it mean to “live without freedom”? Most students in America have very little concept of what this means. Victims of dictatorships have left behind a written record detailing the abuses against themselves and their families. This lesson will give students the opportunity to study at least one of these documents in detail.
Defining Democracy and Freedom (48K Word document): Paul Dickler, Ph.D. (2007); The student will seek to define “democracy” and “freedom,” and in doing so understand the complex relationships among terms such as “individual liberties,” “majority rule,” “economic determinism,” “libertarianism,” “authoritarianism,” and “totalitarianism.”
Democracy Wall (57K Word document): Christina Cote (2007); Students will understand that people around the world live in varying degrees of freedom. Students will recognize that freedom is a value that is not recognized the same by all individuals and nations. Students will evaluate various historical and current figures that fight or have fought for democracy and freedom.
Living Without Freedom: A Document-Based Question (80K Word document): Larry Rogers (2007); Throughout the 20th Century, various regimes and governments have taken control of different states. Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist China and pre-WWII Japan have provided a literary tradition allowing citizens of free nations to learn what life is like in a society without freedom.

Major funding for the History Institute for Teachers has been contributed by The Annenberg Foundation. The weekend on “Living without Freedom” is supported by a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.