Can the new Atlantic Charter match the importance of the original?
The most radical take on the Atlantic Charter came from those fighting colonialism and racism like future South African president Nelson Mandela. Mandela wrote in his memoirs that the Charter reaffirmed faith in the dignity of each human being and propagated a host of democratic principles. Those in Africa, Mandela continued, hoped that the government and ordinary South Africans would see that the principles they were fighting for in Europe were the same ones we were advocating at home. This interpretation envisioned the Charter as an anti-colonial instrument that implicitly recognized the standing of the individual everywhere in the world.