Khối 8406
Tuyên Ngôn Tự Do Dân Chủ Cho Việt Nam 2006
Bloc 8406
Manifesto on Freedom & Democracy for Viet Nam 2006
<vanphong8406@gmail.com>
Bloc 8406 calls for a Referendum in
(Bloc 8406’s Protest Letter No. 15)
I-
Whereas
1- Since
the beginning of the year 2007, the government of Communist
- the unlawful arrest and detention of numerous members of Bloc 8406 such as Mr. Pham Ba Hai, Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Truong Quoc Huy, Vu Hoang Hai, Mrs. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, Ho Thi Bich Khuong; many founding members of the United Workers-Farmers Organization of Vietnam such as Mr. Nguyen Tan Hoanh, Ms. Tran Thi Le Hang, Mr. Doan Van Dien, Mr. Hoan Huy Chuong; many human rights lawyers, such as Ms. Bui Kim Thanh, Mr. Le Quoc Quan, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Trang; artist Tran Tuan and Mr. Le Trung Hieu, Venerable Thich Thien Tam and Venerable Thich Hue Lam of the Unified Buddhist Church Of Vietnam in Binh Thuan Province; 9 practitioners of the Cao Dai religion, 10 practitioners of Hoa Hao Buddhism, and more than 350 Hmong Protestants in the highlands of Tay Nguyen.
-
the unjustifiable harassment of engineer Do Nam Hai, engineer Bach Ngoc Duong,
baccalaureate Pham Van Troi, Mr. Tran Van Hoa, Truong Quoc Tuan, Ms. Vu Thanh
Phuong, Le Thi Kim Thu, Lu Thi Thu Duyen…; illegal attempts to find and capture
professor Nguyen Chinh Ket, businessman Le Tri Tue…; the persecution of many
innocent citizens who have filed petitions to the government, and the
suppression of on-strike workers.
- especially the barbaric trial of Father Nguyen Van Ly and four members of the Vietnam Progression Party, baccalaureate Nguyen Phong, technician Nguyen Binh Thanh, schoolteacher Le Thi Le Hang, and college student Hoang Thi Anh Dao on March 30, 2007; of Hoa Hao Buddhists Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Mr. Le Van Soc, Mr. Nguyen van Thuy, and Ms. Duong Thi Tron on May 3, 2007; a similar trial of members of the People’s Democratic Party, Dr. Le Nguyen Sang, journalist Huynh Nguyen Dao, and attorney Nguyen Bac Truyen on May 10, 2007; of human rights lawyers, attorney Nguyen Van Dai, member of the Vietnam Human Rights Committee, and attorney Le Thi Cong Nhan, spokesperson for the Vietnam Progression Party, on May 11, 2007; and of lawyer Tran Quoc Hien, spokesperson of the United Workers-Farmers Organization, on May 15, 2007.
In the meantime, the state-controlled mass media has slandered these individuals with all sorts of charges, of violations of the laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; they even had the audacity to accuse United States dignitaries of the crime of “terrorism,” as in the case of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and to accuse overseas organizations such the Vietnam Reform party of the same crime.
2- The
May 20, 2007 National Assembly Election was an election lacking any democratic
procedures from its very beginning. After disingenuously pretending to call
for self-nominations, the government immediately applied the trick of “negotiation”
to eliminate many self-nominated candidates who were not Party members or did
not follow the Party’s ideology, reducing the number of candidates from 238 to
30 people; the tricks of “hierarchical organization” and “concrete guidance” to
create advantages to their side in the National Assembly; the tricks of
“reminders” and “allowance to vote for someone else” to flock the people to the
polls, allowing the state-controlled mass media to boast that the “turnout rate
for all people is more than 90%”; the tricks of “taking minutes” regarding
individuals exercising their right to abstain from voting (as if it’s a
criminal act) and “threatening to punish,” throughout the country, any brave
citizen who speaks out and refuses to participate in this political comedy.
This does not even include the perverse statement made by the vice president of
the National Assembly, Nguyen Van Yeu, on May 2, 2007: “In other countries,
there are election campaigns, but in
The end result is that Vietnam has a National Assembly in which 90% are Communist Party members, who continue to be the servants and the nodding councils of the Politburo, rubber-stamping every one of their decisions, all of which have as their primary purpose the protection of the interests of the Communist Party, determined to keep the “game of democracy” from being played in an appropriate manner, blindly determined to continue on the failing path of the building of a society according to “Socialism.”
3- These above stated acts by the Vietnamese Communist government underline four clear intentions: (a)- Intimidation of the people, warning them that they are the subordinates of the Communist Party, instead of being the true owners of the country; (b)- Fabrication of a system of excuses to maintain the massive system of totalitarianism with the complicity of their blind, obedient agents such as the National Assembly, the courts, the police, the mass media, the army, state-sponsored religions, …; (c)- Intentional creation of the ludicrous, contrived threat of “terrorist reactionary forces that destroy the security of the political society” to divert attention away from internal conflicts between the leading members of the Communist Party as well as to the opposition between the governing party and the people; (d)- Striking first upon realizing that the trend of multiparty pluralism is flourishing within the society, and taking steps to secure their own interests and advantages in the future when Vietnam truly has multiparty pluralism.
4- However, their actions actually create
four contrary results: (a)- Making the people inside
II- Thus, Bloc 8406 affirms that:
1- Demands for the rights to freedoms such as religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom to nominate and elect, and freedom to criticize the wrongdoings and the crimes of the Communist Party and the Communist Government (these are the exact actions of the abovementioned dissidents which resulted in their persecution by the brutal totalitarian regime) are completely appropriate, and are not crimes, but instead are praiseworthy; are not terrorism, but rather are contributions to the Vietnamese people and to building the Vietnamese nation.
2- These peaceful pro-democracy activists have been harassed, hunted down, tried, and imprisoned (as well as having their families affected due to their association with them); they are the martyrs who endure the pain for the Vietnamese race. They are the beloved children of our nation, the torch in the hand of our motherland, the architects of a newly born democracy, and the hope and future of our race. They are worthy of praise, support and protection.
3- The movement for Freedom and Democracy has experienced unprecedented difficulties. But these difficulties are only a stage through which we must pass and a price we must pay before we succeed, as demonstrated by the recent history of many Western European nations. Lying beneath these difficulties are many hidden advantages, potentials and prospects for the future.
4- Every member of Bloc 8406, as well as Bloc 8406 as a whole, vows to be loyal to the principles declared on April 8, 2007 in the Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam, to always strongly adhere to the ideology of peaceful struggle, and to be ready to pay any price to realize this historical Manifesto, following the heroic example of the 8406 members now held in Communist prisons.
III- In addition, Bloc 8406 calls
for:
1- The Vietnamese Communist Government (VCG) must release immediately and unconditionally all pro-democracy activists who are now being held, whether with or without having been convicted at trial.
2- The VCG must end the practice of police spying upon, harassing, and cutting the telephone and internet lines of pro-democracy activists, and of holding their families hostage in order to coerce them.
3- The VCG must declare void the result of
the May 20, 2007 National Assembly XII Election, because it was fraudulent,
anti-democratic, coercive and deceitful as is easily recognized by the people
inside
4- the VCG to please have the courage to hold a REFERENDUM on which political system the Vietnamese people choose: single-party or multi-party system, democratic capitalism or socialism, a governing body elected by the people or imposed upon them by the party. Since 1945 until now, the Vietnamese people never on their free wills chose “the road to build socialism” which has been proven in reality a complete failure in all aspects: political, economic, cultural, moral, or social.
5- Many agents in the society have become tools for oppression (such as the police, the procuracy, the courts, the mass media,...) with the sole purpose of following orders instead of following the law and their consciences. To these agents, we ask that you please have the intelligence and the concern for your own future to stop what you are doing, because one day, the instigators and the executors of these acts of oppression will feel the indignation of the people, and will receive strict justice and the condemnation of history.
6- Those who have ability and prestige in society but have become accomplices to the regime of oppression (such as cowardly intellectuals and silent or co-operative clergymen) and only profit for themselves, for their own benefit and success, instead of speaking out to address the pitiful plight of our country and the sorrowful plight of our people. To these people, please awaken yourselves with questions which will stop your silence and your compromises, because one day, these “spiritual leaders” will shame not only themselves but also the religions they claim to serve.
7- The governments of countries and international organizations having diplomatic relations with Vietnam, please intimately link human rights with politics, economics, trade, culture, and technology, so that your co-operation and support of Vietnam will truly benefit the nation and people of Vietnam. Otherwise, you will only assist in bolstering a brutal dictatorial regime which uses our nation and people as nothing more than chattel to be exploited for its own personal benefit.
We sincerely thank you.
Written
in
Interim Representatives of Bloc
8406:
Do
Tran Anh Kim, Former Military Officer,
Thai Binh.
Phan Văn Loi, Catholic Priest,
