The Vietnamese Canadian Federation is pleased to learn from Mr. Hung Nguyen, representative of the Vietnamese community of Whitehorse, that Ms. Deb Jutra, President of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society has informed him: there will be no communist flag in the Grand March. The Federation hopes that the decision of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society on this flag of the Communist regime in Vietnam (a gold star on a red background) will be extended to include all forms of political propaganda of this regime at the festival. Most members of the overseas Vietnamese community, including Vietnamese Canadians, are former political refugees who fled the Communist regime in Vietnam after South Vietnam was taken over by Communist troops from North Vietnam in 1975. Therefore, allowing the Vietnamese Communist regime to spread its propaganda at the festival would be an utmost affront to them and would bring back the painful memories of their sufferings under the Vietnamese Communist regime. The Vietnamese Canadian Federation calls upon the organizers of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival to show understanding of the feelings of the Vietnamese community in Canada on this issue and to act accordingly. The Federation is the non-profit umbrella organization of the Vietnamese community in Canada. Established in 1980, it currently has 10 chapters in all major cities from coast to coast, with a national office in Ottawa. ********************************************************************************** Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mới được ông Nguyễn Gia Hưng, đại diện cộng đồng người Việt tại Whitehorse, cho biết bà Deb Jutra, Chủ Tịch Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse thông báo: sẽ không có lá cờ của Cộng Sản Việt Nam trong cuộc diễn hành của Hội Chợ Di Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mong mỏi quyết định của Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse về lá cờ của chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam (ngôi sao vàng trên nền đỏ) sẽ được áp dụng cả với các hình thức tuyên truyền khác của chính quyền này. Phần lớn người Việt tại hải ngoại, kể cả người Canada gốc Việt, đều là những người tị nạn chính trị chạy trốn chính quyền Cộng Sản tại Việt Nam sau khi quân đội Cộng Sản Bắc Việt xâm chiếm miền Nam Việt Nam vào năm 1975. Do đó, cho phép chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam tuyên truyền trong cuộc hội chợ này sẽ làm tổn thương về phương diện tinh thần cho họ và gợi lại những kỷ niệm đau thương của họ dưới chế độ Cộng Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada kêu gọi Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse hãy thông cảm lập trường của cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada và hành xử một cách tương xứng. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada là một tổ chức bất vụ lợi bao gồm các tổ chức cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada. Liên Hội được thành lập vào năm 1980, hiện có 10 hội thành viên từ đông sang tây, với trụ sở chính đặt tại Ottawa.   more »

The San Jose City Council is paying attention at last to the people who demand that their city, the 10th largest city in the United States, have a gateway entry to a redeveloped section which properly reflects the heritage of the people who came there as refugees. These refugees rebuilt the city house-by-house, store-by-store, one small business at a time. They sent the children to public schools and made that success a priority of life that puts other groups to shame. The power struggle over human rights in Vietnam is now on the table, thanks to your efforts and those of San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and now California Senator Barbara Boxer. Will you lead that struggle from a strong moral position of ecumenism that includes "Americans" not as foreigners but as fellow immigrants and citizens with a stake in society who need to learn about Vietnam today in order to bring freedom there? You can't do it alone. Ask the government of South Africa about that. All the larger society see among Little Saigon in San Jose leadership are jackals howling at each prey before they rip it to shreds. Such good press to target a vulnerable young woman, Madison Nguyen. Now how about targeting the real power in San Jose, Chuck Reed's international business machine called the Chamber of Commerce? How about requiring them to speak out and ask for human rights in Vietnam? Get them while their stocks are down. There are Democrats and Republicans in Congress who are in leadership for human rights in Vietnam. How about asking every presidential candidate for the election in 2008 to take a stand for human rights in Vietnam? Most of them are riding on rhetoric of "no more Vietnams." How about educating them about that history? Can you do it without requiring that more young Americans (including Vietnamese Americans) die in Iraq to prove your valor in the 1960s and 1970s? I dare you to try. More than 50% of the engineers at Cisco Systems, San Jose's largest employer, are of Vietnamese heritage. Do they say anything as a power group about the meaning of Little Saigon as a name of cultural heritage to share? Do they even say anything as a group about human rights in Vietnam? What about it, VACETS? The Veterans of Foreign Wars in the USA showed the flag of South Vietnam with pride as they honored the 58,000 Americans who died fighting communism in Vietnam last week in Washington D.C. at the 25th anniversary of The Wall, which is the most-visited memorial in the country. Was there anyone from the Vietnamese American power structure thanking the VFW for recognition of the heritage flag? I know the Amerasian Family was there with pride in Vietnamese American heritage. How about showing the nonVietnamese City Council members that you can work together as Vietnamese people, that is your strength in society? It is the strength of any minority group in American society. Some do it well, and become "seamless" in the fabric, but when you examine the texture of the cloth you see their culture and values as part of the whole. Strengthen the fabric of our society by reweaving, not unraveling. The whole world's watching. Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review    more »

A Vietnamese freedom heritage flag replaced the official flag for Vietnam hanging in the entry way of the MCC-Penn Valley http://videos.kansascity.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=1518925 Video by Todd Feeback of the Kansas City Star Thank you so much, Mr. Thomas Walker of Penn Valley College and the Vietnamese community of Kansas City for explaining the issues of Communist Vietnam today. Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review   more »

Last month, after being informed of the town’s decision to take down the Heritage flag, the Vietnamese Canadian Federation wrote to Mayor Cummings and Sundre councillors to provide them with background information on this flag, and worked together with the Vietnamese community in Calgary to launch a worldwide campaign to urge the town council to reverse its decision. The Vietnamese Canadian Federation is grateful for the support shown by thousands of people in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Europe, and other countries in this campaign. On behalf of its supporters, the Federation would like to express its deep appreciation to the Sundre’s Town Council for its heartfelt and commendable decision. Thanks to this decision, the Heritage and Freedom flag cherished by millions of Vietnamese all over the world will continue to fly in Canada as a beacon for democracy and freedom, which, we all hope, will eventually come back to Vietnam. The Vietnamese Canadian Federation is the non-profit umbrella organization of the Vietnamese community in Canada. Established in 1980, it currently has 12 chapters in all major cities from coast to coast. Its national office is located in Ottawa.   more »

At a public hearing on November 14, 2006, a large number of Vietnamese Americans in San Jose spoke and demonstrated against a proposed plan by Rosa Perez, Chancellor of the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District, to recruit students from Vietnam for education in the United States and to send American community college students to Vietnam “to learn their culture.” Most of the political refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia in the United States are the result of the policies of the Communist regimes against their own people. Blaming the United States has been the greatest victory that Hanoi has achieved. Article by Jean Libby, editor, Viet-Am Review. Mrs. Libby is a retired teacher of US History and Ethnic Studies at community colleges in northern California, including San Jose City College.   more »

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed executive order S-14-06 that honors Vietnamese heritage on August 6, 2006. This order specifies that Vietnamese Americans "remain vigilant in opposing tyranny of all forms, actively supporting human rights for all people, and celebrating the principles of democracy, justice and tolerance upon which our nation was founded." The Executive Order specificies that the Freedom and Heritage Flag (three red stripes on a field of yellow) may be flown with the national and state flags on California state buildings in connection with a state-sponsored Vietnamese American ceremonial event.   more »

What does Chinese products and business mean today? Lead paint in toys manufactured by slave labor; poison fish put on the market without health regulations for harvest. What does Vietnamese products and business mean today? American Vietnamese lured to "doi moi" finding themselves in jail because their Vietnamese "partners" have found it more lucrative to fleece them than sell honest goods. (see "How Vietnam Venture Proved a Costly Move" for Hoan Nguyen, an American citizen now in the B-14 prison in northern Vietnam in the Wall Street Journal online, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118702662210596089.html?mod=googlenews_wsj The City of San Jose is considering naming one of its entry corridors (Story Road) the Vietnamese Business District. Many immigrants from Communist Vietnam would rather see it named Little Saigon Business District. There is a public hearing on the matter from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at the Tully branch library, 880 Tully Road, San Jose.   more »

After many long journeys in the thirty years since Vietnamese people began immigration in substantial numbers to the USA, the heritage and culture of Vietnamese Americans is celebrated in a Heritage Project exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution opening on January 19, 2007. Check it out on www.vietam.org.   more »

Vietnamese students at the University of Texas-Arlington have a petition online to protest administration displaying the communist flag of Vietnam during a cultural display. Parade announcement in Toronto, Canada, to raise awareness of Vietnamese heritage flag.   more »

Protest of Communist flag replacement of Vietnamese Heritage flag at the Community College of San Francisco organized by public school board officials in California, Madison Nguyen (San Jose). Lan Quoc Nguyen (Garden Grove), Trung Quang Nguyen (Garden Grove) and attended by over 125 Vietnamese Americans.   more »