Rolling Buses in Australia – a Chinese and Vietnamese comparison Herald Sun Australia China sent in the clowns Andrew Bolt April 25, 2008 12:00am IF I hadn't seen the circus with my own eyes, I'd think the $2 million we spent running a torch around Canberra yesterday was wasted. But I watched almost every comical minute of that three-hour relay of the Beijing Olympic torch and thought - hallelujah! - money well spent. Far from blowing yet more cash on the most over-hyped sports day in history, we'd been given a lesson on truth and politics that's worth even Kevan Gosper's head in gold. I don't think we'll soon forget seeing Australian police wrestling the Chinese "flame attendants" - actually members of China's People's Armed Police - in a confrontation over who had the right to guard the torch. . . . That wasn't the only joke - and lesson - of the day. The other memorable image of this "Journey of Harmony" was the torch being run past brawling protesters, many bused in by the Chinese Government, while a dogfight broke out in the skies above. Somehow a battle with a newly muscled China was being staged on our soil, with China's regime even mobilising troops. Some 50 buses, we've learned, were laid on to take thousands of aggressively pro-Chinese supporters from Sydney and Melbourne to Canberra, where they were deployed to drown out and intimidate people protesting against China's record on Tibet and human rights. Indeed, Uighur, Tibetan and other protesters yesterday claimed they'd been howled down, abused, punched and kicked by some of the pro-China demonstrators, several of whom were arrested. So who were all these people singing patriotic Chinese songs and waving huge red flags for the cameras? Who formed this insta-crowd that filled the TV screens and allowed China's Xinhua newsagency to report back home the bright news that "tens of thousands of spectators, many of them enthusiastic Chinese expatriates and students, had lined both sides of the streets . . . chanting support for the Beijing Olympics"? They were mainly students from China's elite, it appears - students who, as a condition of their visas, had actually signed agreements promising "not (to) become involved in any activities that are disruptive to, or in violence threaten harm to, the Australian community or any group in the Australian community". Dear Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun : Please watch the streets in Canberra on Sunday, April 27, the anniversary of the Communist invasion of South Vietnam that resulted in the largest migration in Vietnamese history as well as the imprisonment of a million officers and officials of the South Vietnamese military and government after 1975. The Vietnamese Diaspora in Australia are riding buses from Sydney and Melbourne now, funded by $12,000 raised among themselves. They are protesting the Communist Vietnamese government. Thank you for your attention, Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com   more »

Canada welcomes Vietnamese refugees lost in limbo: Asian Pacific Post Wed, March 12 2008 The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration announced last week the arrival of the first of a number of Vietnamese who have been living in the Philippines without status since the 1970s. http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c4418a404dc0118a56d107f011f Refugees in Vancouver: Asian Pacific Post Last of the Boat People Thu, March 20 2008 By Lucy-Claire Saunders It’s taken over two decades, but the first wave of the last remaining Vietnamese boat people set foot last week on Canadian soil — their new and final home. http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c4418c3a89d0118cd71520400e6 Toronto welcomes 65 forgotten boat people Mar 22, 2008 04:30 AM Nicholas Keung Immigration/Diversity Reporter The first of 65 Vietnamese "boat people" who languished for years in refugee camps after the West slammed the door, landed in Toronto yesterday, 18 years late for the start of a new life of freedom. Thai Van Nguyen is just one of 2,200 lost refugees, all uprooted by a war that ended more than a quarter of a century ago. They were left stranded after the United Nations declared in 1990 they were no longer in need of protection. The declaration led the West to slam its doors, leaving people like Nguyen out of luck. But Nguyen's luck changed yesterday when he landed at Pearson, joining a welcoming community of 150,000 Vietnamese-Canadians who settled here long ago. http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/349687 Vietnamese families given 'chance to rebuild their lives' in Ottawa 'Stateless' people spent decades in Philippines Jessey Bird, Ottawa Citizen Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008 The first of several Vietnamese families moving to Ottawa arrived late last night, after nearly two decades of living in limbo in the Philippines. Nhan Thanh Nguyen, 55, and his wife, Hue Thi Le, 46, descended the escalator right on time, where they were greeted by a group of anxious and excited members of Ottawa's Vietnamese community. "This is a chance to rebuild their lives," said Can D. Le, national co-ordinator of the Vietnamese Canadian Federation's project Freedom at Last. Canada recently granted stateless Vietnamese people living in the Philippines permanent entry on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled, mainly by boat, with many arriving in the Philippines. Though a number were able to settle in other countries, those who remained in the Philippines were considered stateless. Freedom at Last has raised more than $500,000 to support families immigrating to Canada as well as the United States and Australia. The Forgotten Ones by Brian Doan, a photographic history published by VAALA in 2004, followed by The Story of Palawan by Honglien Do, now an American citizen I am Honglien and I lived on Palawan as a detainee with my daughter and three nieces for seven years before we were returned to communist Vietnam. We recognized many of the faces in Brian’s book. Our journey to Palawan started aboard a small open boat without a working motor with 62 other refugees, four of whom died. The sea adventure lasted 22 days without proper food and water. But we were among the lucky ones: we survived it all and made it to the U.S.A in good time. One of our cousins was on Palawan for 16 years. He just got to America last year. It was illegal to leave Vietnam once the communists took over. But more than a million people made the attempt anyway: and tens of thousands lost money to disreputable “brokers” in the process and wound up in communists jails, over and over again. http://www.nowpublic.com/book_marvelously_documents_forgotten_saga_of_war_refugees_and_freedom_seekers   more »

CONCERNS ABOUT THE DEPORTATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO SOUTHEAST ASIA 1628 – 16th Street, N.W. _ Washington, D.C. 20009-3099 _ Tel: 202/667-4690 _ Fax: 202/667-6449 Email: searac@searac.org _ Website: www.searac.org SUMMARY OF CHALLENGES FACING SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMERICANS • In 1996 laws were put into place requiring that non-citizens who were convicted of crimes called “aggravated felonies” be deported from the United States. At the same time and since 1996, the definition of “aggravated felony” has been expanded to include crimes that carry sentences of two years or more – even if no actual time was spent in jail because of suspended sentences or parole. • In 2002, Cambodia and the U.S. signed an agreement making it possible to deport non-citizens to Cambodia. As of December 2004, 126 people had been deported to Cambodia. As far as we know, no deportations of refugees to Laos or Vietnam have taken place yet, although the U.S. and Southeast Asian governments are negotiating agreements. DETENTION BEFORE DEPORTATION • Before they are deported from the United States people from Southeast Asia and other parts of the world are often kept in “detention,” where they have little access to visits from family or friends, and where they have few legal rights. • Hundreds of people are in detention, and thousands are in danger of being deported to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (if and when agreements are made between the U.S., Laos, and Vietnam WHAT CAN WE DO? 1. Educate more community members about deportation so they will be able to avoid it, and so the laws can change. 2. If you or someone you know is facing a criminal charge, or deportation, get a lawyer. A list of “pro bono” lawyers is available on SEARAC’s website: http://www.searac.org/probono_legal.html 3. Learn more about deportation by visiting SEARAC’s website: http://www.searac.org/cambrepbak6_02.html 4. Support organizations that work with deportees and their families in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Organizations in the U.S. can be found by searching the keyword “deportation” at http://www.searac.org/maa/. The Returnee Assistance Project, of Cambodia, can be visited at http://www.rapcambodia.org   more »

Dear Members of the California State Assembly Education Committee, I am writing in strong support of AB 2064, which would require the State Board of Education and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to adopt textbooks and instructional materials to include instruction on the Vietnam War. Specifically to include the "Secret War" in Laos, the role of Southeast Asians in that war, and the refugee/immigrant/new American experience as a result of the war. My experience in this topic includes service on the Southeast Asia Community Advisory Board to the Oakland Museum, contributor to the Smithsonian Exhibition “Enter Saigon—Enter Little Saigon” now at San Jose City College, and as an adjunct instructor of U.S. History and Ethnic Studies classes at SJCC, De Anza College, CCSF, Solano College, and Diablo Valley College between 1994 and 2005 (now retired). At DVC I taught a Critical Reasoning in History class that was themed on the Vietnam War era. But I didn’t learn anything about the Vietnam War until talking to students from refugee families from Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos. Then I went into the communities for events and commemorations and learned from their parents. Some of the leaders asked me to help with the misinformation in the high school history textbooks. We held a seminar “Vietnamese Americans in California Textbooks” at De Anza College on October 22, 2004. My experience also includes the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s – the NAACP—in Santa Clara County. All of us learned that making changes in textbooks regarding African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans must come from the people themselves first getting support from the legislature. You are the link for inclusion and democracy. The textbook publishers are not interested in revision except when it is legislated. I am counting on you as representatives of the communities to bring this legislation forward. And I am promising you to be of as much assistance as possible in facilitating the much-needed changes regarding textbook interpretations of the Vietnam War. Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review   more »