The INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST INFORMATION BUREAU (BUREAU INTERNATIONAL D'INFORMATION BOUDDHISTE) Official information service of Vien Hoa Dao, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam announced today that Vietnamese elder dissident Hoang Minh Ching, who died on Tet 2008, asked to be converted to Buddhism by the Venerable Thich Quang Do. This information came to IBIB in Paris from his daughter in Hanoi. Professor Hoang Minh Chinh and Venerable Thich Quang Do exchanged contacts in 2005, after Thich Quang Do sent a “New Year’s Letter” calling on Vietnamese intelligentsia in the North and South to rally together for pluralism and democratic change. This appeal, sent through the intermediary of IBIB and Quê Me to avoid government censorship, succeeded in forging unprecedented links of solidarity and understanding between Communist dissidents in the North and democrats in the South. Hoang Minh Chinh then wrote: “Thich Quang Do’s proposals for democracy and pluralism are fundamentally important and absolutely urgent. He proposes the very things that all our people have been aspiring to with all their hearts for the past half century and more. I have seen the letter circulating widely in Hanoi. Everyone who has read it has found it totally convincing, extremely moving, and worthy of their wholehearted support... “Indeed, I want to say how much I admire the actions of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Thich Quang Do, along with all the UBCV clergy and followers, have waged a courageous combat for decades, since the fall of Saigon until today. We Vietnamese have suffered misery and humiliation for too long. It is time to unite. I call on all Vietnamese to join together in support of Thich Quang Do’s proposals and struggle fearlessly to achieve them. We do not fear repression, imprisonment, intimidation. We must keep up the struggle for democracy, pluralism and human rights. This is the only way we can escape from our condition of slavery today...”. In April 2006, Hoang Minh Chinh and Thich Quang Do were jointly awarded the “Democracy Courage Tribute” by 600 democracy activists gathered at the Fourth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD) in Istanbul. The WMD praised these “two particularly heroic figures… Even from prison, these men and many others like them from both the secular and religious communities have dared to disseminate messages defending human rights, increased pluralism and the rule of law in Vietnam”. Accepting the award on their behalf, Mr. Vo Van Ai, IBIB Director and President of Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, stressed the significance of honouring these two men with the award: “For 2,000 years, Vietnam was one country, with one language and one culture. But conflicts of ideology split our country into two, north and south, separating our people and forcing them to live apart under different political regimes.   more »

This video in English is produced to seek assistance for the people in Hanoi. http://vietcatholic.net/News/Clients/ReadArticle.aspx?Id=51742 UPDATE February 10, in Vietnamese. Hơn 7,000 người hành hương về Đền Đức Mẹ ở Thái Hà cầu nguyện đòi công lý Theo Vietcatholic News, hơn một chục cụ bà suốt mấy ngày Tết vẫn liên tục túc trực tại hiện trường khu vực giáo xứ Thái Hà trong niềm hạnh phúc với xác tín canh thức và cầu nguyện của mình. Trong lều bạt giáo dân đã chuẩn bị sẵn nước uống, bánh chưng và bánh ngọt cho những người đến cầu nguyện. Sau những giờ lễ ngày Mùng Một và Mùng Hai Tết, một số giáo dân cũng đến khu vực trên cùng cầu nguyện. Các cha, các thầy và nhiều người ra lều trại chúc Tết và thăm hỏi các cụ bà. All are encouraged to write their ambassadors and national administrations and legislators for intervention with the Socialist government of Vietnam legalized removal of the Catholics from the confiscated property.   more »