News Brief #1 Saigon on the Eve of the Olympic Torch Relay On April 28, 2008, amidst preparations for the highly anticipated arrival of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay through the streets of Saigon, Vietnamese citizens have become increasing aware of the heighten sense of unease among the city’s public security officials. Around 9pm, security police swamped the historic Saigon Norte Dame Basilica, the downtown Opera House, and the Bach Dang station in anticipation of large scale protests. When they realized they had been mistaken, security police encircled the Saigon Opera House and the Chinese Consulate. Currently there is a large police presence at each location numbering in the thousands. Cars passing by are being inspected. Police have also cordoned off the major boulevards of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Pham Ngoc Thach, Tran Hung Dao and Le Loi. Students and youth in Saigon continue to form small groups to follow the deployment of security officials and look for the best locations to gather without prior coordination. Perhaps this is what has worried security officials. They have tried to detain or isolate those believed to be youth leaders. In the last 24 hours, blogger Dong A, college student Le Ngoc Ho Diep, college student Hoang Duc Tuong, among others, have been detained at their local police station. Police have also prevented democracy activists from across the country from gathering in to Saigon to protest China including writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia and Pham Thi Thanh Nghien in Hai Phong; Nguyen Phuong Anh, Lu Thi Thu Duyen in Hanoi; Trinh Thi Phuong Thuy, wife of imprisoned democracy activist Nguyen Phong, in Hue; and engineer Do Nam Hai in Saigon. The unease of Vietnamese security officials and discontent among the populace led Beijing to make a concession in the last 24 hours. Olympic organizers modified the torch relay map, which had visibly portrayed the Spratly and Paracel Islands as part of China. The edited maps can be seen at http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/journey/map/. ************************************************************** Radio New Horizon www.radiochantroimoi.com http://radiochantroimoi.wordpress.com/ News Brief #2 Outpouring of Patriotism in Hanoi and Saigon Consideration for Beijing by Communist Party and Government At 9 o’clock in Hanoi on April 29, 2008, about 150 people including democracy activists, aggrieved farmers and families of fishermen from Thanh Hoa province that were killed by the Chinese navy on the Eastern sea, gathered in front of Dong Xuan market protesting against Chinese aggression and invasion of the Spratly and Paracel islands. The protests brought banners, including a large black and white showing five Olympic rings rendered as handcuffs. They also brought megaphones to call for people to participate. Only 15 minutes later, more than 300 security police rushed in to snatch slogans; tearing down banners; twisting arms and bashing people in the protest. Please listen to the report from poet Tran Duc Thach: http://www.radiochantroimoi.com/audio/2008/04/ducthach2.mp3/ The police later arrested all those who were thought organizing the protest, including writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, teacher Vu Hung, students Ngo Quynh and Tien Nam, Vi Duc Hoi, Kim Thu….at level 1, Dong Xuan Market. At 10 o’clock, police escorted all those that were arrested by cars back to Hanoi’s police station at 87 Tran Hung Dao Street. Meanwhile, those remain had moved to Dong Xuan market rather than going home. At 10:30am on April 29, security police came to arrest more than 100 people in front of Dong Xuan market including poet Tran Duc Thach, Do Duy Thong, Chau, Kieu, Nguyen Ba Dang, Tuc, students Nhat, Toan, Vy and all fishermen from Thanh Hoa, aggrieved farmers from Mai Xuan Thuong, teacher delegation from Ha Dong, students from Hai Phong…etc. Everyone was packed into police cars and transported back to Hanoi’s police station at 87 Tran Hung Dao Street for interrogation. The brutal nature of 300 police astounded the protest. People were shocked by the determination of the Vietnamese authorities and the police in trying to repress patriots, to save face for Beijing. But these brutalities were not able to deter the people. Please listen to democracy activist Duong Thi Xuan announced the sentiments of the protest at Dong Xuan market: http://www.radiochantroimoi.com/audio/2008/04/DuongTXuan.mp3/ In the mean time, the situation in Saigon becomes tenser. Police is now allowed to burst into shops along the street to arrest people without the need for warrant. As it comes closer to the ceremonial sites and toward the end of the Olympic Torch Relay, only Chinese tourists can be seen walking around freely, whereas all Vietnamese are watched with suspicion. Some were sent away, others were taken into police custody. Updated at 3pm Vietnam, April 29, 2008.   more »

The 2008 Charles B. Burdick Memorial Military History Symposium takes place on Wednesday, April 30, at the Engineering Auditorium (ENG 189) at San Jose State University, from 6:30 - 9 p.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public. Panelists: Al Conetto, who served for five months in Vietnam during 1965 as a First Lieutenant with both the First Cavalry Division and the 173rd Airborne Bridage. In 1967, he returned as a Captain in the First Cavalry for 12 months, in the field, in logistics and in intelligence. He became the briefing officer to the commander of the division. Mr. Conetto has just completed a manuscript for a book on Operation Hump, the first major American battle with the Vietcong, in which he fought. Quang X. Pham, who is the son of the late Hoa Pham, a South Vietnamese fighter pilot who rescued his family in the American evacuation of April, 1975, but stayed behind because of A Sense of Duty -- the title of his book published by Ballantine Books in 2005 (subtitle: My Father -- My American Journey). Lt. Col. Hoa Pham spent twelve years in the reeducation camp prisons in Vietnam while his son was growing up in the USA, making the decision in 1985 to join the U.S. Marines. Quang X. Pham became the first Vietnamese American marine aviator, serving in combat in Somalia. Jerry Underdal, who joined International Voluntary Services (IVS), a private organization supporting development in South Vietnam, in 1968. He taught English for a year in Quang Nam province and spent a second year on the Saigon staff of IVS as Assistant Team Leader for Education. After the war, Mr. Underdal taught English to Vietnamese refugees and was responsible for the first Vietnamese language program in Northern California. Moderator: Larry Engelmann, Emeritus Professor in the History Dept. at SJSU, and author of Tears Before the Rain: An Oral History of the Fall of South Vietnam published by Oxford University Press in 1990. Welcoming remarks: Jonathan Roth, chair of the History Dept. at SJSU. For further information contact Dr. Roth at 408-924-5505 or jonathanroth@sjsu.edu ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A booksigning by Mr. Pham and Mr. Engelmann will benefit the SJSU History Dept. It is organized by Jean Libby, editor of VietAm Review http://vietamreview.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/16/3641930.html   more »

Violations of human rights in Vietnam today, the first four months of 2008, are listed by The Committee for Human Rights in Vietnam, based in Hanoi. Religious freedom issues are noted for Catholics, the Protestant Church of Vietnam, and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. The UBCV has particular repression because of the upcoming Vesek 2008 in May. Prisons are noted; in one case a prisoner died and in another a man was handcuffed in prison for a year.   more »

Attn : Count Jacques Rogge President Subject: Request to De-politicise the Beijing2008 Olympics Dear Mr. President, First of all, I am proud and delighted to inform you that I will be one of sixty Vietnamese nationals carrying the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch through Ho Chi Minh City on the coming 29th April 2008. It is my great honour to have been chosen as a bearer of the Olympic torch – the symbol of olympism, of peace and of solidarity of all people in the world – which will be relayed in Vietnam for the first time. However, after studying closely the Planned Route Map for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay published on the official website of the BOCOG, I find that the torch that I will bear is not the torch of pure olympism, but it is a torch of an olympism politicized by the the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (“BOCOG”). Even in hosting the 2008 Olympic and Paralymic games, China has not missed the opportunity to politicize the Olympic and Paralymic Games. Via the official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China deceives the world that they have sovereignty over the Paracel islands, an area which China illegitimately took from Vietnam in 1974. I will prove this to you through the following: ... Le Minh Phieu A Beijing 2008 Olympic torch-bearer Ph.D Candidate at Center for European and International Documentation and Research Post-graduate School of Law – Bordeaux IV – Montesquieu University Avenue Léon Duguit, 33600 Pessac, France Published by Andrew Lam at New America Media on April 14, 2008; http://blogs.newamericamedia.org/andrew-lam/1144/letter-to-mr-president-of-olympic-international-committe UPDATE: Mr. Le Minh Phieu was interviewed by RFA yesterday and has decided to appear in the torch relay. Vigils are being planned to coincide with the Olympic torch presence in Saigon on April 29.    more »

Excerpts and links to articles, video, and interview by these authors gathered by Jean Libby, editor, VietAm Review from published sources. All authors support the protest of human rights violations in China except for Voice of America, who support Beijing position and the anti-American and antiEuropean rantings of President Musharraf of Pakistan. Senator John McCain recommends that President Bush not attend opening ceremonies in Beijing in August.   more »

U.S.-Asia Pacific Council John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary Washington, DC April 11, 2008 Our relationship with Vietnam has also entered a new chapter. Our countries enjoy significant and growing trade and economic ties; an emerging military-to-military relationship; successful cooperation on health and development issues; growing cultural and educational links; and a shared interest in ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.... I see three major tasks that the United States faces in the coming decade as we look at Asia: (1) further improving regional cooperation to complement our existing bilateral security alliances, (2) promoting continued prosperity, and (3) accommodating rising Asian powers into the international system while also challenging them to assume global leadership on major international issues. Entire speech: http://www.state.gov/s/d/2008/103464.htm ************************************************************* No mention of human rights issues, political imprisonment, labor trafficking, Congressional resolutions (H.R. 3096). Why should Hanoi bother about any of these issues when the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State does not? Jean Libby, editor VietAm Review   more »

Dear Community Partners, I am delighted to inform you that the Assembly Education Committee passed Assembly Bill 2064 with a 6-0 vote in yesterday’s hearing. As many of you are aware, AB 2064 will require the State Board of Education and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to adopt textbook and instructional materials that include instruction on the Vietnam War. This bill specifically requires textbook and instructional materials 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 Vietnam War. The bill is attached to the letter from Assemblyman Juan Arambula, 31st District.   more »

China: Verdict on Activist Hu Jia statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on April 3, 2008: The United States is dismayed by the sentence of three and a half years in prison announced today in the case of prominent Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia under the specious charge of 'inciting subversion of state power.' Mr. Hu has consistently worked within China’s legal system to protect the rights of his fellow citizens. These types of activities support China’s efforts to institute the rule of law and should be applauded, not suppressed or punished. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for Hu’s immediate release during her February visit to China, and U.S. officials continue to take every opportunity to raise our concerns about Mr. Hu’s case with Chinese officials at all levels, both in Beijing and in Washington, D.C. In this Olympic year, we urge China to seize the opportunity to put its best face forward and take steps to improve its record on human rights and religious freedom. Interview by the BBC World Service Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Jakarta, Indonesia April 4, 2008 QUESTION: The situation in Tibet has drawn the attention of your government recently. Yesterday China jailed a human rights activist for three and a half years. Where do you stand on the position of China’s hosting of the Olympics now? It was supposed to improve their human rights track record, and it doesn’t seem to have done that. ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Well, first of all, we’re obviously very concerned about the developments in recent weeks. We’ve been especially concerned about the outbreak of violence and the apparent lack of restraint we’ve seen. The amount of destruction in Lhasa was certainly cause for great concern. We would like to see a much greater effort in dialogue. We know there were some efforts in the past between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities. We think this is the way to go, and we’d like to see some greater restraint. With respect to the Olympics, our President has been pretty clear that we don’t think it is appropriate to be boycotting Olympics or Olympic ceremonies. We don’t think this is going to solve a problem. And, as Secretary Rice made clear, we think that sort of activity can really be taken as great insult by the Chinese people, by 1.3 billion Chinese people. And I think it’s very important for people outside of China to understand the degree to which the Chinese are very proud of hosting these Olympics. This is not some government issue versus a popular issue. Everyone in China is very proud of this. And so people who sort of put this issue at play -- that is, talk about boycotting the Olympics in some respects -- need to understand that they are doing so in a way that could really cause problems with the sensitivities of Chinese people at large, not just the Chinese government. Jean Libby, editor of VietAm Review, compares this contradiction with a similar one of Christopher Hill and the State Dept.'s 2007 country report on Vietnam. Criticism from Vo Van Ai, director of QueMe, Action for Democracy in Vietnam was published by VietAm Review on March 13, 2008.    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 »

The California Assembly will discuss AB 2064 that will mandate inclusion of material about and voices from the Hmong in high school curriculae for the 'Viet Nam War.' This is long, LONG, overdue and could serve as an opening to address major and inexcusable shoddy, inaccurate and mythical treatment of 'The Viet Nam War' in high school classrooms. Voices of SE Asians, be they Hmong or Montagnard, Viet Namese or Cambodian, are almost universally excluded and remain unheard. It is of utmost importance that this bill receive support, especially from California residents. Time of the essence. Letters, faxes, emails should be received no later than 6 April but discussion will follow later on 9 April. Please write in support of AB 2064, and PLEASE send to friends and family who are residents of California. iTEM # 1: --------------INTRODUCTORY LETTER FROM OFFICE OF ASSEMBLYMAN JUAN ARAMBULA------------ Dear Community Leaders: As you may have heard, Assembly Member Juan Arambula, District 31, has recently introduced a new bill that, if passed, will require the State Board of Education and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to adopt textbook and instructional materials to include instruction on the Vietnam War. This bill would specifically require textbook and instructional materials 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 Vietnam War. AB 2064 will have a great impact on not only the Southeast Asian communities in California, but also the larger California community and school districts as well. We hope that you and your organization will help support this effort by sending in letters of support to the Assembly Education Committee. Attached you will find the bill language; an updated fact sheet along with an updated sample letter for you and your organization to use; and a list of Assembly Members on the Education Committee where you can send your organization’s letters. We encourage you and your organization to fax/send in letters of support to each Education Committee Member’s office by April 6th, 2008. Please note that we would appreciate a copy of the letter(s) you send by forwarding it to Mariana at the Capitol Office via fax: (916) 319-2031. Additionally, your assistance in enlisting the support of other national, state, and/or local partner organizations will contribute immensely to getting AB 2064 through the Assembly and onto the Senate floor: We look forward to working with each of you and your organizations and will continue to provide you with any further updates as the hearing date approaches. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (559) 445-5532 and/or Mariana Corona at the Sacramento Capitol at (916) 319-2031. Regards, Srida Moua Field Representative Office of Assembly Member Juan Arambula (D-31) 2550 Mariposa Mall, Room 5031 Fresno, CA 93721 Phone: (559) 445-5532 Fax: (559) 445-6006 Email: Srida.Moua@asm.ca.gov Website: www.assembly.ca.gov/31   more »

MP3 file of song composed by Nhat Tung, AmerAsian Fellowship Association, when hearing the sentence of imprisonment pronounced for Father Nguyen Van Ly on March 30, 2007. An English summary of "A Talking Photograph" speech by Tran An Bai given in San Jose on March 30, 2007 is also attached, courtesy of Professor Bai.   more »

Commemoration of the March 30, 2007 trial of Father Nguyen Van Ly and his subsequent imprisonment by Father Phan Van Loi of Hue, Viet Nam. Commentary in Vietnamese language.   more »