As
a Vietnamese person living abroad, I often follow various events back in Viet
Nam with keen interest, and with a somewhat diffrerent viewpoint. Today such an
event occured in Viet Nam which made me think hard, especially when I compare
it to similar events in the country where I am now residing.
For
the last few days, Facebook was buzzing with the news that there would be Talk
About Humans Rights Picnics held in 4 main cities, spreading from the North to
the South, namely Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Nha Trang and Saigon (we refuse to call it
Ho Chi Minh City... what a yucky name for such a magnificent city!) The aim was
to encourage all Vietnamese people, young and old, and from all walks of life,
to gather at the park, to meet new people, to make new friends, to discuss
about various aspects of human's rights, to above all, to have fun!
Unfortunately,
the Communist Government seemed to have a different idea of fun. Instead of
encouraging its people to engage in such healthy and stimulating event, the
Government sent out hundreds of policemen and guards, both in uniforms and in
civil clothing, to try to prevent people from attending it. I was shocked and
amazed at the various “low class” tactics that these government servants used
against its own people, as reported by those who tried to attend the event as
well as passer-bys.
How
ironic that where I live, the completely opposite happens. Here the Government
tries so hard to organise such events and goes to great length to encourage its
people to attend. The Government here would be ecstatic to see its people
wanting to learn more about world wide issues like human's rights, citizen's
rights, religious freedom.. as it improves the people's knowledge and leads to
a better civilisation.They would be much more concerned to see their people
spending the weekends drinking or going to the casinos. A few weeks ago, there
was an invitation from the Government for the people who were interested in
human's rights to attend a public discussion about the situation in Syria. The
event was broadcasted on national television with the whole country watching
and many experts joining to make comments.
But
today in Viet Nam, from as early as 7 o'clock in the morning, droves of
policemen arrived on their police cars at the sites where the picnics were to
be held. They erected barbed wires and metal bars to prevent people from even
just getting close to the place. They then paraded the area, harassing anyone
who tried to take a picture and threatening to confiscate cameras and cell
phones.
At
around 9:30 am, when the crowd started to gather and fliers about The World's
Declaration of Human Rights were distributed by a few bloggers, the police
sprung into action. They had already detained various bloggers and writers as
soon as they left their houses earlier and forced them to have a picnic
somewhere else, under the supervision of the police, of course! Back at the
main gathering points, the police was seen harassing people, threatening them
with violence, snatching their cameras and cell phones to actually beating and
making arrests.
A
witness upsettly reported that he saw 3 to 4 guards beating up a young student,
forcing him against the side of a police car then kicking, kneeing and punching
him in the face. The uniformed policemen actually formed a circle around the
guards and the student, preventing people from jumping in to help the poor
victim. The beating went on for more than 20 minutes. When concerned passer-bys
enquired as to why he was beaten up so savagely, the police bluntly told lies
that he was a drug seller then bundled him up into a sedan and sped off.
Another
student complained that as soon as he sat down on a bench with a group, trying
to make friends and to start a conversation about human's rights, the police
ordered a park cleaner to spray them with dirty, stinky water so that they had
to flee. This happened to several people. A friend of mine who attended the
event later told me that he himself was surrounded and threatened by 4
policemen. One of them raised his hand to punch him while the other tried to
snatch his camera. Quick thinking, he screamed "Robbers! Help me! Help
me". At that the police backed off and let him run away.
That
was not all, there were also reports that the police had already harrassed
several well known bloggers like Me Nam, Thanh Nghien the day before... by
guarding their place of residence 24/24, preventing them from leaving the house
and disconnecting their cell phone service. Mrs Thuy Nga Tran, a mother with 2
young children aged 3 years and 5 months old, were last night ordered by police
to leave the hotel where they were staying, forcing them to spend the night out
on the street in the cold, just because they were on their way to attend the
picnic this morning.
Later
in the day the police arrested blogger Hoang Vi Nguyen, just for distributing
fliers printed with the Declaration of Human's Rights to the passer-bys. She
and several others were bundled up into police cars and took away. No one knows
where they are being held and what may have happened to them.
Despite
the massive effort by the police to sabotage the event, many people gathered to
chat amongst themselves, to march around holding placards announcing that the
ability to gather in crowds is their right and that the Communist Government
should respect the people 's freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Many
pictures and stories were posted on Facebook and other public media. The
pictures that particular touched my heart were of two mothers, one supporting
her daughter, blogger Thanh Nghiên, by having a picnic at home (they were
prevented from leaving the house) and the other was at the park, kneeling down
on the pavement to sign her name on a sheet that read “I protest against the
government 's violation of our human's rights".
People
from free countries like myself may find it hard to comprehend why a Government
need to use such measures to prevent its people from discussing a healthy and
simple topic. But if one follows the news, one would know Viet Nam is one of
the worst offenders of human's rights in the world. Recently, the Human's
Rights Watch Committee recommended that Viet Nam be put back on the CPC
(Countries of Particular Concern) list because of its brutal treatments of
various religious sectors. Many bloggers simply writing about true events in
Viet Nam were also jailed if what they wrote upset this Government.
On
the placards held by the attendees, there are several mentions of the words TU
DO, which means freedom. Freedom is severely lacking in Viet Nam in its current
regime, where the people tries their hardest to talk about it, and the
Government tries its hardest to shut them up.
Freedom
for Viet Nam!
--------------------------------------------------
Sunday May 5th, 2013: Young Vietnamese activists
organized for the first time Human Rights picnics to share documents on and
discuss about human rights.
The day before, before May 5th, Trinh Kim Kim and Paolo
Thanh Nguyen led a group to discuss the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) in front of their house to start off the event. The discussion went
well, with photos and videos posted on their blogs and YouTube. But the actual
picnics that were going to take place in public parks in Hanoi, Saigon, Hai
Phong and Nha Trang got repressed, at times violently, by public security
forces.
May5th, 2013: a rights discussion in Hanoi, in response to the appeal of
rights activists to organize Human Rights picnics (Source: Dan Lam Bao)
A group of bloggers led by Trinh Kim Kim and Paolo Thanh Nguyen were
reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in front of their house. (Saigon
May 4th 2012) (Source: Dan Lam Bao)
In Hanoi, the picnic went well. Bloggers could gather in
a small group, holding signs that read: ”Freedom of association is citizens’
right” and copies of the UDHR.
Hanoi, 5th May 2013. The sign reads: “Freedom of association is citizens’
right.” (source: Dan Lam Bao)
In Nha Trang, Blogger Me Nam (Nguyen Nhu Quynh) and her
friends stayed in a coffee shop to discuss the UDHR. Public authorities had
stopped them from joining the picnic outdoor.
Nha Trang, May 5th 2013: Blogger Me Nam (Nguyen Nhu Quynh) and her friends
discussing the Declaration of Human Rights in a coffee shop. (Source: Dan Lam Bao)
In Hai Phong, local public security forces did not let
people coming to former political prisoner Pham Thanh Nghien’s house to join a
rights discussion. Nghien and her mother still started the discussion in their
back yard.
Hai Phong, 9 am, 5 May 2013: former political prisoner Pham Thanh Nghien
and her mother in their back yard. The sign reads: “[We have] human rights
since we were born.” (Source: Dan Lam Bao)
In Saigon, early in the morning, bloggers got together to
distribute copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a public
park. Soon after that, public security agents violently dispersed the group and
arrested some of them, including Hoang Vi, Vu Quoc Anh & Vu Sy Hoang. The
bloggers were reportedly violently beaten at police commissariats.
Saigon,8:30 am, Sunday the 5th of May, 2013: bloggers got together to
distribute copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (Source: Dan
Lam Bao)
By 10 pm local time, Hoang Vi continued to be held in
custory at Phu Thanh ward police commissariat. Her family and fellow activists
are gathering there to demand for her release and for her property to be
returned.
Photo: Hoang Vi (far left) and young activists discussing the Declaration
of Human Rights at a public park in Saigon. (Source: Dan Lam Bao)
As some young activists commented on their blogs: they
could not understand why the public authorities have to mobilized that many
agents and efforts to repress what activists considered to be normal and
legitimate, such as a casual picnic to have a good time and talk about their
rights.
Note that Vietnam is a signatory to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
More detailed information (in Vietnamese), images and
videos on Dan Lam Bao blog: http://danlambaovn.blogspot.com/2013/05/tuong-thuat-buoi-da-ngoai-thao-luan.html#.UYZ-0CvF3f8
©2013 The 88 Project
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