Is this what 59,000 Americans Died For...?

 

Supporting the Vietnam Reform Party is a great peaceful-way to remember those, who died for freedom in Vietnam.

With a network of members inside Vietnam and around the world, the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) aims to establish democracy and reform the country through peaceful means.
http://www.viettan.org

 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Bill Laurie" <bill_laurie@yahoo.com>

Vietnamese Democracy Activists Under Lockdown on Eve of Bush Trip to Vietnam

(Where Is Jane Fonda, when the Vietnamese People really need her?) 

http://public-issues-news.blogspot.com/2006/11/vietnamese-democracy-activists-under.html 

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was released by the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party):

Days before the APEC summit convenes in Hanoi, the Vietnamese communist authorities have attempted to isolate and harass key democracy activists. "No Foreigners," "No Pictures," "Restricted Area - No Passing" signs have gone up near the homes of leading dissidents. To prevent foreign reporters from contacting the activists, the public security forces have set up equipment to jam mobile phone reception in several locations.

Attorney Le Thi Cong Nhan, a labor activist and spokesperson for the unsanctioned Vietnam Progression Party, was given a verbal order by police not to leave her home, use her telephone, meet with foreigners, or have more than two people in her house. According to neighbors, the gate outside the young attorney's home has been locked. Days earlier Le Thi Cong Nhan was fired by her employer under pressure from the public security.

Attorney Nguyen Van Dai, chairman of the human rights committee of the newly formed Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Vietnam, has been subjected to repeat interrogations by the Division A24 of the public security agency since November 9.

Dr. Pham Hong Son, a former political prisoner, has been the victim of two staged traffic accidents. On November 4, while riding his motorcycle with his two children, a high speed motorcycle came up from behind and collided with Dr. Son. After the collision, the unidentified motorcycle sped up and disappeared with its motorists who were wearing masks. On November 9, Dr. Son encountered another high speed motorcycle which almost caused him to lose control of his vehicle. As that unidentified motorcycle sped away, another came up and the driver shouted threatening insults to Dr. Son.

Mai Xuan Thuong park, located in central Hanoi, has been the gathering place for hundreds of people at a time protesting government corruption. Many of the protesters have come from far away provinces to seek redress for land seized by government officials. On November 9, security police emptied the park of demonstrators. Many of the these individuals are currently under "temporary detention."

The demands for political change in Vietnam have become a grassroots social movement. Viet Tan calls on foreign leaders and media to visit with the democracy activists and seek out Vietnamese citizens calling for social justice. With Vietnam under the international spotlight, this is the time to engage in a dialogue with the Vietnamese people.

With a network of members inside Vietnam and around the world, the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) aims to establish democracy and reform the country through peaceful means.
http://www.viettan.org

Source: Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party)

CONTACT: Angelina Do of Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party),
+1-916-248-1588

Web site: http://www.viettan.org/

----------------------------------------

 

MONTAGNARDS  THEIR  HISTORY  AND  CULTURE - PRESS  HERE  FOR  DETAILS

 

U.S. Told to Pressure Vietnam on Rights

http://www.viettan.org/article.php3?id_article=2475

• AP

U.S. Told to Pressure Vietnam on Rights

As Vietnam Looks for Trade Concessions, U.S. Should Press for Human Rights, Advocates Say

By WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The United States should capitalize on President Bush’s upcoming visit to Vietnam to increase pressure on the communist nation to improve its human rights record, rights activists said Thursday.

With Vietnam now headed by a reformist president and negotiating for membership in the World Trade Organization, the time was ripe to prod the southeast Asian nation to build on the positive steps it has taken, such as loosening media restrictions and granting more independence to the national assembly, the activists said, addressing a panel of federal lawmakers.

Bush should use the visit to the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November "to publicly support the Vietnamese people’s aspiration for freedom and democracy," Chan Dang-Vu, North American representative of Viet Tan, the Vietnam Reform Party, told the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

US Congressional Human Rights Caucus

Vietnam faces potential milestones in opening its communist-run system this year, and is trying to cement permanent normalized trade relations with the United States as it presses its bid for WTO membership. While some gains have been made under its new president, Nguyen Minh Triet, an economic reformer, the country is backsliding in others, such as religious persecution and the freeing of political prisoners.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking in Hanoi, said the Bush administration supports the government on the trade question.

Activists cautioned about offering what could appear to be unconditional support.

Chan said Congress should "encourage the president to discuss the obvious: Vietnam’s full integration into the global community requires political liberalization in tandem with economic liberalization."

He said that because of the recent mistreatment of Vietnamese trying to exercise religious rights, the State Department should continue to designate it as a "country of particular concern" toward the practice of religion.

T. Kumar, Amnesty International’s advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific, noted improvements regarding freedom of association.

But Kumar said his group has seen recent troubling events "including inconclusive releases of prisoners of conscience and new arrests of individuals who appear to have done nothing but use their legal right to peaceful freedom of expression.

Another witness, Helen Ngo, chairwoman of the Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, said a general amnesty declared this month resulted in freedom for just one religious prisoner from a list of religious prisoners provided by the State Department pastor Ma Van Bay.

There also was testimony about a crackdown on Internet use.

The wife of Cong Thanh Do, a Vietnamese-American from San Jose, Calif., imprisoned for Internet use, testified that Do’s Vietnamese jailers will tell her and their three children nothing about his situation. Jane Tien Dobui tearfully said she does not know "even if he is still alive."

http://www.viettan.org/article.php3?id_article=2475

.................................................

When was your last visit to a VA Hospital to say thank you to those, who served for you and your family and friends? 

My Mailing Lists Have Many Politicians And Celebrities.   It's a shame that many of these Americans do not reach-out to support more veterans concerns...   When you support veterans concerns, it's not about politics.  It's about America's future.   A visit to a VA Hospital near you is a great start.    You don't have to be a politician or a celebrity to be thankful to your veterans.   (A bumper sticker only goes so far...)   Jack   http://www.americans-working-together.com/id213.html

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."  

 - George Washington

Troubled troops in no-win plight     http://www.americans-working-together.com/american_veterans/id135.html

 

...........................................

Find a VA Facility

http://www1.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp

....................

http://www.CapVeterans.com