Viet Khang Movement
Viet Khang Movement is a global political, human rights, religious freedom and social equality advocacy movement. It calls on the U.S. government and others to investigate human rights abuses and oppression in Vietnam in response to the arrest of Viet Khang by the Vietnamese secret police. It was started by a group of Vietnamese Americans spearheaded by Truc Ho and Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang of BPSOS, along with other Vietnamese American community leaders. The group called on all Vietnamese-Americans to sign the "We, The People" petition to the Obama administration.
Petition
More than 25,000 signed within weeks of the creation of the petition on Feb 07, 2012. When the signatures exceeded the required 25,000 signature threshold, White House staff contacted the leaders to schedule a meeting on March 5, 2012 to discuss their concerns.
Protests
Washington DC
On March 5, 2012, several hundred Vietnamese-American delegations arrived from the U.S, Canada, France, and Australia to meet with the administration, to protest and to deliver their petition to the administration. On March 6, the delegations scheduled meetings with their home-state representatives to present their concerns over human right violations in Vietnam and press for the immediate release of Viet Khang and other prisoners of conscience in Vietnam.
The movement galvanized hundreds of thousand Vietnamese Americans who are fed up with the Vietnamese government's brutal treatment, excessive force by state security apparatus, imprisonments, tortures of non-violent protesters of the Chinese invasion of Vietnam's Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, dissenting bloggers, farmers, workers, prisoners of conscience and religious leaders.
External links
Web Sites
- O.C. Vietnamese Americans meet with leaders in D.C. http://www.ocregister.com/news/white-343250-petition-vietnamese.html
- Former Rep. Anh 'Joseph' Cao urges tougher line against Vietnam http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/03/former_rep_cao_back_on_capitol.html
- Photos showing meeting between the White House officials and the Vietnamese Americans in Washington D.C. on March, 5, 2012. http://www.eyedrd.org/2012/03/vietnamese-americans-storm-washington-dc-to-lobby-for-human-rights-in-vietnam.html#more-9712
- Facebook Page of WeAreAllVietnam https://www.facebook.com/WeAreAllVietnam
- Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang's biography on BPSOS website http://www.bpsos.org/en/about-us/welcome-from-the-executive-director/bio-of-dr-nguyen-dinh-thang
- Viet Khang Movement petition on the White House website https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/stop-expanding-trade-vietnam-expense-human-rights/53PQRDZH
- Two Vietnamese songwriters were sentenced Tuesday to a total of ten years http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-867810
Photos
- Photos the Viet Khang Movement protesters by Don Baxter https://secure.flickr.com/photos/trivergemedia/6811457340/
Videos
- Video of the Vietnamese American demonstrators outside the White House on March 5, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iALsDIRV6XY