Văn Bút Việt Nam Hải Ngoại

Sơ lược Lịch sử Văn Bút Việt Nam Hải Ngoại Vịnh Thanh

Phụ lục I
Tóm tắt phần thuyết trình của
Chủ tịch VBVNHN trước Đại Hội Đồng

Văn Bút Quốc Tế kỳ 85
“Reshaping Southeast Asia”
Summary of Lloyd Duong’s Speech
before PEN International Assembly
PEN International 85th Congress
Manila, Philippines 1-10-2019

“Before I begin I wish to salute the youth of Hong Kong and
wish them the very best in their quest for liberty and
democracy.

With respect to Vietnam, as in any of the four countries
presently under Communism, the government of Vietnam
always tries to control the flow of information by
suppression and isolation, misinformation and
disinformation.

In the age of social media, however, it is much harder for the
Vietnamese government to control the flow of information.

Vietnam is a country of 97 million people and there are 45
million Facebook users in Vietnam alone, and there are at
least 2 million Facebook accounts of overseas Vietnamese
such as those of our Centre’s members.

The flow of information between the people in Vietnam and
their overseas compatriots is tremendous. A great example
is the situation in Hong Kong at this time. The struggle for
democracy in Hong Kong is portrayed by the official

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Vietnamese news organization to be very negative, almost
copycat of the Chinese government’s negative projection of
Hong Kong’s demonstrators. The overseas Vietnamese
convey facts and videos of the Hong Kong people’s struggle,
and such information has been circulated across the nation
and the people of Vietnam actually know so much about
Hong Kong and the current situation, mostly thanks to the
sharing of information from overseas Vietnamese through
social media.

As for me, one of the most interesting and beautiful elements
or angles of activism through social media that I witness is
the leadership of women in demanding democratic reforms,
exposing social injustice, criminal behaviors of officials,
corruption, environmental issues, etc.

One of those women is Ms. Phạm Đoan Trang whom we
selected to include in our Centre’s UPR Submission to the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office. Ms.
Pham just received the 2019 Press Freedom award from
Reporters Without Borders. Ms. Pham’s Facebook account
has about 60+ thousand followers.

There is another less well-known female activist, a young
mother who is actively exposing social injustice in Vietnam.
Her name is Nguyễn Thùy Dương. She visited victims of
official corruption, who lost their home and land due to
official corrupt policies, interviewed them and posted videos
on her Facebook account which has more than 55 thousand
followers.

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I truly admire all activists in Vietam and especially the
women activists.

What do we do to assist the activists in Vietnam? Our
Centre undertakes 2 approaches: (1) Magnify their messages,
and (2) protect and support them in anyway we can.

Firstly, to expand the scope of their posts, we redirect the
posts to different discussion groups. Some of these groups
have almost 200 thousand followers so one post can be seen
by at least a million people on Facebook and Youtube.

With respect to protection and support, we work with
different groups to secure their release if they get arrested.
In other cases, we identify needs and provide financial
support.

Just before coming to Manila, two weeks ago we undertook
immediate action to support Ms. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Sương, a
blogger on Facebook sentenced by the Vietnamese court to 5
years in prison for her posts. Her husband has cancer and
they have a young child in grade 4. On September 15 just
before I left for Singapore on business, one of the groups I
support in Toronto sent money to her family as a token of
support. And, we are working with other groups to lobby for
her release.

The reality is that there exists REAL OPPOSITION in
Vietnam as reflected though social media composed of
reasonable and talented activists, who analyze and criticize

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the Vietnamese government’s defective policies and massive
corruption.

To counteract the opposition on social media, the
Vietnamese government implemented the new Cyber
Security law on January 1, 2019. As a result, many activists
were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Within
the past 30 days at least 7 bloggers were arrested and
prosecuted; and their sentences are almost uniform, i.e. 5-
year imprisonment.

Observing the current situation, the human right condition in
Vietnam has deteriorated significantly. You can read reports
from organizations such as Human Rights Watch or
Amnesty International so I will not elaborate further here.

I just wish to point out another strategy undertaken by the
Vietnamese government this year beside the new Cyber
Security law is the official backing of made-in-Vietnam
social media platforms to compete with Facebook. The
Cyber Security law was implemented on January 1, 2019. In
June 2019 Hahalolokhi was introduced as an alternative to
Facebook. A month later Gapo was also introduced with a
plan to acquire 50 million users within 2 years. And, just 2
weeks ago on September 16, Lotus was welcomed by
Vietnam’s Minister of Information. These platforms do not
allow political discussion, do not allow any statement
criticizing the government and its policies.

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Only time can tell how well these platforms can compete
with Facebook which I doubt it, based on experience.
Previously other social media platforms such as Tamtay,
Yume, Yobanbe, Zingme with offical blessings all had failed
completely because of two factors: abuse of users’ personal
information, and restriction on the nature of opinions.

In conclusion, I believe THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM
WILL CHANGE slowly but surely and will bring about A
BETTER FUTURE because there is REAL OPPOSITION
against corrupt official policies as reflected though social
media.

The Vietnamese government has intensified persecution of
activists.

However, the intensified persecution does not frighten the
courageous activists in Vietnam, especially young women
and young mothers in and outside Vietnam.

SALUTE the activists in Vietnam, especially the BRAVE
WOMEN ACTIVISTS.”

Lloyd Duong

October 1, 2019

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Phụ lục II
Tóm tắt phần thuyết trình của
Chủ tịch VBVNHN trước Ủy Ban

Văn Thi Sĩ Bị Cầm Tù
Đại Hội Văn Bút Quốc Tế kỳ 86
Remarks on Vietnam’s Human Rights Situation
during Writers in Prison Committee’s November 4, 2020
Meeting by Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre’s President
PEN International 86th Congress

London, England 2-6.11.2019

The human rights situation in Vietnam in 2020 is worsen as
the Communist Party is preparing to hold its 13th National

Convention in January 2021. As in all past quinquennial

conventions the Vietnamese government rounded up

dissidents and anyone it deems to be trouble makers before

the said National Convention. Since last year the

Vietnamese government began to arrest many individuals

and, among those detained on criminal charges, are

journalists and writers.

Our Centre is working on two cases. The first case
concerns Dr. Phạm Chí Dũng, an economist, a novelist and

journalist, who co-founded and currently President of the
Association of Independent Journalists (Hội Nhà báo độc
lập). On November 21, 2019 he was detained, and his home

was searched. He was charged later under Section 117 of
the 2015 Criminal Code for “Creating, possessing,

circulating or distributing information, data, materials
against the government of Socialist Vietnam.”

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The second case concerns Ms. Phạm Đoan Trang, an
author, journalist and democracy activist. She had received
the 2017 Homo Homini Award and the 2019 Press Freedom
Award from Reporters Without Borders. She was arrested
and detained briefly in February 2018.

In our Centre’s Submission to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights during the Universal
Periodic Review of Vietnam 32nd SESSION (January -
February 2019), the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre called
world’s attention to the on-going persecution that Ms. Ms.
PhạmĐoan Trang has suffered as follows:

In a recent case, in February 2018, the unapproved
book entitled “Chính trị bình dân” (Popular Politics)
by Đoan Trang Pham was prohibited from
distribution, and subsequently Ms. Doan Trang Pham
had to go into hiding from Vietnam’s security force.

On October 6, 2020 Ms. Pham Doan Trang was arrested
and charged by the Vietnamese government under Section
88 of the 1999 Criminal Code for propagating views against
the state and under Section 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code
for “Creating, possessing, circulating or distributing
information, data, materials against the government of
Socialist Vietnam.”

The Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre calls for the
unconditional and immediate release of Ms. Phạm Đoan
Trang and Dr. Phạm Chí Dũng, who simply exercised their

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constitutional rights peacefully including the freedom of
association, freedom of thought and freedom of speech as
guaranteed by Vietnam’s current Constitution as well as the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to
which the Vietnamese government agreed to adhere.

We shared this urgent situation with Salil Tripathi, WiPC
Chair, and PEN International quickly responded with a firm
demand for Pham Doan Trang’s immediate release. Thanks
Salil and everyone at PEN International.

Our Centre is lobbying various governments on these two
cases and others. In Hanoi, the US Embassy stated that it is
“monitoring the situation closely” (Rachael Chen,
spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy).

To conclude, I’d like to share portions of Ms. Pham Doan
Trang’s letter.

“JUST IN CASE I AM IMPRISONED
Saigon, Vietnam
May 27th, 2019

Dear friends,
No one wants to sit in prison. But if prison is
inevitable for freedom fighters, if prison can serve a
predetermined purpose, then we should happily
accept it.
…

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I don’t want a campaign that calls on the Vietnamese
government to simply “free Trang”. I want a
comprehensive social movement that pushes the
government to “free Trang and pass new election
laws”, “free Trang and ensure free and fair
elections”, “free Trang, free elections”, and so on.
..

I don’t want freedom for just myself; that’s too easy.
I want something greater: freedom for Vietnam.
It might seem like some grand goal, but it’s totally
possible – with your support.

Pham Doan Trang”

Lloyd Duong

November 4, 2020

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Tác giả . Author

Lloyd Duong

Author, Attorney, Humanist

B.Comm Honours, Juris Doctor

(Univ. of Ottawa), MBA (Univ.

of Toronto)

Member, Law Society of Upper

Canada

Founder, Vietnamese University
Students’ Federation of Ontario

Formerly Financial Analyst,

Economic Forecasting &

Photo @ 25-1-2021 Strategic Planning

Formerly Crown Prosecutor

Publications: Boat People: Imprints on History, Western Political

Philosophies, Eastern Political Philosophies, etc.

Formerly President of Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre (2018-2020)

Vịnh Thanh Dương Thành Lợi
Tốt nghiệp danh dự ưu hạng Cử nhân Thương Mại Danh Dự, Tiến sĩ

Luật (ĐH Ottawa), Thạc sĩ Quản Trị Kinh Doanh (ĐH Toronto)
Sáng lập Tổng Hội Sinh Viên Việt Nam TB Ontario
Nguyên Chuyên gia Dự phóng Kinh tế & Kế koạch Chiến lược
Nguyên Biện Lý, Bộ Tư pháp TB Ontario
Thành viên Luật Sư Đoàn Vùng Thượng Canada, Viện Quân Lực
Hoàng Gia Canada, v.v.
Tác phẩm: Thuyền Nhân:Ấn Tích Lịch Sử, Triết Lý Quốc Trị Đông
Phương, Triết Lý Quốc Trị Tây Phương, v.v.
Nguyên Chủ tịch Văn Bút Việt Nam Hải Ngoại (2018-2020)

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Sơ lược Lịch sử Văn Bút Việt Nam Hải Ngoại Vịnh Thanh

“Quá khứ là tấm gương phản ảnh trung thực về
nhân phẩm và đẳng cấp. Quá khứ dù tốt đẹp cỡ nào

thì cũng là nơi khó có thể trở về nhưng tương lai
rực rỡ là nơi mà chúng ta nhất định phải đến.”

Lịch sử Văn Bút Việt Nam Hải Ngoại
Vịnh Thanh

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Phim Tri Ân & Lưu Niệm

youtube.com/watch?v=H_0nuOWj8ic

Synopsis extracted from
History of Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre

Lloyd Duong
Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved.
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