Rallies All Over the World in Supporting Democracy Movements in Vietnam
With a network of members inside Vietnam and around the world, Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) aims to establish democracy and reform the country through peaceful means. Since the launch of Viet Tan’s Global Campaign to Support Democracy Activists in Vietnam, a series of successful peace rallies have been held around the world. The rallies come in wake of the Vietnam government’s escalated political oppression against Vietnamese pro-democracy activists. Vietnam’s recent crackdown on dissidents came after successfully convincing the international community of its turnaround attitude in human rights and religious freedom, which resulted in being removed from the US State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern regarding religious repression, being granted Permanent Normal Trading Relationship status with the United States and thereby entry into the World Trade Organization. Human Rights Watch has said in a statement the recent arrests of pro-democracy activists Father Nguyen Van Ly and human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan reflect one of the worst crackdowns on human rights in 20 years. “The government’s ongoing criminalization of peaceful political dissent and violations of basic human rights threatens to undermine its economic achievements.”
The rallies were held in Paris, Oslo, Canberra, Hamburg, Adelaide, San Francisco, Sacramento, Orange County, Toronto, Tokyo, Perth, San Diego, Munich, Ottawa, The Hague, Ha-waii, Chicago, New Orleans, Frankfurt, San Jose, and Washing-ton DC. With numbers reaching the hundreds in various cities, these rallies have been successful in bringing the worlds’ attention to the plight of democracy activists in Vietnam.
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