VN Indigenous Coalition/demonstration in US

From Philip.Taylor@anu.edu.au Mon Jun 20 23:38:45 2005

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 16:38:22 +1000

From: Philip Taylor <Philip.Taylor@anu.edu.au>

Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

To: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: [Vsg] VN indigenous coalition/demonstration in US

Dear List

FYI, below is a news release, posted on the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) website, about a demonstration today (21/06) in Washington DC, involving a coalition of four VN/Lao indigenous advocacy organisations, to coincide with the visit to the US capital of the Vietnamese Prime Minister.

An Australian journalist just informed me about this upcoming event, which I'd not heard about. I've known of UNPO for some years through Australian indigenous activists, who have developed close personal and political relations with the Khmer Krom through this

organisation, but haven't followed these kinds of activities in the US or elsewhere. This kind of coalition building in a foreign country seems to me to be a new development in indigenous activism, as far as groups from Vietnam are concerned. Is this a new alliance

or have such groups been co-operating in the past?

-Philip Taylor

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

Web address: http://www.unpo.org/

Indigenous People's Organisations from Khmer Krom, Montagnards, Tai

and Hmong to Demonstrate for Freedom and Democracy in Vietnam in

Washington

Press Release

On Tuesday, June 21, hundreds of demonstrators belonging to four organizations representing indigenous peoples living in Vietnam, will organize a demonstration at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, to call for the respect of freedom and democracy in Vietnam, on the occasion of the meeting of the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai with the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Below is the text of the Appeal to the US Government:

Appeal to the US Government on the Occasion of the Visit of the Prime Minister of Vietnam to the White House on 21 June 2005 Although all Vietnamese citizens have greatly suffered for the lack of freedom and democracy and the unjust social policies, widespread corruption and discrimination in Vietnam, the indigenous peoples we represent have been reserved a brutal and systematic repression by the Vietnamese regime; a regime that has exploited our different ethnicity, culture, customs, and languages to dispossess our peoples of our lands, foster ethnic hatred and racism, and keep us uneducated and in extreme poverty.

We, the representative of the Hmong, Khmer Krom, Montagnard Degar and

Tai Dam Peoples: on June 21, 2005, on the occasion of the meeting of the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai with the President of the United States, George W. Bush, we will gather in Washington at the Freedom Plaza, a couple of blocks from the White House to peacefully demonstrate for freedom and democracy in Vietnam.

We will gather at Freedom Plaza as US citizens or political refugees who have found in the United States a place of comfort for our families and the possibility of exercising and continue to advocate the human freedoms and rights that are still denied to our peoples in our homelands. Most importantly we will gather at Freedom Plaza as individuals belonging to the indigenous peoples who have paid the highest price since the Communist Dictatorship took over South Indochina in 1975.

Since the United States is a country that has put the promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in the world at the centre of its foreign policy, we urge the US Congress and Government to use all its political and economic powers to pressure Vietnam to respect the basic rights of all the citizens of Vietnam. In particular, as representatives of indigenous peoples' organizations we call on the US Government to pay particular attention to the respect of the fundamental rights of the indigenous people of Indochina, namely the Montagnard Degar, The Khmer Krom, the Hmong and the Tai people.

The most critical concerns or the well-being of our people are: the right to own our ancestral lands, the right to religious freedom, freedom of assembly and the right to democracy in order to be able to run the affairs of our communities in accordance with the freely expressed will of our people.

Since Vietnam has recently signed an agreement with the United States to ensure the respect of religious freedom to its citizens, we urge the US Congress and Government to obtain the institution of an international monitoring system of such agreement. The authoritarian and antidemocratic nature of the Vietnamese Government and more than thirty years of violation of religious freedom cannot leave the implementation of any agreement to Hanoi only.

All prisoners of conscience and political dissidents should be released in accordance with the International Covenant on Political Rights ratified by Vietnam. If the final goal of the United States Government is, in the word of President Bush, to put an end to tyranny in this world, the incarceration of worshippers or of advocates of human rights who risk their life to enjoy freedom cannot be accepted.

Since Vietnam is seeking to be in friendly relations, a partner in trade and a strategic ally with the United States, the US should obtain that Vietnam stops considering as its enemy the members of the Montagnard Degar, Hmong, KhmerKrom and Tai people who sided with the United States during the war.

All the above requests are necessary conditions to obtain that the indigenous peoples of Vietnam could coexist in peace, freedom and liberty with the Vietnamese citizens and we call on President Bush to endorse them and not to favor the entrance of Vietnam in the World Trade Organization as soon as the Vietnamese Government does not respect them.

Specific Recommendations for the US Government in Dealing with Vietnam Khmers Kampuchea Krom Federation (KKF):

- Vietnam should immediately stop all acts of intimidation against Khmer-Krom people;

- Vietnam should allow international monitors into villages where Khmer-Krom people live;

- Vietnam should respect fundamental human rights of all Vietnamese citizens;

- Vietnam should place a team of WHO professional doctors, scientists and human rights defenders to study and investigate the causes of the deadly disease epidemic that is spreading in the provinces of Soc-Trang and Bac-Lieu;

- Vietnam should return all farmlands and property, which the Vietnamese confiscated by force to their rightful owners;

Montagnard Foundation Inc:

- The Montagnard Degar refugees in Cambodia must not be repatriated to Vietnam until the credible international monitor system has been established to protect them;

- Vietnam should release all of the Montagnard Degar prisoners especially those who have been arrested after our peoples peaceful and non-violent demonstration in February 2001 and April 2004;

- Vietnam should re-open all churches in Vietnam especially in the Central Highlands without any condition;

Tai Solidarity International:

- Vietnam should abandon the Son La Dam project;

- Vietnam should bring land and liberty back to the Tai people;

- The United States Government should not favor the WTO accession of

Vietnam while it violates human rights;

World Hmong Peoples Congress:

- Vietnam should immediately stop all acts of military aggression against the Hmong people in Saisomboun Special Zone, Houaphan province and other restricted areas in Laos;

- Vietnam should withdraw all military troops and intelligence officers from Laos;

- Vietnam must end the occupation of Laos;

Philip Taylor

Department of Anthropology

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies

The Australian National University

Canberra ACT 0200

Phone: +61-2-612 52300

Fax: +61-2-612 54896

From ProschanF@folklife.si.edu Tue Jun 21 06:50:26 2005

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 09:48:21 -0400

From: Frank Proschan <ProschanF@folklife.si.edu>

Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

To: Philip.Taylor@anu.edu.au, vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] VN indigenous coalition/demonstration in US

I don't believe it is accurate to characterize these as "VN/Lao indigenous advocacy organisations." They are expatriate lobbying groups purporting to speak for indigenous populations in Vietnam and Laos. There is nothing new about their alliance of convenience--the various groups share the same ex-Green Beret and ex-CIA patrons and supporters and operate on the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." They have been playing the "indigenous" label for years at the UN Human Rights Commission and elsewhere, unconvincingly to those who have any independent knowledge about indigenous groups within Laos and Vietnam, but with limited success among those whose only source of knowledge is the groups themselves.

Best,

Frank Proschan

Project Director

cellphone until 15 July: 1-202-386-1347

postal mail:

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Smithsonian Institution

PO Box 37012

Victor Building Suite 4100, MRC 0953

Washington, DC 20013-7012

office location and express services:

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

750 9th Street N.W., Suite 4100

Washington DC 20560-0953

tel: 202-275-1607

fax: 202-275-1119