The Ultimate Reality: AMERICAN TEENS EXPERIENCE PERSECUTION IN VIETNAM

Janet Chismar

It wasn’t your typical summer vacation. Last year (2006), eight teens—six Americans and two Australians—travelled to Vietnam to witness firsthand the persecution of Christians in the Asian nation. Their adventure—Underground Reality: Vietnam—was captured on film and is available now on DVD from The Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry dedicated to helping persecuted Christians in nations like Vietnam.

"We’ve seen a lot of reality TV over the last five years or so," says Todd Nettleton, spokesperson for The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). "Well, this is the ultimate reality -- the reality of life and death for Christians in Vietnam. It’s the reality of Christians paying the price to live out their convictions and serve God." The idea for a DVD was generated as VOM staff wrestled with how to present the reality of persecution to an American audience. "Many Americans think persecution existed in the book of Acts, then it stopped." Nettleton says. "But it is still going on all the time. This DVD serves as a way of confronting the American church with the daily reality of our brothers and sisters in restricted nations."

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) listed Vietnam in its May 2007 report as a "Country of Particular Concern" regarding religious freedom.

According to Tears of the Oppressed, an Australian Christian human rights organization, although Vietnam has a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, the State has a range of decrees and laws in place to control religious activities and detain religious leaders. Christianity is incompatible with the Marxist/Communist political ideology of Vietnam, which denies the existence of God, and so Vietnamese authorities go to great lengths to suppress and hinder Christian activities. "The Vietnamese government wants people to be Communists first and Christians second," Nettleton explains. "But the people we filmed say they are Christians first and everything else comes after that." The government allows some Christian meetings but they are closely monitored and watched. These groups are subject to having the police raid their services or having people arrested and locked up. In some cases, they are even attacked physically.

One of the things that happened right before the VOM group travelled to Vietnam is that a house church was torn down by the government. "The people came in swinging clubs and some of the Christians were roughed up pretty badly," says Nettleton. "That’s the reality for Christians in Vietnam -- that’s what we wanted to capture on the DVD -- what it is like for an American Christian teenager to come face to face with that type of reality." Bethany, one of the teens who made the trip, admits she was shaken by the reality she experienced. "When I went to Vietnam, everything got shaken up," says Bethany. "One day I interviewed a girl we called Esther. This was my greatest moment in Vietnam. Her dad was the first Christian in their village. When he started having services in their house, the police asked him to come to meet them."
Looking at the floor, the Vietnamese girl told Bethany, "I never saw him again or heard about him for three years."

The World Must Act for Burma

Zoya Phan

Zoya Phan, who spent 10 years in a Thai refugee camp after the Burmese military attacked her village, explains the emergence of the democracy movement and calls on the world to act.

The tables are turned. A regime that rules through fear now fears for its own survival. For 45 years the people of Burma have suffered under military rule. Now they are demanding freedom, with the biggest street protests seen in the country since 1988. Even threats of action, and shooting at monks with bullets and tear gas, has failed to suppress the protests. But this is one of the most brutal regimes in the world, and it won’t give up without a fight. Zoya Phan, a 26-year-old exiled Burmese political activist, is an ethnic Karen, escaped from the Burmese regime’s ongoing war against the Karen ethnic people.

12 years ago when she was just 14 years old, she was forced to leave her home, village and country because of the military regime offensive against ethnic Karen in Burma. As a refugee, she lived on the Thai-Burmese border for many years and spent her teenager live in the refugee camps. Now she is campaigning for human rights and democracy for her homeland as a Campaigns Officer with the Burma Campaign UK.

We know from experience that the regime has opened fire on peaceful protesters. The current regime came to power on the back of a massacre in 1988 that left at least 3,000 civilians dead. In addition, the UN has accused the regime of breaking the Geneva Convention for their deliberate targeting of civilians in attacks on ethnic minorities. They are capable of anything. I know that from personal experience. I was 14 years old when the Burmese attacked my village, opening fire without warning. Now 400,000 monks are pitched against the regime’s 400,000 soldiers, guns against begging bowls, with the hopes and support of a population that has suffered increasing poverty and oppression under military rule.

The protests were sparked by an increase in fuel prices of up to 500 percent. In a country where the majority of people live in poverty, and can barely afford to feed their family, let alone pay for basic medicines if they fall ill, it was a step too far. The regime, increasingly out of touch in its new capital, Nay-Pyi-Daw, miscalculated the mood of the people. They also failed to realise the extent to which democracy activists have developed networks to circumvent controls on the flow of information, and were able to get news out to the international community. Nor did they anticipate the level of organisation that the monks alliance had built, how they had learnt from previous uprisings.

The leadership has remained largely anonymous and under cover, stopping the regime from ‘beheading’ the movement by imprisoning the organisers. This, combined with an international community that finally seems willing to take on the regime with UN action and targeted sanctions, gives Burmese exiles like myself hope that our suffering may soon be over. But much still depends on how the international community responds. They must translate words into action, providing maximum support to those risking their lives on the streets of Burma.

Source: http://www.viettan.org/

DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF THE MARCH FOR DEMOCRACY OF THE PEOPLE IN MYANMAR/BURMATO:

The Government of Myanmar/Burma
All Sangha Leaders, Democratic Organizations and the People of Myanmar/Burma
The Secretary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Office of The Secretary General of The United Nations
The United States Government
The President of the European Union Human Rights Organizations and
International Telecommunications Agencies

For over a month we have followed with great interest news of the march of people’s power in Myanmar/Burma, watching Buddhist monks, students and ordinary people peacefully taking to the streets and demanding that the dictatorial Myanmar/Burma government conduct real dialogue with the people and democratic organizations so as to build a true democratic system that allows for a healthy, competitive pluralistic political society and that respects human rights.

We, the undersigned Vietnamese individuals, organizations and associations struggling for a true Democratic and Prosperous Vietnam, would like to share the following sentiments: We wholeheartedly support the peaceful struggle of the People of Myanmar/Burma in order to establish a strong and stable civil society within a democratic, pluralistic political system.

A successful democratic struggle of the people of Myanmar/Burma will contribute to the stability and security of Myanmar/Burma in particular, ASEAN and the world in general.

We are holding the current government of Myanmar/Burma responsible for the security and safety of these peaceful demonstrators. The military junta of Myanmar/Burma should take this opportunity to hold direct talks with the people and democratic organizations of Myanmar/Burma such as the National Democratic League, led by Madame Aung San Syu Kyi, the Nationalist Students Organization of 1988, and venerable Buddhist clerics to create a peaceful democracy for Myanmar/Burma.

We petition the Secretary of the Association of South East Asian Nations and member countries to raise his voice a in timely fashion to support the people of Myanmar/Burma in their current struggle for democracy, and we request that the military government of Myanmar/Burma conduct peaceful dialogue with the opposition in order to work out the differences between the people and the government.

We are calling upon the United Nations, the United States, the European Union other democratic nations, human rights organizations, and international press and media agencies to raise their voices to support and assist with solutions for the current struggle for democracy of the Myanmar/Burma people.

We resolutely condemn the government of Myanmar/Burma for the use of any violence to suppress peaceful demonstrators. We would like to express our sincere admiration and understanding of the present difficulties that the people of Myanmar/Burma are going through, but we believe wholeheartedly that the non-violent way to struggle for democracy of these brave citizens will be successful.

Drafted in Vietnam on September 28, 2007

1/ Duong Thi Xuan, Movement for Democracy in Vietnam, Ha Noi Viet Nam2/ Do Nam Hai, Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Viet Nam3/ Prof. Hoang Minh Chinh, General Secretary Vietnam Democracy Party, Ha Noi Viet Nam4/ Lu Thi Thu Duyen, Member, Block 8406, Ha Noi Viet Nam5/ Le Hong Tuan, Le & Brothers, Ha Noi Viet Nam6/ Minh Son, Representative Committee To Support the Victims of Land Injustice, Sai Gon Viet Nam7/ Prof. Nguyen Chink Ket , Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Vietnam8/ Writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia, Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Vietnam9/ Engineer Nguyen Tien Trung, Representative Assembly of Democratic Youth, Sai Gon Viet Nam10/ Nguyen Khac Toan, Member, Block 8406, Ha Noi Viet Nam11/ Pham Linh, spokesman United Workers and Farmers Association of Vietnam, Sai Gon Viet Nam 12/ Attorney Phạm Thanh Hai, Constitutional Law Office, Sai Gon Việt Nam13/ Tran Ngoc Ha - Việt Nam Reform Party, Viet Nam14/ Tran Hoang Le – People’s Democratic Party, Ha Noi Viet Nam15/ Vu Thanh Phuong, Member, Block 8406, Ha Noi Viet Nam16/ Vu Thi Binh, Member, Block 8406, Ha Noi Viet Nam17/ Attorney Le Quoc Quan, Ha Noi, Viet Nam18/ Engineer Nguyen Phuong Anh, Ha Noi, Viet Nam19/ Nguyen Qui Duc, Ha Noi Viet Nam20/ Nguyen Duy Thong, Ha Noi Viet Nam21/ Nguyen Ba Dang, Hai Duong, Viet Nam22/ History Prof. Nguyen The Ky, Ha Noi Viet Nam23/ Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, Ha Noi Viet Nam24/ Dr. Pham Hong Son, Ha Noi, Viet Nam25/ Engineer Pham Van Troi, Ha Tay Viet Nam26/ Vi Duc Hoi, Lang Son, Viet Nam27/ Teacher Vu Hung, Ha Noi Viet Nam28/ Amy Duong, Women for Human Rights29/ Bui Diem, Dai Viet Revolutionary Party30/ Cuong Nguyen, Director, Vietnam Helsinki Committee31/ Do Thanh Cong, Spokesman, People’s Democratic Party32/ Do Hung, Viet Future Foundation33/ Jane DoBui, Women for Human Rights34/ Hoang Tu Duy, Representative, Vietnam Reform Party35/ Le Minh Nguyen, Chairman, Vietnam Human Rights Network36/ Le My Phuong, Committee for Little Sai Gon37/ Ngo Thi Hien, Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam38/ Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, Chairman, International Committee to Support the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam 39/ Nguyen Ngoc Bich, Chairman, National Congress of Vietnamese Americans40/ Dr. Nguyen Van Lung, Dai Viet Revolutionary Party41/ Nguyen Cong Bang, Representative, Vietnam Populist Party42/ Nguyen Quoc Trung, The People’s Democratic Party, Phnom Penh Cambodia43/ Nguyen Trung Kien, Block 8406’s Member, Phnom Penh Cambodia44/ Pham Tran Anh, Chairman, Former Vietnam Political and Religion Prisoners Association45/ Tran Quoc Bao, Chairman, Vietnam’s Restoration Party46/ Tran Tu Thanh, Spokesperson, The Vietnam Nationalist Party Overseas 47/ Tran Thanh Hiep, Chairman Vietnam Center Human Rights, Paris – France48/ Doan Viet Hoat, Virginia, U.S.A49/ Nguyen Thanh Trang, San Diego, CA, U.S.A.50/ Nguyen Khoa Thai Anh, Oakland, CA, U.S.A.51/ Vu Thu Hien, Paris, France

Bloggers for Burma to Stage International Online Protest October 4th

The junta in Burma (aka Myanmar) may have blacked out public internet access in the country in an attempt to prevent information about the military's violent crackdown on protesting monks from getting out, but the move is proving to be too little too late.

Now Free-Burma.org has announced an International Bloggers' Day for Burma on October 4th. Bloggers who wish to show their solidarity with the peaceful protest are being asked to refrain from posting that day and instead display one of the Free Burma banners or images (such as the one at right) that have been created for the online protest. A list of participating bloggers (currently more than 2,000) can be found here. The Free-Burma.org protest site for bloggers was launched by two German college students. They got the idea from a multi-lingual Wiki page that was set up last month as a forum to allow participants around the world to brainstorm ideas on how to show support for the protesters in Burma.

Source: http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/

Blogs sweep Vietnam as young push state-run media aside

HANOI (AFP) — Pop stars are doing it, so are millions of teenagers and even Communist Party politicians -- blogging has taken Vietnam by storm and spawned an alternative communications universe to dusty state media.In an online phenomenon that has exploded in a little over a year in this youthful and booming nation, millions of net surfers now reveal all as they share daily gossip and thoughts on their fast-changing society.

Vietnam may be a one-party state that censors its official media and the Internet, but this hasn't stopped millions of yong people embracing a world of carefree online chatting their parents could only have dreamed off.

"Blogs were nothing two years ago and suddenly everybody's got one," said 28-year-old Canadian expatriate Joe Ruelle, a celebrity in the local blogosphere. "The number of people who have blogs is baffling," he said. "It's kind of like the Wild West right now. People write everything." When Hollywood star Angelina Jolie came to adopt a child here in March, in a visit celebrated by state media, bloggers hotly debated the merits of her trip -- and whether she really is the world's most beautiful woman.

When Vietnam hosted world leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last year, student volunteers and state-paid staff provided behind-the-scenes looks at the event. Bloggers have fought wars over the cultural divide between Vietnam's north and south, but they have also raised funds for the needy, arranged organ donations and given support to people suffering deadly diseases.

Blogger Cuoi HK, aka Tuyen, a Vietnam Airlines employee, touched thousands as he chronicled his fight against cancer on a blog, and supporters held real-life "offline parties" for him before he died earlier this year. "I read your blog to learn how to live and fight," wrote blogger Phuong Thanh. "Thanks for your smile. I know you will be with us forever."

Pop stars such as Phuong Linh use blogs to share details of their daily lives, and unknowns such as blogger Ha Kin have become minor Internet stars through blogs such as her 50-part "Love Story in New York". National assembly deputy Duong Trung Quoc, a prominent historian, recently became the legislature's first blogger, posting an assembly diary as well as historical tit-bits about the 1,000-year-old capital city.

Even Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has shared details of his personal life in a one-off online chat to reach out to young and tech-savvy citizens. "Some people said that as a senior leader, one may feel very lonely," Dung wrote. "But I have never felt lonely. I don't know what other people think, but I feel life is always beautiful." Vietnam's rulers have also been parodied in fake blogs using their names, in which unknown writers have sung the praises of the Communist Party -- leading the goverment in August to affirm that Dung has only one official website.

But for the most part, it is youngsters who have pioneered the form, usually with non-political chit-chat. Phan Kim Ngan, a 13-year-old student from Hanoi, said at least half her 40 classmates now have a blog. Some even have two. "Those who don't have blogs are mostly those without a PC and an Internet connection at home," she said. "They can use an Internet cafe, but that makes it harder to regularly update their blogs. "I write about my life, what I think, and what happens at school. I don't share my blog with my parents and never with my teachers. We sometimes complain about them, so they can't know about our entries."

Writing diaries has a long tradition in Vietnam, a country with a strong and ancient literary heritage, and the tragic Vietnam war diaries of female army doctor Dang Thuy Tram have become a recent best-seller.

But for Ngan and many of her class-mates, written diaries are as passe as the Vietnam War that ended in 1975, long before she was born. "It's old-fashioned and I already have to do too much hand-writing at school," she said. "On a blog we can express ourselves more freely. Writing a blog is a good break from study. It's entertainment."

Blogging has rapidly caught on in Vietnam, where two-thirds of people are under 30 and most are happy technology-adopters who casually text-message each other while riding mopeds through chaotic city traffic. The number of Internet connections has mushroomed to 16.7 million in the country of 84 million people, with cybercafes and wi-fi spots widespread.

"In Vietnam, once something comes along in the way of technology or information, people take to it really very quickly," said Ruelle. "There's a whole language of Internet Vietnamese that's completely different, with abbreviated words, slang and word plays. Someone who doesn't read on the Internet a lot probably wouldn't get half of it," he said. "But blogging is really just an extension of the Vietnamese chatting culture. There is a real satirical bent here. People like to joke and wind each other up about silly things.

Vietnamese are the ultimate chatters." Ruelle should know. His blog -- a series of quirky takes on daily life, and originally a way to practice his Vietnamese -- has received three million hits and made him a household name here. "I had written a few things, mostly for my friends," he said. "There was an entry about old ladies doing exercises in a park to that song "boom, boom, boom boom -- I want you in my room." And I wrote about why I thought that was funny. "An online newspaper found my blog and put it on its front page, and it immediately went from 10,000 to 100,000 hits. I got so many emails from readers that at first I thought my inbox was full of spam." Ruelle has since published a best-selling book of his blogs and parlayed his online stardom into a job as host of a VTV6 youth show and a leading role in a soon-to-be-screened tele-romance.

The authorities have taken notice of the blog boom. State and party censors have threatened fines and other penalties for "black blogs" with pornographic and "out of stream" content or "information against the party and the state". "There's been debate about whether there should be some kind of censorship," said Ruelle. "The main conclusion was, 'What on earth would you use as an acceptable standard?' It's pretty much a free-for-all at the moment."

Internet cut in Myanmar, blogger presses on

By Wayne Drash CNN (CNN) The Internet connection in Myanmar was cut Friday, limiting the free flow of information the nation's citizens were sharing with the world depicting the violent crackdown on monks and other peaceful demonstrators.

Ko Htike runs his Myanmar blog out of his London apartment and says he's trying to stop the violence. Myanmar-based blogs went dark suddenly. But London-based blogger Ko Htike -- who has been one of the most prominent bloggers posting information about the violence -- has vowed to keep up the fight, saying where "there is a will, there is a way." "I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the Internet connection throughout the country," he said on his blog Friday. "I, therefore, would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta."

Ko Htike is a 28-year-old who left Myanmar, once known as Burma, seven years ago to study in England. Watch a blogger's fight for Myanmar » He told CNN.com a day earlier that he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said. Myanmar's military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives. "If they get caught, you will never know their future. Maybe just disappear or maybe life in prison or maybe dead," he told CNN. Why would they take such risks? "They thought that this is their duty for the country," he said. "That's why they are doing it. It's like a mission." Even with Friday's action by the government, he said he will continue to do all he can to get images of what's happening out for the world to see. "I will also try my best to feed in their demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive through other means," he said on his blog. "I will continue to live with the motto that 'if there is a will there is a way.' "

With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, his blog has become one of the main information outlets. More than 170,000 people from 175 countries have gone to the blog, according to a counter on the page. On Friday, shots rang out in the streets of Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon, marking the third straight day of violence at the hands of the ruling military junta to suppress citizen protests. See photos of the protests »

One diplomat told CNN that a Western witness had reported seeing about 35 bodies lying in row is on a street near Sule Pagoda, with civilians praying over them. CNN could not independently confirm the report, and it was not known if the bodies were from Friday or the result of earlier violence. According to The Associated Press, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he believes the loss of life in Myanmar has been "far greater" than is being reported. In a country where Buddhist monks are revered, the violence against them could stir even more outrage among the people of Myanmar. "Now, there is blood shed on the monastery," Htike said.

The Internet has also spawned other Myanmar pages. On the popular online community of Facebook, several Myanmar support pages were set up with links keeping a close eye on the latest developments. One letter floating around the Internet from a group calling itself the "Global Alliance of Burmese Students" called on people abroad to stage protests. "We call on you to take action, to take the lead, and to show solidarity with our fellow countrymen back home," it said. "The streets of Yangon bleed red, and it will all be in vain if we do not act and mobilize for change." Other people used technology as simple as the cell phone as a means to get the word out on what was happening. "We didn't do any terrorism, but they sharp-shoot us," one woman said by phone inside Myanmar Thursday. "I just want to say we have no weapons and no rights." She added, "Who can help us?"

The last time the nation saw such widespread protests was in 1988, when today's instantaneous means of communication did not exist. The government used brutal force to quash that democratic uprising, with few people seeing what happened. View a timeline of events there » Today's technology allows anyone with the means to capture what is happening. Despite the cutting of the Internet inside the country, people can still take pictures and videos with cell phones and send them to the outside world. "They are ready to die for that," Vincent Brossels with Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday. "I spoke with a Burmese journalist this morning in Rangoon and he told me that now I don't care about anything. I'm ready to be in jail. I'm ready to die for that." Benjamin Valk, a 25-year-old student from a university in Tokyo, Japan, sent CNN.com video of saffron-robed monks carrying out a peaceful protest earlier this week in Yangon, once known as Rangoon.

The video shows thousands of monks and civilians walking together and chanting. He said he felt compelled to share the video because people "should know what is happening in a country like Myanmar." "In a world where democracy is considered the better or perhaps the best political system, there is huge global support for a people who dare to openly challenge a military dictatorship and call for democracy," Valk said. "I think it's good for the world to see." Htike agrees, saying he's just trying to stop the killing in his homeland. "If I can publish these kind of [photos] and this kind of news to the world, so maybe they may stop a little bit."