Document sans nom

1. Le Président communiste vietnamien en visite aux Etats-Unis à partir du 17 juin 2007 : La Communauté des Vietnamiens Libres aux Etats-Unis s'est mobilisée pour "accueillir" Nguyên Minh Triêt, Président du régime communiste vietnamien lors de sa viste à Washington DC et New York. En prélude à cette rencontre, le Président Bush a reçu à la Maison Blanche , le 29 mai dernier, 4 Représentants du mouvement de lutte pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l'Homme au Vietnam. Lors d'un discours à Prague le 5 juin dernier, le Président Bush a mentionné le Vietnam, parmi une liste d'autres pays, pour lesquels il se dit concerné par le traitement réservé aux dissidents politiques.

A fin de 'calmer le jeu', le régime communiste vietnamien a libéré ce 8 juin 2007 le journaliste et écrivain Nguyên Vu Binh, 39 ans. Arrêté en septembre 2002, condamné le 31 décembre 2003 à 7 ans de prison et 3 ans de résidence surveillée pour 'espionage' et pour avoir publié sur Internet des 'articles subversifs', M. Nguyên Vu Binh a été amestié par une 'grâce présidentielle' après avoir été emprisonné pendant presque 5 ans !

3. Le Vietnam communiste serat-il réintégré dans la 'Liste 'noire des pays bafouant les Droits de l'Homme ? Après avoir été retiré de la liste "Country with particular concern" en novembre 2006, le régime communiste vietnamien subit actuellement une menace de réintégration de cette liste. Suite à la vague de condamnations des dissidents pacifiques au Vietnam, plusieurs Parlementaires américains ont publiquement réclamé une telle mesure.

4. Film sur le Vietnam : 'Journey from the Fall', de Trân Ham : Après la vague des films américains relatant leur point de vue sur la guerre du Vietnam, enfin un film sur le Vietnam,écrit et réalisé par un Vietnamien !

5. Roman sur le Vietnam : 'Le journaliste français' de Nguyên Tuyêt-Nga - Bruxelles :

Le roman de Mme Nguyên Tuyêt-Nga a été sélectionné pour participer au Prix Soroptimist de la Romancière Francophone 2008, qui sera remis à Grenoble en novembre 2008.

«Le journaliste français», de Tuyêt-Nga Nguyên, éditions le Grand Miroir, 256 pages

BUSH TO PRESS VIETNAM ON ARRESTS OF DISSIDENTS

   By Caren Bohan

   Thu Jun 7, 5:54 AM ET

   HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (Reuters) -

   President George W. Bush will warn Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet later this month that Hanoi's recent crackdown on political dissidents could hurt its trade ties with the United States.

   Triet is to visit Washington on June 22, marking the first such visit by a Vietnamese head of state since the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam in 1975.

   "The United States and Vietnam have seen enormous progress in their relationship over the past several years," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino in a statement issued from Germany where Bush is attending the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

   The leaders will discuss their "robust trade and economic relationship" as well as cultural and other ties, Perino said.

   But she added: "President Bush will also express his deep concern over the recent increase of arrests and detentions of peaceful democracy activists in Vietnam, and note that such actions will inevitably limit the growth of bilateral ties."

   After a Vietnam court on May 11 sentenced two activist lawyers to up five years in jail, the White House criticized an increasing number of arrests of dissidents and said they were out of character with Vietnam's recent modernization.

   Triet is making his U.S. trip to reciprocate a state visit by Bush to the communist-run country last November around the time of an Asia-Pacific summit in Hanoi. He is expected to face protests in support of Vietnam's tiny dissident community.

   Vietnam and the United States established diplomatic relations in 1995 and friendly ties are largely founded on trade and business.

   Hanoi rejects accusations by Western human rights groups that it has cracked down on activists after it successfully hosted the APEC summit, won World Trade Organization membership and was removed from a U.S. religious rights blacklist in 2006.

   In a speech to a democracy forum in Prague on Tuesday, Bush mentioned Vietnam, among a list of many other countries, including Cuba, Egypt and Venezuela, where he was concerned about the treatment of political dissidents.

Royce Calls for Vietnam to again be listed as a "Country of Particular Concern"

Today, Congressman Royce addressed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking that Vietnam be placed back on the list of "Countries of Particular Concern." Vietnam was removed from the list in November of 2006. The letter was prompted in the wake of a string of Socialist Party of Vietnam arrests and harassment of religious freedom, human rights, and democracy advocates such as Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Van Dai, Li Thi Cong Nhan, Vo Van Thanh Liem, Tran Van Hoa, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet's upcoming trip to the U.S. will provide the opportunity for Secretary of State Rice to raise concerns over Vietnam's continued crackdown on peaceful dissidents and human rights activists. Congressman Royce expressed his hope that such matters will be at the forefront of discussions.

Royce said:
"Religious leaders and religiously motivated advocates have become prominent voices in Vietnam's dissident community. Many have founded free speech, democracy, and human rights organizations to argue for religious freedom, but improvements cannot be ensured without legal and political reforms."
Royce further stated that, "re-designation of Vietnam as a CPC will send a clear message that human rights violations remain a serious concern. In addition, the CPC designation provides the State Department with a range of diplomatic options and incentives that may be used as the current crackdown on dissidents unfolds in Vietnam.

The suffering of the Vietnamese people remains a pressing concern for America. Vietnam's continued suppression of political dissidents is intolerable if U.S.-Vietnam relations are to advance."

Amnesty International today welcomed the news that Internet dissident Nguyen Vu Binh has been released from Ba Sao prison after spending almost five years behind bars. Amnesty International has considered Nguyen Vu Binh a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions. The organisation has campaigned extensively for his release as part of its irrepressible.info campaign for freedom of expression on the Internet.

According to official media, Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, was granted an amnesty by President Nguyen Minh Triet on 8 June 2007 after having sent a letter to the head of state 'pleading for clemency'.

Journalist and writer Nguyen Vu Binh had served over two-thirds of his seven year prison sentence when he was released. According to media reports, he left the prison in the afternoon on 9 June to reunite with his wife and two daughters in their Ha Noi home.

'Nguyen Vu Binh's release is welcome, but people in Vietnam can still be thrown in jail for the click of a mouse.

'The Vietnamese authorities must stop trying to stifle free speech online, and release all web users that have been unfairly imprisoned.

'The global nature of the Internet means that people all over the world can help call for greater online freedoms in Vietnam - and support our campaign to free cyber-dissidents around the globe.'

Nguyen Vu Binh was arrested in September 2002, charged under national security legislation and convicted for 'spying', article 80 of the Penal Code, for having written and posted articles about democracy on the Internet and being in email contact with political groups in exile.

In addition to the seven years' imprisonment, Nguyen Vu Binh was also sentenced to a three-year probation period following his release from prison. It remains unclear whether he is currently under such probation or whether he is a free man. Amnesty International is calling for no such restrictions to be imposed on him.

Amnesty International hopes that the release marks a reversal of an ongoing political crackdown in which more than 20 people, including lawyers, trade unionists, religious leaders and Internet dissidents, have been arrested, 11 of whom have been convicted in apparently politically motivated trials.

The organisation calls on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those who are serving prison sentences for having exercised their right to peaceful dissent.

A report by Amnesty International in October 2006 revealed a climate of fear in Vietnam, with people afraid to post information online and Internet café owners forced to inform on their customers. It described individuals being harassed, detained and imprisoned for expressing their peaceful political views online, with fear of prosecution fuelling widespread self-censorship.

But the report also revealed a growing network of activists and campaigners who are defying government controls and using the Internet to discuss human rights, and a fledgling democracy movement that is growing online.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Vietnamese authorities to lift restrictions on fundamental freedoms, release all prisoners of conscience, and end the criminalisation of peaceful dissent.

The rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association are guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The covenant is binding on Viet Nam, which is a state party since 1982. Yet peaceful government critics have been charged with criminal offences in the penal code's Chapter XI, which relates to national security.

A Story Of Brutality And Survival In Aftermath Of War
June 1, 2007
By SUSAN DUNNE, Courant Staff Writer

Most stories Americans have heard about Vietnam - and we've heard so many - tend to end with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, one of the most shameful days in American history.

"Journey from the Fall" begins in Saigon on that day and ends six years later where many Vietnamese stories end: Orange County, Calif. This isn't "The O.C." of white bread TV fantasy, but the flip side of Orange County, where tens of thousands of immigrants live day to day never knowing if they'll see their loved ones again.

Ham Tran's harrowing story of survival is dedicated to those who tried to stick it out in Vietnam after the fall. They were braver than those who got out as soon as the Americans left. They were more patriotic and idealistic, too, wanting to help bring the country into a better tomorrow. But for them, that better tomorrow never came. Tran does their sacrifices great justice with this well-acted, beautifully shot tribute.

Long Nguyen plays Long, a young husband and father dedicated to the defeat of communism. When the Americans turn tail, his wife and mother insist they all leave. He insists he stay and they go. Vietnam needs people like him, he says. He does not realize yet that the new Vietnam does not want people like him.

Long is sent to a re-education camp, which is just a concentration camp with classrooms. Mai (Diem Lien) visits him when she can, bringing news of their beloved son, but Long and his fellow prisoners are moved frequently in the night. After a while, nobody knows where anybody is, assuming they're not dead.

Each side of the family is left to fend all alone, and every day is a fight for survival on both ends. As they all finally realize staying in Vietnam is suicidal, Long's struggle - the camps are surrounded by barbed wire encrusted with blood - is no less brutal than Mai's: just crossing an empty field could set off a land mine. Every moment is filled with despair that anyone will make it out alive.

Much of the action takes place at night, in dark fields and rivers, which adds to the sense of uneasiness and dread. One dimly lit passage in the belly of a smuggler's boat is like a vision from hell. Scenes shot in the daylight are, paradoxically, just as sad: What did we do to this beautiful country?

Sometimes the story progression is confusing, jumping all over the place chronologically. Did Tran, who wrote, directed, edited and produced the film, do this on purpose, to show how discombobulating such traumatic circumstances can be? Does he intentionally upset the audience, so they feel what the protagonists feel? Whether he did or not, it isn't until the end that a viewer will know exactly what happened.

All the performances are fine, with the exception of a school principal so dense and cold-hearted it smacks of Tran getting revenge on an old authority figure. Kieu Chinh, as Long's mother, is especially moving, holding the traumatized members of her family together with a stern love.

This is a gut-wrenching story about a tragedy that continues. Most heartbreaking is knowing that it was Vietnam's best people, who loved their homeland and wanted to stay behind to heal and nurture it, who were hurt the most, by the Viet Cong, but by us, too.

JOURNEY FROM THE FALL is an ImaginAsian Pictures film written and directed by Ham Tran. Running time: 135 minutes. Vietnamese with subtitles, and also in English. Opens today at Real Art Ways. R, with harrowing scenes of violence.

Saigon, 1963. Tuyêt n'a que dix ans et ne comprend pas bien le conflit sanglant qui secoue son pays. Loin d'en être épargnée, elle le vit de près, entre un père disparu dans le maquis et une mère engagée dans la lutte contre le pouvoir. Derrière les murs de son pensionnat, Tuyêt se sent à la fois protégée et emprisonnée. Ce qu'elle perçoit du Vietnam déchiré lui inspire de nombreuses questions auxquelles les adultes n'ont la plupart du temps que des réponses bien énigmatiques.

Elle ne peut qu'attendre un «plus tard» qui finira bien par arriver pour enfin comprendre. De plus, sa mère fait preuve d'un engagement politique qui est à la fois un modèle et une source de questionnement et de frustration pour la fillette.

Dans ce contexte, cette dernière va s'évader à travers le souvenir d'une rencontre, synonyme de liberté. Son héros est un journaliste français croisé lors d'un attentat sur un marché.

Dans ce roman autobiographique, Tuyêt-Nga Nguyên livre non seulement une tranche de son enfance mais aussi un regard sur le conflit vietnamien tel qu'elle l'a vécu. Un livre touchant et parfois drôle à ne pas manquer. (gp)

«Le journaliste français», de Tuyêt-Nga Nguyên, éditions le Grand Miroir, 256 pages, € 18