Democratic Voice of Vietnam

Bringing the voice of Vietnam’s civil society to the world

A project of BPSOS

Category: Freedoms

  • Impatience in Viet Nam

    By Jonathan London, Guest Contributor – 18 March 2013 An outpouring of unrestrained political speech was most certainly not the original intent. But what started as campaign by Viet Nam’s ruling Communist Party to bolster its subjective legitimacy through a precooked public consultation on constitutional reform morphed into an unprecedented assault on the principle of…

  • 4 Signs the Vietnamese Government Is Crushing the Country’s ‘Social Media Revolution’

    The Atlantic Mar 11, 2013 After more than a year in pre-trial detention, five independent bloggers amid other activists stood in a Vietnamese court for two days in January to hear they would live behind bars for up to 13 more years. They join a growing cohort of bloggers imprisoned for “activities aimed at overthrowing…

  • Netizen Huynh Ngoc Chenh’s Remarks at RSF’s award ceremony on Mar 12, 2013

    Translated by Me Nam (Defend the Defenders) Ladies and gentlemen, It is a surprise and a pleasure to be here at this honorable ceremony today, just because, in my country, many rights are recognized under the constitution but the authorities have restricted them by all means. Over the past two years, many bloggers have not…

  • Vietnam among 5 governments identified as Enemies of the Internet

    11 March 2013 Today, 12 March, World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Reporters Without Borders is releasing a Special report on Internet surveillance, available at surveillance.rsf.org/en. It looks at the way governments are increasingly using technology that monitors online activity and intercepts electronic communication in order to arrest journalists, citizen-journalists and dissidents. Around 180 netizens worldwide are…

  • Ta Phong Tan honored by Michelle Obama with 2013 International Women of Courage Award

    On March 8, jailed Vietnamese blogger Ta Phong Tan was among those presented with the 2013 International Women of Courage Award, in absentia.   US Secretary of State John Kerry described the reason for the selection: “As a former member of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Ta Phong Tan made a name for herself when she began posting articles online…

  • IFEX interviewed Vietnamese free expression champion Nguyen Hoang Vi

    March 7, 2013 Nguyen Hoang Vi: Nguyen has spent much of her early 20s under surveillance by security agents for blogging critically about the government. Shortly after we profiled her, she was detained near the courthouse where she was hoping to attend the appeal of three bloggers jailed on anti-state propaganda charges. While in custody,…

  • Reporters Without Borders Awards Vietnamese blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh

    Published on Thursday 7 March 2013. Updated on Friday 8 March 2013. Reporters Without Borders, with support from Google, Thursday awarded its Netizen of the Year 2013 award to  Vietnamese blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh. Reporters Without Borders chose the nominees and more than 40,000 Internet users visited the YouTube site from around the world. They…

  • Report: Dozens detained, jailed in crackdown on Vietnam bloggers

    By Emily Alpert Los Angeles Times February 12, 2013, 4:46 p.m. Nguyen Hoang Vi was knocked from her motorcycle in an accident she believes was no accident. The windows of a car she was riding in were smashed nine months later, gashing her arms, legs and face, she told activists. Last spring her passport was…

  • Ethnic Families in Vietnam Ransacked, Beaten for their New Faith

    Recently converted Christians in Central Highlands suffer nights of terror, beating by day. February 26, 2013 By Our Vietnam Correspondent DANANG, Vietnam (Morning Star News) – Newly converted Christians of the Sedang ethnic minority in Vietnam’s Central Highlands were terrorized last week – their homes and personal property badly damaged or destroyed in four consecutive…

  • Houston woman worried for sister reportedly held as sex slave in Russia

    By Lise Olsen February 23, 2013 11:30 AM The cries for help arrived via international phone calls from Moscow to Houston. They came from Huynh Thi Be-Huong in the last week who was reaching out to her sister, using the cellphone of a couple who she claims forced her to work as a sex slave…