Activists sign Charter 2015, vowing to defend each other

 

 

VNRN - June 7, 2015

Dozens of human rights and democracy activists in Hanoi on June 7 released “Charter 2015“, a signed, written pledge that they will “support and defend each other” against political repression. This is the first time Vietnamese activists have openly and officially stated their will to unite against the oppressive police-dominated authorities.

The 550-word document, which may have been named after Charter 77 initiative in the communist Czechoslovakia, states clearly:

“We, the undersigned, on our honor and with all our responsibility, agree that we are obliged to support and defend each other. In particular, (1) if any of us is detained or arrested, then all the others, if present in the place of the detention or arrest at the time of the detention or arrest, shall gather to demonstrate for his/her immediate release; … (5) if any of us is imprisoned, then all the others shall visit and provide for him/her, and care for his/her family.” (English translation of the Charter’s full text can be found HERE).

Signatories of the Charter posted it to their Facebook personal pages with photos of them holding the Charter, and a short prologue saying, “four years ago, on June 5, 2011, the first anti-China protest rallies took place, they were spontaneous, unorganized and full of fear. On June 5 this year, however, that movement has grown stronger, engaging many individual activists and civil society organizations, and a charter that marks its growth from that fear and spontaneity.”

Four years ago, massive protests broke out in both Hanoi and Saigon opposing China’s assertive claims in the Southeast Asian Sea territorial dispute, and they were suppressed brutally. Photos circulated on social media networks showing plainclothes policemen attacking young protesters on the streets of Saigon, even stepping on the face of a blogger in Hanoi.

Following the rallies, repression escalated in both cities. Protesters were intimidated, harassed and isolated from their communities. Hundreds of them were dismissed from their job under police pressure. State-owned media and government-sponsored Internet troops launched massive campaigns against protesters who claimed they just peacefully exercised their right to freedom of expression.

However, suppression failed to create the necessary fear and the sector of unregistered civil society has since emerged, “connecting democracy and human rights activists across the country,” as written by the bloggers in their prologue to Charter 2015.

 

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