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Tag: Luat Khoa

  • LIV on Qurium Vi Tran: “We Are Trying To Help People That Want Political Pluralism In Vietnam”

    Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-director Vi Tran recalls why she stopped working as a lawyer in California to pursue activism for her motherland, Vietnam. Her works including as co-founders for 2 online magazines, Luật khoa and The Vietnamese- where she is an editor-in-chief, revolves around her mission that is “To speak up for those that can’t”.

    Excerpt:

    She stopped working as a lawyer in California five years ago and started volunteering with a group of human rights in Vietnam to advocate for a democratic movement in the country. Vi Tran co-founded the independent magazine Luat Khoa in 2014 and, in 2017, the newspaper The Vietnamese , where she is editor-in-chief. Her mission: “To speak up for those that can’t”.

    Vi Tran does not regret leaving her job in California and moving to Taiwan. A lot of people, including her own family, she says, don’t see things this way: “They may think that I am crazy, but there is one life to live”. Vi thinks that the Vietnamese people deserves a better regime: “I believe all Vietnamese should have their human rights respected”.

    According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Vietnam is the 6th most censored country on the world, with 11 journalists imprisoned. Reporters Without Borders states that in Vietnam “all media follow the Communist Party’s orders”. The only source of independently-reported information is bloggers and citizen-journalists, who are being subjected to persecution and prison.

    “I admire the bloggers who went to jail to keep their faith and belief in free press and freedom of expression”, Vi says. Pham Doan Trang, Luat Khoa’s co-founder, was also detained in February 2018 and now she lives at an undisclosed location. Except for her, the writers and editors of Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese have not been persecuted. Vi assures that her team takes security very seriously: “We could relocate our colleagues if we think they face danger”.

    But Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese have suffered another types of persecution: the websites are blocked in Vietnam since December 2017, one month after the birth of The Vietnamese. Vi suspects that was “because we attempted to get more publications in English, to give international readers about Vietnam, so the government blocked us”.

    Why are Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese so uncomfortable to the government? Luat Khoa is the “Law Magazine”, it talks about law, geopolitics, human rights and so and is written in Vietnamese. It has about ten regular writers, and five part-time writers that work in The Vietnamese as well. Some of them (30%) are lawyers and 80% live in Vietnam.

    “We are trying to help people that want political pluralism in Vietnam”

    Protests in Vietnam. June 10, 2018

    The Vietnamese is different from Luat Khoa. It is written in English and it acts on the basis that information about Vietnam is rather limited, foreigners often look into things that were produced by state-owned media. Vi says: “We needed to have an English site, to share with our international friends what is going on in Vietnam and give people a better idea of our movement”. The intention is “to educate people online via a website”.

    According to Vi, Vietnam is “an authoritarian regime that controls every single aspect of people’s life; there is no open Internet, it is under government control, so people are wanting the information”. There are revolutionary and oppositional forces in Vietnam, people that want to see changes, that want political pluralism. “We are trying to help them”, she says.

    Because of her current health problems, Vi Tran lives in California again. But she still works for The Vietnamese: “I am so grateful to be able to bring my compatriots stories to a larger stage and advocate for their rights”, she says. And adds: “I have tremendous love for my country and my people, no matter how far away I live away from them”.

    “Government blocks us but people want to access our information and find a way”.

    Hers is a matter of pure patriotic vision: “I have seen a lot of courageous people from Vietnam keep fighting for our human rights and civil rights, and I want to join them to push our democracy forwards”. For her, living to contribute to her country is no regrets: “I will continue to advocate and fight for Vietnam’s democracy until the day I pass away”.

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    Vi Tran We are trying to help people that want political pluralism in Vietnam Qurium Media Foundation
    Vi Tran_ “We are trying to help people that want political pluralism in Vietnam” – Qurium Media Foundation.pdf
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  • Luật Khoa in ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute Perspective: The Political Economy of Social Media in Vietnam

    The Vietnamese government tends to accommodate western social media platforms by trying to enforce their compliance with local rules through regulatory and economic means rather than blocking them altogether.

    Excerpt:

    INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN VIETNAM

    Vietnam got connected to the Internet on 19 November 1997 after long debates within the top leadership about its pros and cons. Although pragmatic considerations of the Internet’s importance to socio-economic and technological development triumphed, how to deal with its potential harms remains a major concern for the CPV.

    When the Internet was introduced to Vietnamese leaders in the 1990s, one of their immediate concerns was that toxic online contents such as pornographic materials would cause moral decay and social problems for the country. In December 1996, in order to convince the top leadership to open up the country to the Internet, officials reportedly had to demonstrate firsthand to members of the CPV Central Committee that they could use a firewall to effectively block pornographic websites. 2 A greater concern for the Party leadership, however, was that the Internet will facilitate the spread of anti-government propaganda and undermine the regime’s monopoly of information. Party conservatives were worried that a more connected society with freer flow of information would ultimately erode the Party’s rule.

    As such, Vietnamese authorities have maintained certain measures of censorship to forestall unwanted consequences, especially by blocking “harmful” websites. So far, the censorship seems to be more political in nature, focusing on websites that provide anti-government propaganda or “sensitive” information unfavourable for the government’s political standing. For example, as of September 2019, while most pornographic websites are freely accessible in Vietnam, many international news websites that provide Vietnamese services, like BBC, VOA, RFI, and RFA, are still blocked. Blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogspot, which are popular among political activists and government critics, are also put behind a firewall. Some independent, private-run websites which carry news article or analyses deemed hostile to the government, such as Dan Luan, Luat Khoa, and Boxitvn, are also blocked. However, censorship does not seem consistent across all Internet services providers—some blocked websites or platforms may still be accessible to some users.

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    ISEAS Perspective 2019 77
    ISEAS_Perspective_2019_77.pdf
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  • Pham Doan Trang in Nguoi Viet: Blogger Phạm Đoan Trang được trao giải ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’

    Pham Doan Trang in Nguoi Viet: Blogger Phạm Đoan Trang được trao giải ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’

    The morning after accepting the “Prize for Impact” award, journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang sat down with Nguoi-Viet for a private interview where she reveals her thoughts on the Press Freedom Prize award and the challenges that she and other conscientious Vietnamese journalists are facing in order to do their job.

    Title: Blogger Phạm Đoan Trang được trao giải ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’
    Publish Date: September 13, 2019
    Publisher: Nguoi Viet

    Full Article:

    Note:  Original text in Vietnamese.

    Blogger Pham Doan Trang was awarded the ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’

    BERLIN, Germany (NV) – At dawn Vietnam time on Friday, September 13, blogger and freelance journalist Pham Doan Trang was honored to be one of three people jointly awarded the “Press Freedom Prize 2019” by Reporter. Reporters Without Borders.

    The award ceremony took place solemnly at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. The person who represented blogger Pham Doan Trang to receive the award was Mr. Trinh Huu Long, editor-in-chief of Law Faculty Magazine.

    Pham Doan Trang is the author of many books that are banned from circulation in Vietnam: “Popular Politics,” “A Handbook on Raising Prisoners,” “Non-Violent Resistance”…

    She was awarded in the category “The Prize For Impact”

    The other two are Saudi journalist Eman al Nafjan and Maltese journalist Caroline Muscat. The special thing is that all three are female journalists.

    Reporters Without Borders said in a statement: “The Impact Journalist Award is given to a journalist whose work has made concrete improvements to press freedom and pluralism, or increased awareness of the issues of the press. This topic was given to Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang. She is a co-founder of Luat Khoa, an online magazine specializing in providing information on legal issues, and also edited the English-language website The Vietnamese to help Vietnamese people protect their human rights. them and against the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Pham Doan Trang is the author of many books, including one that defends the rights of the LGBT community in Vietnam. She was beaten by the police for her works and was detained twice in several days in 2018.”

    Before the award ceremony took place, journalist Pham Doan Trang explained to VOA Vietnamese Language about the decision not to go to Germany to attend this event: “As far as I know, the German ambassador intervened with the Vietnamese government to they returned the right to carry the passport as well as guarantee the freedom of entry and exit of some Vietnamese activists including myself. The German side is very enthusiastic, but in my experience, they have to negotiate with the Vietnamese police anyway such as: not campaigning, not propagandizing, not slandering the country… otherwise they will prosecute ; they’ll also think they’ll have a hard time deciding whether or not I’ll go home, so it’s best for me to decide not to go.”

    At the end of August, when the news of the nomination for the “Press Freedom Prize 2019” was spread, journalist Pham Doan Trang wrote on his personal page: “I also want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the countless people who have helped me. supported me over the years, quietly or openly, with things that might have been trivial to them. Like many people who have worriedly inquired about my health and sent me medicine. Like thousands of readers have bought, read and read ‘Popular Politics,’ ‘The Prisoner’s Handbook,’ ‘Non-Violent Resistance’… despite the stalking and hunting of the police and public opinion, defying summons for ‘reactionary reading.’”

    “What can I do to repay them? I understand that I can never be grateful to them all, and no words of thanks are enough. I can only say: For me, it doesn’t matter whether I win or not, because there is no prize as precious as your love for me. And to repay the favor, there is nothing like trying, with all that we can, to contribute to a democratic, free Vietnam – in our lifetime,” according to Facebook Pham Doan Trang.

    “Fighting for freedom must accept the loss of a large part of freedom and many other things”

    On the morning of September 13, right after learning of the award, journalist Pham Doan Trang gave a private interview to Nguoi Viet daily.

    *Vietnamese: Looking back on the journey from a state-owned newspaper reporter to the 2019 Press Freedom award of Reporters Without Borders, what do you see yourself having to trade, or lose?

    – Journalist Pham Doan Trang: I think I also lost a lot, but I don’t want to talk about those losses, because my concept has long been “do not cry, ask not to do.” Having accepted to go on the road to fight for freedom, surely it takes a large part of freedom and many other things.

    *Vietnamese: At the same time as you received the award, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam denied that Vietnam was in the top 10 countries with the most strict press censorship in the world, what is your comment?

    – Journalist Pham Doan Trang: I am neither surprised nor outraged by that reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the Vietnamese state in general. However, I do know for sure that Ms. Le Thi Thu Hang, as a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has a wealth of experience in dealing with the Vietnamese press and has extensive relationships with Vietnamese journalists. Nam and she understand too well the reality of whether or not Vietnam controls press freedom or not, how tightly it is controlled… Having understood that fact so well that it can still be denied, we must recognize it as an official or cadre. of the Communist Party and State of Vietnam is very good at living both sides and lying without being ashamed.

    *Vietnamese: According to you, what challenges, or sufferings, are the journalists in Vietnam facing if they love their job and have a conscience for journalism?

    –Journalist Pham Doan Trang: Good question but too broad, to answer it I would need to write at least one book. As succinctly as possible, for me, the biggest torment for a conscientious Vietnamese journalist is the feeling of being powerless, unable to do anything to change the situation, solve problems, save lives. victims of injustice, poverty and human rights violations in Vietnam. (T.K.)

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    Blogger Pham oan Trang uoc trao giai Press Freedom Prize 2019
    Blogger Phạm Đoan Trang được trao giải ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’.pdf
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    Nguoi Viet Blogger Pham Doan Trang was awarded the Press Freedom Prize 2019
    Nguoi Viet Blogger Pham Doan Trang was awarded the ‘Press Freedom Prize 2019’.pdf
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  • LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in BBC Vietnamese Giải Tự do Báo chí: Phạm Đoan Trang đấu tranh bằng ngòi bút

    Trinh Huu Long co-founder of Luật Khoa Magazine and The Vietnamese received the 2019 Press Freedom award by Reporters Without Borders in behalf of colleague Pham Doan Trang.  According to him, the Prize for Impact made Ms. Pham not only a journalist but also a democracy activist who uses her pen to help change the political rule in Vietnam.

    Excerpt:

    Note:  Original texts in Vietnamese.

    With Pham Doan Trang being awarded the 2019 Freedom of the Press award, it is hoped that domestic authorities will “reduce the intensity of their repression against the individual”, lawyer Trinh Huu Long told the BBC.

    A freelance journalist, blogger, and a well-known democracy fighter in Vietnam has just been awarded the 2019 Press Freedom award by Reporters Without Borders, in the Influence category.

    Representing journalist Pham Doan Trang at the award ceremony was Mr. Trinh Huu Long, who co-founded two websites of Luat Khoa Magazine and The Vietnamese with Ms. Doan Trang.

    “We hope that by being more known to the world [through this award], and more recognized by the world for the efforts of independent Vietnamese journalists, the Vietnamese government will reduce the intensity of the violence. pressure on Pham Doan Trang personally and the community of Vietnamese independent journalists as well as Vietnamese activists,” Mr. Trinh Huu Long said from Berlin.

    “We hope that international pressure will help gradually improve the Vietnamese government’s attitude, behavior and policies towards independent journalists,” added Mr. Trinh Huu Long.

    This event made her “not only a journalist but also a democracy activist,” said Trinh Huu Long.

    “Pham Doan Trang tries to use the most popular language, to explain in the most understandable way the seemingly abstract concepts, difficult to understand about democracy, human rights, the rule of law, the rights people have.”

    She wants to “use her pen to wish to change the political regime in Vietnam”, Mr. Trinh Huu Long added.

    Download article in Vietnamese:

    Giai Tu do Bao chi Pham oan Trang au tranh bang ngoi but BBC News Tieng Viet
    Giải Tự do Báo chí_ Phạm Đoan Trang đấu tranh bằng ngòi bút – BBC News Tiếng Việt.pdf
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    Press Freedom Prize Pham Doan Trang struggles with pen BBC News Vietnamese
    Press Freedom Prize_ Pham Doan Trang struggles with pen – BBC News Vietnamese.pdf
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  • LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in Radio Free Asia: Vietnamese Blogger Pham Doan Trang Receives Award For Work to Improve Journalistic Freedom

    Author and journalist  Pham Doan Trang, co-founder of Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese, in her video message during the 2019 Press Freedom Prize ceremony in Berlin, said that she will continue her passion for truth and commitment to change… hoping for a democratic Vietnam.  

    Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder Trinh Huu Long confirmed that the prominent journalist, now a Prize for Impact honoree, has suffered severe injuries in her arms and legs after being beaten by the police in August 2018.

    Excerpt:  

    Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has awarded its 2019 Press Freedom Prize to three female journalists, including prominent Vietnamese blogger Pham Doan Trang, who authored a book on political engagement that angered authorities in Hanoi.

    Trang, who has vowed to remain in Vietnam until the country becomes a democracy, was awarded RSF’s Prize for Impact in absentia for her work which “has led to concrete improvements in journalistic freedom, independence and pluralism, or to an increase in awareness of these matters.”

    In a video Trang recorded that was played during the award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday, the author of Politics for Everyone said that while Vietnam’s Constitution contains language which, among other things, guarantees the protection of human rights such as freedom of speech, “it doesn’t mean anything.”

    “We have all the human rights guaranteed by the Constitution, but you know, in fact, ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others,’” Trang said, referencing George Orwell’s political satire Animal Farm.

    “The more-equal-than-others ‘animals’ like to see us [journalists] as losers, as their hostile forces, as their state enemy, enemy of the people, and fake news producers,” she said, adding that “they do everything they can to harm us, to destroy us.”

    “But it doesn’t matter much to us because we have what they don’t have. We have a passion for truth, we have a commitment to change, and we have hope … [that Vietnam will] soon turn into a democracy … where journalists like me, like us, can travel everywhere and not [have] to hide from the police, but can listen to unheard voices and tell untold stories, to bring information and knowledge to the people.”

    Trang, who also founded the online legal magazine Luat Khoa and edits another web-based rights journal called thevietnamese, noted that Vietnam is home to nearly 1,000 official media outlets, but said the country has “only one editor-in-chief—the head of the propaganda department of the [ruling] Communist Party.”

    And while some 20,000 journalists have been granted press cards or have been licensed to report, she said that “thousands of people have been imprisoned over the past two decades just because they spoke their mind.”

    Trang thanked RSF for the recognition and said she also received her award on behalf of others “fighting for the truth” around the world.

    “We will fight until journalism is no longer seen as a crime anywhere in the world,” she said.

    ‘Struggling with injuries’

    Huu Long Trinh, a Vietnamese journalist based in Taipei, Taiwan, who co-founded the civil society organization Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV), accepted RSF’s Prize For Courage on Trang’s behalf, noting that the blogger is “struggling with severe injuries in her arms and legs” after she was beaten by police because of her work in August 2018.

    A colleague told RFA’s Vietnamese Service at the time that Trang was among at least four activists who were attacked after policemen stormed into a cafe and broke up dissident singer Nguyen Tin’s “Memory of Saigon” show. She was then taken by police to an unknown road outside the city and “beaten further to the point of disfiguring her face.”

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    Vietnamese Blogger Pham Doan Trang Receives Award For Work to Improve Journalistic Freedom Radio Free Asia
    Vietnamese Blogger Pham Doan Trang Receives Award For Work to Improve Journalistic Freedom — Radio Free Asia.pdf
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  • Pham Doan Trang in Voice of America: Vietnamese Blogger Wins Press Freedom Award

    Luật Khoa co-founder and blogger Pham Doan Trang receives the 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact from Reporters Without Borders (RSF.) A known critic of the Vietnam Communist Party, she has faced harassment, assault and detention but continues to lead the fight for truth, justice and human rights in Vietnam.

    Excerpt:

    An international press freedom monitor has awarded Vietnamese journalist and blogger Pham Doan Trang a 2019 Press Freedom Prize for Impact.

    “Pham Doan Trang is a true heroine given the situation of press freedom in Vietnam, where journalists and bloggers who do not toe the line of the current direction of the Communist Party face extremely severe repercussions,” said Daniel Bastard, who heads the Asia-Pacific Desk of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    Founder of Luât Khoa

    Trang’s prize is awarded to journalists whose work has led to concrete improvements in journalistic freedom, independence and pluralism, or to an increase in awareness of these matters, according to an RSF statement.

    Trang founded Luât Khoa, an online magazine that specializes in providing information about legal issues, and she edits another, The Vietnamese, which helps citizens defend their rights and resist the Communist Party’s rule, RSF said.

    Colleague accepted award

    Because Vietnamese authorities wanted to set conditions on Trang for her to leave the country to accept the award, which she said she would not consent to, her friend and colleague, Trinh Huu Long, editor-in-chief for Luât Khoa magazine, accepted the award on Trang’s behalf.

    “I hope this award will encourage the Vietnamese people to engage more in press freedom and to push Hanoi to improve the citizens’ basic rights,” Trang told VOA Vietnamese.

    “I really wish it [will] encourage other journalists, including freelance journalists, to become more committed to pursuing truth, justice and human rights in Vietnam,” said Trang, who was born in 1978.

    “I hope this award can help gain more international recognition of the hidden wave under the so-called political stability in the country. Below that surface is a layer of waves of repression and silence,” she added.

    Grateful for RSF

    RSF said that the Vietnamese government tries to stifle Trang’s voice through police intimidation, because she exposes its inconsistencies and its failure to guarantee civil and political rights.

    Despite the major crackdown that began in 2016, Trang plays a crucial role in helping her fellow citizens gain access to independent information and enabling them to use the rule of law, as guaranteed by the Vietnamese constitution, against the arbitrary practices of the authorities, Bastard said.

    “I believe that RSF’s goals for giving the award are to let journalists around the world, especially journalists who are victims of persecution, harassment, abuse and persecution, [know they] are not alone in their fights,” Trang said. “RSF has really helped people like me to feel I’m not alone.”

    Her books, such as Politics for the Common People, A Handbook for Families of Prisoners and Politics of a Police State, were all published outside Vietnam. They “received much more readership than I expected,” Trang said.

    Trang has been beaten by the police because of her work and was detained arbitrarily twice for several days in 2018, according to an RSF statement.

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    Vietnamese Blogger Wins Press Freedom Award
    Vietnamese Blogger Wins Press Freedom Award.pdf
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  • Pham Doan Trang in UCA News: Vietnamese journalist wins press freedom award

    Pham Doan Trang, Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese co-founder, was honored by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) with the Prize for Impact.  

    In her recorded acceptance message, Ms. Trang says the award “shows that “journalists around the world, especially those who are victims of persecution, maltreatment, torture and extortion by government authorities, are not alone in their fight for justice, truth and human rights.”

    Excerpt:

    The press freedom efforts of a Vietnamese blogger-reporter were honored at a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) event held in Berlin on Sept. 12.

    Pham Doan Trang, 41, won RSF’s Prize for Impact, an award granted to journalists whose work improves journalistic freedoms, independence and pluralism.

    Trang was unable to receive her prize in person, so it was instead accepted by one of her colleagues, Trinh Huu Long, at the German event.

    For her press work, Trang was beaten and detained twice for several days in 2018.

    Trang is the founder of www.luatkhoa.org, an online magazine that specializes in providing legal information. She also works as an editor of www.thevietnamese.org, which assists Vietnamese citizens to defend their rights in their communist-run country.

    She is the author of many books including one defending the rights of Vietnam’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

    In a brief video clip sent to the ceremony, Trang played the guitar and sang a folk song.

    She also said RSF’s annual Press Freedom Awards shows that “journalists around the world, especially those who are victims of persecution, maltreatment, torture and extortion by government authorities, are not alone in their fight for justice, truth and human rights.”

    Via the video, Trang said journalism in Vietnam is seen as a crime against the communist state.

    “The prize helps me understand fully that no prize is a private one, no achievement is purely of an individual without countless efforts of many people secretly and publicly accompanying that person,” she said, adding that the prize is also for all people seeking the truth.

    Trang also expressed her deep gratitude to advocates for her cause and thousands of readers who accept risks, anxieties and dangers to buy her banned books.

    The Liberal Publishing House, Vietnam’s only independent publisher whose activities are restricted by police, said the prize is a great honor for both itself and Trang.

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    Vietnamese journalist wins press freedom award UCA News
    Vietnamese journalist wins press freedom award – UCA News.pdf
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  • LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in DW: Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives

    LIV’s Trinh Huu Long and Pham Doan Trang in DW: Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives

    Deutsche Welle (DW) narrates the challenges faced by the three recipients of the RSF 2019 Press Freedom Prize.  

    Vietnamese blogger and journalist Pham Doan Trang was awarded The Prize for Impact but missed the award ceremony because of harassment and threats of imprisonment by the authorities.  She was represented by Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM co-founder Trinh Huu Long who, together with Pham Doan Trang and several other free press advocates established two online magazines – Luật Khoa and The Vietnamese.

    Excerpt:

    Only Muscat was able to appear in person to collect her “Prize for Independence.” Vietnamese blogger Pham Doan Trang, who won the “Prize for Impact,” and Saudi Arabian women’s rights activist Eman al-Nafjan, winner of the “Prize for Courage,” both remain barred from leaving their countries, their websites blocked, and under constant threat of detention and harassment.

    Both women were represented by friends who have moved to freer countries, and who are also committed to the struggle for press freedom. Trang sent Huu Long Trinh, a Taipei-based journalist who co-founded the civil society organization Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV), while al-Nafjan was represented by her former student Omaima al-Najjar, who, following her former teacher’s example, started her own blog about Saudi women’s rights from her home in Italy.

    Saudi Arabia and Vietnam: different regimes, same repression

    The Vietnamese regime is not religious, but hardly less repressive. Vietnam is still a communist country dominated by a single political party that allows no private, independent media at all.

    For that reason, LIV has set up two magazines: Luat Khoa, which focuses on political and legal issues, and the English-language The Vietnamese, while also training and providing resources to journalists in Vietnam to produce their own work. “What we’re trying to do is to make free press a reality in Vietnam,” Huu Long Trinh told DW.

    Trinh said Trang is helping to produce these magazines in the face of extreme government harassment: “She’s been detained by police countless times, beaten up a few times,” he said. “She’s not even allowed to stay in one place for more than a week. She has to move to different places every one or two weeks. So what I’m trying to do now is have her be recognized internationally more, so that it could be safer for her at home.”

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    Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives News DW 12092019
    Reporters Without Borders honors journalists who fear for their lives _ News _ DW _ 12.09.2019.pdf
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  • Luat Khoa and Pham Doan Trang in Southeast Asian Press Alliance VIETNAM: The Net as the New ‘Battlefield’

    It would be almost impossible to discuss media freedom in Vietnam without first reviewing the country’s political situation over the past year. The authoritarian state created a narrow window of opportunity for non-state and independent media to grow over the years, despite state censorship.

    Title: VIETNAM: The Net as the New ‘Battlefield’
    Publish Date: May 6, 2019
    Publisher: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

    Excerpt:

    What frustrates Vietnamese Facebook users the most about this phenomenon is that Facebook has refused to explain its decisions, which it considers to be final. Affected users have been unable to find out the specific “community standard” they were accused of violating, even after they had appealed their cases.

    The standards that Facebook has been using, however, appeared even more arbitrary when coupled with the operation of its unknown, undisclosed third party’s fact-checkers. For example, in March 2019, Facebook deleted four articles from the fan page of Luat Khoa online magazine for violating its “community standards”. It has yet to give further explanation for its action. The titles of these four pieces are: “US-China’s trade negotiations: America wants China to scale down its cybersecurity law” ; “Vietnam owes Cambodia an apology”; “A look at different ‘isms’”; “Donald Trump’s life story: Crisis and a father’s safety net”.

    Over 17,000 people signed an online petition initiated by Luat Khoa in July 2018, asking Facebook to provide its position on the new cybersecurity law. A summary of the signatures was gathered and sent to Mark Zuckerberg by FedEx delivery in October 2018. Yet, the company to this day remains unresponsive. Mai Khoi, a Vietnamese dissident singer, wrote on her Facebook page in January 2019 that although she had met with several people at Facebook to discuss these issues, it did not lead to any substantial progress.

    Intimidation offline continues

    Journalist Pham Doan Trang can barely claim even cold comfort, however, for facing “only” increased intimidation and threats from the government during this past year. The actions of the government against her seem to be connected to her publication of her books. To date, Trang has written and published three books on the topics of politics, policymaking, and criminal procedures.

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    VIETNAM The Net as the New Battlefield
    VIETNAM_ The Net as the New ‘Battlefield’.pdf
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  • LIV’s Vi Tran and Trinh Huu Long in BBC Tiếng Việt: Nhà hoạt động Vi Trần qua cái nhìn của một người cùng chí hướng

    Inspirational words and support poured out for passionate activist Vi Tran, co-founder of Luật Khoa, The Vietnamese and co-director of Legal Initiatives for VIETNAM, as she makes her way to full recovery after a series of high-risk surgeries.  

    Title: Nhà hoạt động Vi Trần qua cái nhìn của một người cùng chí hướng
    Publish Date: May 3, 2019
    Publisher: BBC Tiếng Việt

    Article:

    Note:  Original texts in Vietnamese.

    Co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine told the BBC that activist Wei Chen, who is seriously ill in Taiwan, “has the greatest intention of returning to live in his homeland”.

    By the end of May 2, hundreds of people had contributed to the hospital fees for Ms. Vi Tran, co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine and recently The Vietnamese, who is hospitalized in Taiwan due to a brain hemorrhage. led to a stroke more than two weeks ago.

    She has had two complicated and high-risk surgeries and is about to have another, and according to her family, “probably a long course of therapy”.

    Her family set up a donation page because the hospital fees are quite heavy, while she does not have health insurance in Taiwan, and has spent all her personal money on projects.

    In 2015, Ms. Vi, who was described by friends as “deeply in love with Vietnam and the Vietnamese language”, left her career as a lawyer in California to work in the Philippines and Taiwan, promoting Internet and press freedom. and abolish the death penalty as well as advocate for human rights for Vietnam.

    ‘I want people to understand the law better’

    On May 2, answering BBC from Taiwan, Trinh Huu Long, co-founder of Luat Khoa magazine, said: “I always hope that Vi will make a full recovery, because she is young and has been for a long time. In addition, Vi is a very strong and courageous woman. Vi must make a full recovery in order to continue her ideals, she certainly will.”

    “Vi is one of the four founders of Luat Khoa, and together with me acts as the co-director of the non-profit organization Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, which is the governing body of the Law. Khoa and The Vietnamese.”

    “Vi is a lawyer, her instinct to practice law is very strong. She always wants people to understand the law better, use legal tools and civil rights to challenge those who break the law and violate the law. That’s the mission of Luat Khoa. Before getting sick, Vi was still crawling around with a bunch of newly purchased books on religion and religious freedom in Vietnam, because Vi is in charge of this column, is expected to be officially launched soon after some testing recently.”

    “For The Vietnamese newspaper, Vi is the manager and producer, with the help of some volunteers. Vi wants to turn it into a quality and reputable English-language newspaper on political issues and human rights in Vietnam. Nam. Vi is trying to raise money for this newspaper, as it currently has absolutely no operating budget, and hopes to pay a salary for one or two writers and editors.”

    “As far as I know, one thing Vi has pursued for a long time and is very passionate about it, is the wrongful trial of death row prisoners in Vietnam. I know Vi cries many times every time she hears Ho Duy’s heartbreaking stories. Hai, Nguyen Van Chuong, Le Van Manh, Dang Van Hien Vi is very passionate about this and often actively collects information, writes articles for The Vietnamese, writes reports to the United Nations and international organizations Vi is also looking for ways to raise funds to expand this activity, because besides Vi and one or two other people, in our country no one seems to go into this issue deeply.”

    Mr. Long added:

    “I don’t dare say that Vi is different or similar to any other female activist. In my opinion, Vi is a fierce activist, fierce at times to the point of being extremely stubborn. The story of Vi leaves out one fact. favorable career and an easy life in California to go to Asia to work with an income close to the level of a volunteer speaks for that fierceness and stubbornness.”

    “She decided not to work for a few years and then returned to the US. For Vi, human rights activism is life, life, not pure work. And when she follows that path, what does Vi do? also do it to the end, just as fiercely.”

    “I know Vi loves Vietnam very much. She’s been away from the country since she was 12, but she speaks Vietnamese just like any other in Saigon. Vietnamese literature is in Vi’s veins. She never wanted to leave Vietnam. When my family immigrated to the US, I knew that my family had to convince me by saying that Vi should consider going abroad to study early, and must promise Vi that when she grows up, she will have the right to decide whether to continue in the US or return. Vietnam, only then will Vi agree to go.”

    “And Vi’s biggest intention is to return to live in her homeland, whenever possible. Vi last came back in 2012 to volunteer for a humanitarian organization in the West.”

    “Another thing is that Vi is extremely hard-working. When she started on this path, she had to learn a lot about Vietnam, from politics, law, to technical terms of these two fields. Vi even learning how to write a newspaper, and write Vietnamese newspapers in a way that is pure Vietnamese. Vi claims to be my “student” because I’m ahead of Vi in journalism.”

    Commenting on the fundraising on the Gofundme page that is about to reach the number set by Vi Tran’s family, Mr. Long said:

    “I’m really touched by everyone’s interest in Vi. It shows that the community always cares about those who dedicate themselves to the country. Kindness is everywhere. And that is the greatest hope. When we love Vietnam together, love each other and work together, there’s no reason why the country’s future isn’t bright.”

    Download article in Vietnamese:

    Nha hoat ong Vi Tran qua cai nhin cua mot nguoi cung chi huong BBC News Tieng Viet
    Nhà hoạt động Vi Trần qua cái nhìn của một người cùng chí hướng – BBC News Tiếng Việt.pdf
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    Download article in English:

    Activist Vi Tran through the eyes of a like minded person BBC News Vietnamese
    Activist Vi Tran through the eyes of a like-minded person – BBC News Vietnamese.pdf
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