With the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their contributions in defense of freedom of expression, Vietnamese living overseas are campaigning to nominate journalist Pham Doan Trang who is regarded as a torchbearer for human rights and peaceful democracy activism for Vietnam.
Excerpt:
Note: Original texts in Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese community in many places is campaigning to nominate journalist – activist Pham Doan Trang for the Nobel Peace Prize for her outstanding contributions to the struggle for freedom and democracy for the Vietnamese people. .
Citing the Nobel Prize Committee’s press release awarding the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their contributions to the defense of freedom of expression, Joint Statement of the Nomination Campaign for Journalist Pham Doan Trang said she deserves to be a candidate for the prestigious award.
“Sacrificing her youth to fight for the ideal of freedom, Ms. Pham Doan Trang deserves to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize to represent all the victims who have been persecuted by the Vietnamese Communist regime throughout the years. Over the past 70 years for fighting for basic human rights,” the statement said, after summarizing the outstanding achievements and international human rights awards Pham Doan Trang has received over the past 10 years. years of operation, before being arrested on October 6, 2020.
Worthy
Writer Cung Thi Lan, President of Overseas Vietnamese Literature, told VOA that she “admires” the young female author not only for her courage and talent.
“Pham Doan Trang demands more, that is democratic freedom for the whole of Vietnam, not freedom for only Pham Doan Trang. This is very difficult. That is a very big goal, the desire for the whole nation, not just selfishness for herself”, the female writer who is living in the US said about one of the reasons why she supported the nomination campaign. Pham Doan Trang.
Ms. Cung Thi Lan and Writers of Vietnam Overseas, a branch of Writers International, have organized many activities in support of human rights in Vietnam over the years. She is also the one who wrote a letter asking Vice President Kamala Harris during his visit to Vietnam last year to bring up human rights issues and demand the release of Pham Doan Trang and other imprisoned authors in Hanoi.
Talking about the face of the young generation of writers, writer Cung Thi Lan said: “When I follow and read the biographies and works of each individual fighting for Vietnam, I see that each person has I like the positives. But with Pham Doan Trang, I personally think Pham Doan Trang deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Firstly, Pham Doan Trang is female. Prison is not easy for women, and Pham Doan Trang’s works are captivating. For the Nobel Prize, it’s not just the individual who has the courage that their pen attracts the reader. I think that has led to everyone, not only the Vietnamese community, but if you follow them, you will see in the world, such as on the International Literature page, Van Pen Anh, Van Pen Duc … then you will see a lot of things. People around the world support author Pham Doan Trang”.
Sharing the same comment with writer Cung Thi Lan, Doctor Do Van Hoi, co-chair of the Vietnam Council for Foreign Affairs and Domestic Affairs, told VOA that journalist Pham Doan Trang makes him admire her courage. and her very peaceful way of fighting.
“The people who fight are very respectable, under a regime that is always under threat,” he said. Second, she fights very peacefully. And thirdly, she can speak out all about fighting for Vietnam, which currently does not have freedom of democracy and freedom of speech. Which she dares is the fight for freedom of speech and book publishing in the country. Books are very useful to people of all times and places.”
“In a socialist environment, of course those who follow the government will benefit, and those who go against it will be severely persecuted. However, Ms. Pham Doan Trang spoke according to the conscience of humanity, not against anything, that is freedom, democracy and human rights. If the young generation can follow that, it will be very beneficial for our country,” said Dr. Association expressed to VOA.
Writer Cung Thi Lan believes that there are two factors that have made a young generation “intelligent”, not falling into the orbit of “indoctrinated” of the socialist education system. That is the “smart” characteristic of Vietnamese people and the development of technology, especially the emergence of the internet and social networks.
“Thanks to the Internet and a lot of information online, children learn, learn and find that what they learn in school or what is propagated in society is completely different from the knowledge that they acquire. from the internet”.
In addition to co-founding the Law Faculty Magazine, specializing in disseminating knowledge and information on law, politics and human rights, Pham Doan Trang’s famous works such as Popular Politics, Nonviolent Resistance, The prison raising manual… are works written by Trang in the most “popular” way, but have the ability to “liberate” many people, and become works that make the authorities panic, according to his assessment. of the Joint Declaration.
Download the article in Vietnamese:
Download the article in English:
