On this page:
- Uncle Joe and Anti-Anticommunism - Deflating Nostalgia for the Golden Age of Terror
- Revolutionary Communists Capturing Hearts and Minds Inside Prison and Out
- Buddhist Letter Implores New U.S. Ambassador to Support Religious Freedom in Vietnam
- A Happy Life in China (YouTube Exchange)
- Socialism’s Cruel Illusion - Feeding the Body, Starving the Spirit
- I Was There: The Monstrous Atrocities that Marxism Has Committed Against Humankind
- Socialist Serfs Reduced to Bartering for Aspirin in Cuba
- Great Leap Backward: Human Rights and Rule of Law in China
- Import Drugs from Cuba? NO WAY!
- “Reflections on a Ravaged Century” (conference report)
- Why Are Communist Atrocities Ignored?
- The Brutality of the Berlin Wall
- WHAT CUBANS HAVEN'T LOST and WEATHER FORECAST FOR CUBA (gallows humor)
- THE RHETORIC OF RONALD REAGAN
"Well written and argued essay. Congrats."
- scholar, Washington, D.C.
- scholar, Washington, D.C.
Uncle Joe and Anti-Anticommunism
- Deflating Nostalgia for the Golden Age of Terror
by the Anticommunism Action Team
June 2018
- Deflating Nostalgia for the Golden Age of Terror
by the Anticommunism Action Team
June 2018
PERMALINK
An article appeared recently, criticizing anticommunism for the flimsiest of reasons. One of the co-authors, Prof. Kristen R. Ghodsee, gained notoriety in 2017 with her astounding claim, based mostly on anecdotes, that women have better sex under socialism (more about that below). She has also written other pro-communist titles such as ‘the Unfulfilled Promise of Communism in Eastern Europe’. Her recent anticommunism article, co-authored with Prof. Scott Sehon, is written in the annoying tone of smug superiority endemic on the Left – We are the anointed ones “trained in logic” and We will explain it all to you.
As if logic could sweep away communism’s 100 million dead. The authors pay lip service to communism’s boundless atrocities with antiseptic hedge statements like, “That there were real horrors is without doubt.” They call the 100 million figure “a questionable body count” but don’t actually try to refute it. Instead, they take a few jabs at one person’s credibility, then go on to argue that anticommunism must fail because this “historical premise is dubious.” Hardly air-tight logic. Facts are stubborn things, and the casual dismissal of 100 million dead brings the professors’ entire air castle crashing to the ground. Moreover, the professors dishonor the memory of those whom communism killed. There’s something bone-chilling about the way the authors can be so blithe about the suffering and extinction of 100 million flesh-and-blood human beings. Far from being superior, the authors are defective and demonstrably inferior, because their moral sense is out of whack.
False Equivalence - So what if communism “has done many horrible things”?, the authors ask. An “equally good argument” can be made against capitalism, they assert, reciting a litany of crimes they attribute to capitalism, such as slavery. They further posit that capitalism’s crimes are “natural conclusions of capitalism.” By that logic, Denmark would be the scourge of the earth. Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in 2015: “I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” All the market does is offer you a choice between a Volkswagen and a Ford. The supposed ‘crimes of capitalism’ thus are not attributable to capitalism at all. There is nothing in the nature of capitalism that impels capitalists to draw up quotas of people to be executed or sent to the gulags (as did Stalin and Mao), or to kill people just because they wear glasses (as transpired in the killing fields of Cambodia). Only people whose moral compass has gone completely haywire could equate the operation of market forces with such butchery. Capitalism and limited government never killed 100 million people, but communism has.
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat – The nature of capitalism is benign, but the nature of communism is malignant. The authors try to deny this, of course:
How could it be otherwise? A command economy won’t run itself, so you need central planners to issue the commands. These ‘nomenklatura’ will quickly become a privileged class getting summer dachas while others are reduced to penury. A new inequality takes hold. Some people will not give up their property willingly, so you must take it away from them by force. Some people will not give up their old ideas, so you must use violence to silence, imprison, or kill them – all in the name of eradicating their ‘false consciousness’, as communist theory dictates. Some people will want to escape your blood-soaked utopia, so you must shoot them in the back when they try to leave. As Lenin said, “Not a single problem of the class struggle has ever been solved in history except by violence.” He also said: "If for the sake of Communism it is necessary for us to destroy 9/10ths of the people, we must not hesitate." Or, as the notorious Walter Duranty said, in excusing the Holodomor: "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." (New York Times, May 14, 1933, page 18).
An article appeared recently, criticizing anticommunism for the flimsiest of reasons. One of the co-authors, Prof. Kristen R. Ghodsee, gained notoriety in 2017 with her astounding claim, based mostly on anecdotes, that women have better sex under socialism (more about that below). She has also written other pro-communist titles such as ‘the Unfulfilled Promise of Communism in Eastern Europe’. Her recent anticommunism article, co-authored with Prof. Scott Sehon, is written in the annoying tone of smug superiority endemic on the Left – We are the anointed ones “trained in logic” and We will explain it all to you.
As if logic could sweep away communism’s 100 million dead. The authors pay lip service to communism’s boundless atrocities with antiseptic hedge statements like, “That there were real horrors is without doubt.” They call the 100 million figure “a questionable body count” but don’t actually try to refute it. Instead, they take a few jabs at one person’s credibility, then go on to argue that anticommunism must fail because this “historical premise is dubious.” Hardly air-tight logic. Facts are stubborn things, and the casual dismissal of 100 million dead brings the professors’ entire air castle crashing to the ground. Moreover, the professors dishonor the memory of those whom communism killed. There’s something bone-chilling about the way the authors can be so blithe about the suffering and extinction of 100 million flesh-and-blood human beings. Far from being superior, the authors are defective and demonstrably inferior, because their moral sense is out of whack.
False Equivalence - So what if communism “has done many horrible things”?, the authors ask. An “equally good argument” can be made against capitalism, they assert, reciting a litany of crimes they attribute to capitalism, such as slavery. They further posit that capitalism’s crimes are “natural conclusions of capitalism.” By that logic, Denmark would be the scourge of the earth. Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in 2015: “I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” All the market does is offer you a choice between a Volkswagen and a Ford. The supposed ‘crimes of capitalism’ thus are not attributable to capitalism at all. There is nothing in the nature of capitalism that impels capitalists to draw up quotas of people to be executed or sent to the gulags (as did Stalin and Mao), or to kill people just because they wear glasses (as transpired in the killing fields of Cambodia). Only people whose moral compass has gone completely haywire could equate the operation of market forces with such butchery. Capitalism and limited government never killed 100 million people, but communism has.
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat – The nature of capitalism is benign, but the nature of communism is malignant. The authors try to deny this, of course:
- We will grant for the sake of argument that slavery and the rest do not follow from the principles of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. But the historical point in the anti-communism argument is equally dubious. Where, for example, in the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels does one find that leaders should deliberately induce mass starvation or purges?
How could it be otherwise? A command economy won’t run itself, so you need central planners to issue the commands. These ‘nomenklatura’ will quickly become a privileged class getting summer dachas while others are reduced to penury. A new inequality takes hold. Some people will not give up their property willingly, so you must take it away from them by force. Some people will not give up their old ideas, so you must use violence to silence, imprison, or kill them – all in the name of eradicating their ‘false consciousness’, as communist theory dictates. Some people will want to escape your blood-soaked utopia, so you must shoot them in the back when they try to leave. As Lenin said, “Not a single problem of the class struggle has ever been solved in history except by violence.” He also said: "If for the sake of Communism it is necessary for us to destroy 9/10ths of the people, we must not hesitate." Or, as the notorious Walter Duranty said, in excusing the Holodomor: "You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." (New York Times, May 14, 1933, page 18).
The deliberate use of engineered famines - like the Holodomor - which killed people by the tens of millions, is a natural outgrowth of communist theory. Remove the limits on government, as communism does, and pretty soon 100 million people are dead.
A funny thing happens on the way to the state withering away – it never does. Communist countries never get beyond the dictatorship of the proletariat. You cannot name a single communist dictator who willingly gave up power.
All of these real-world consequences spring directly from communist doctrine or are part and parcel of putting communism into practice. They are inescapable. So the authors are just plain wrong when they assert that communist theory has nothing to do with the results that communism invariably attains in the real world.
Many Reasons to be Anticommunist – The professors theorize that anticommunists are merely puppets of the ‘superrich’ serving the interest of ‘right-wing nationalism’ in the U.S. and Western Europe. The professors evidently think there is only one kind of anticommunist. They don’t know enough anticommunists. They should climb out of their ivory towers and meet some.
The Anticommunism Action Team [ACAT] is completely grassroots. Everyone who participates does so out of a deep conviction that communism is pure evil. No Koch Brothers money here. Our speakers – survivors of communism from Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Vietnam – are not the ‘superrich protecting their own wealth’. They are ordinary people whose passion is to tell the world what they personally experienced under communist rule and why other countries should avoid flirting with communist doctrine or going down the socialist road. ACAT’s speakers are anticommunist, not because they are ‘right-wing nationalists’, but because, for them, IT’S PERSONAL.
On radio shows, in front of groups and classrooms, and at the Leadership Institute, ACAT’s speakers provide variegated reasons to be anticommunist:
A funny thing happens on the way to the state withering away – it never does. Communist countries never get beyond the dictatorship of the proletariat. You cannot name a single communist dictator who willingly gave up power.
All of these real-world consequences spring directly from communist doctrine or are part and parcel of putting communism into practice. They are inescapable. So the authors are just plain wrong when they assert that communist theory has nothing to do with the results that communism invariably attains in the real world.
Many Reasons to be Anticommunist – The professors theorize that anticommunists are merely puppets of the ‘superrich’ serving the interest of ‘right-wing nationalism’ in the U.S. and Western Europe. The professors evidently think there is only one kind of anticommunist. They don’t know enough anticommunists. They should climb out of their ivory towers and meet some.
The Anticommunism Action Team [ACAT] is completely grassroots. Everyone who participates does so out of a deep conviction that communism is pure evil. No Koch Brothers money here. Our speakers – survivors of communism from Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, and Vietnam – are not the ‘superrich protecting their own wealth’. They are ordinary people whose passion is to tell the world what they personally experienced under communist rule and why other countries should avoid flirting with communist doctrine or going down the socialist road. ACAT’s speakers are anticommunist, not because they are ‘right-wing nationalists’, but because, for them, IT’S PERSONAL.
On radio shows, in front of groups and classrooms, and at the Leadership Institute, ACAT’s speakers provide variegated reasons to be anticommunist:
From Ukraine: “East of the Iron curtain no one believed in communism; all of the believers were leftist intellectuals in the West.” As for all the good things the authors say communism provided: “The medical care in all socialist countries was free but primitive and abominable by western standards. In addition it was two-tiered: the ‘nomenklatura’ got special treatment but the masses had to accept inferior care. [Focusing on what communism provided] ignores the thousands of bad things that were wrong with the system from empty shelves to the Stasi to the Gulag.” An ACAT speaker from Czechoslovakia recalls dropping everything to queue up at a store that miraculously had onions one day. Imagine having onions whenever you want them – where does that rank on the list of capitalism’s crimes?
- The authors assert that, in Russia and Eastern Europe, “popular discontent with the failed promises of free-market prosperity has grown, especially among older people.” ACAT speakers from Ukraine and Bulgaria respond: “During communism’s reign, the older people got so used to government doing everything that they were unable to conceive of any other system. Moreover, they were constantly bombarded with propaganda that capitalism is evil. Worse, communism has destroyed their ability to think clearly and independently, to take initiative and responsibility. In other words, seventy-plus years of communism have produced mental invalids.” The economy of Poland shrank the first three years after communism, but exhibited good growth thereafter. Observers attribute Poland’s relatively quick recovery to the fact there were still Poles who remembered how to function in a market economy. Another ACAT speaker blames corruption carried over from the communist era for the failure of the market to perform up to par recently: “People dreaming back for the communist era are either too young and do not remember that time or are disappointed by the current government of their country. The fact is that communism has never surrendered in the post-communist countries. It did transfer to a strange post-communist regime that kept all communists in power, giving them all stolen money and privileges from the communist era. The change failed to provide democracy and prosperity; instead it provided economic dictatorship.”
- Another ACAT speaker spent 10 years in reeducation camps and prisons in communist Vietnam. He was beaten daily on the ribs and the soles of his feet. But his captors knew how not to leave any marks. After one beating, he suffered internal bleeding and coughed up blood for four months. He still feels pain from his beatings, but he was one of the lucky ones. He survived, but 160,000 others perished from hard labor, torture, execution, and starvation. Some had their heads cut off. The hunger was the hardest thing to take. It gnawed at our speaker day in and day out. He went down to 75 or 80 pounds. Hunger turned people into animals. They ate anything that moved – bugs, worms, and snakes, on a good day. But the communists never broke our speaker’s will or forced a false confession out of him. No, this is not the dustbin of history. Communist atrocities continue in Vietnamese camps and prisons to this very day.
- For another ACAT speaker, life in communist Bulgaria may have been comfortable economically, but she still had to get out, as would anyone with a strong sense of self. Life under communist masters was a soul-crushing experience as people lost their ability to speak freely and were told what to think. The entire system was based on lies, chief among them the fact that pretty young women found it hard to survive without becoming mistresses of communist party officials. Better sex under socialism? Hardly. Every party official was Harvey Weinstein and sexual harassment, systematized under color of law, was the norm.
- In the judgment of another ACAT speaker, communism’s greatest crime is how it warps the character of the people. People in communist Czechoslovakia had to lie, cheat, and steal - and bribe - just to survive. These things were no longer considered wrong; they were considered essential, as captured in a Czech saying from the communist era: ‘He who does not steal from the State is robbing his own family.’
- KGB informant Yuri Bezmenov and Romanian intelligence operative Ion Mihai Pacepa defected after finding demoralization, disinformation, and other Soviet methods totally inconsistent with soaring Marxist rhetoric
- Arthur Koestler and the other contributors to The God that Failed are among the ranks of disillusioned former communists who saw the system up close and knew what it was really like
- George Orwell and others formed an anti-Stalinist Left repulsed by Uncle Joe’s crimes
- The Catholic Church historically was anticommunist because communism is atheist.
- Dr. Bella Dodd (former Communist Party leader in the U.S.) disavowed communism and spoke against it when she found religion.
- Ludwig von Mises and other classical liberals are anticommunist because of the coercion involved in redistribution.
Pink & Red – The authors criticize anticommunists for equating all left-of-center politics with Stalin’s gulags. In the authors’ view, anticommunists “paint those who envision more redistributive politics as wild-eyed Marxists bent on the destruction of Western civilisation.”
ACAT does so, and makes no apologies for it. Here’s why: The rise of the authoritarian Left is the central challenge of our time. We don’t stop to distinguish between shades of pink and red. It’s all collectivism and for the most part despicable, regardless of degree. All social spending and redistribution stem from collectivist impulses. Instead of criticizing us, you should be thanking us for performing a public service for pointing out to people who don’t realize it that it’s all the same political philosophy underneath. It all traces back to Marx and the Communist Manifesto – from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.
While a little social spending may seem benign, it’s just the first step in a deliberate attempt to turn people into “perpetual children” (de Tocqueville’s phrase) who are completely dependent on the state – “mental invalids”, as noted above. Some social spending may be unavoidable, even salutary in some respects, but the problem is there is no limiting principle. The Left never quits with its incessant demands for more. There’s nothing wrong with pointing out that unchecked redistribution and the collectivist impulses underpinning it tend toward authoritarianism and, ultimately, violence. It is no vice to ask people who support more welfare spending without a great deal of thought to consider all of the consequences of such programs and the important values that get lost along the way. It is not wrong to ask those on the Left, who are forever trying to push things farther left, how they propose to stop the train before it reaches Siberia.
Does this sound far-fetched to you? Just look at Obamacare – it forces people to buy government-approved health insurance, whether they want it or not, and imposes two dozen taxes to subsidize it. Senator Max Baucus said in 2010 that Obamacare is not about healthcare, it’s about redistribution, and so it has turned out to be. What’s wrong with that? Congressman John Dingell said that same year that Obamacare is not about healthcare, it’s about ‘controlling the people’. There you have it – redistribution and inherent authoritarianism in one neat little package. Obamacare is the face of budding tyranny in the United States. Authoritarianism is beginning to show its teeth in Europe, as well. Already, the European suicidal Left in charge of things is throwing people in jail for speaking the truth about Islam.
We have no problem asking people to think about how much authoritarianism and violence they are willing to accept in a doomed quest to achieve cradle-to-grave security. Or why they would want to empower a small group of people – an oligarchy, a nomenklatura - and allow them to operate without limits. Why keep drifting to the Left so mindlessly? A little social spending here, a little welfare there, and the risk is very high you will eventually arrive at oligarchy, one-party rule, and sham elections – in a word, communism.
Whether the Left and its superrich paymasters want to admit their true agenda or not, it’s unsustainable. European countries can’t afford their social models and the U.S. cannot maintain its welfare state without deficit spending. This can’t end well, and that’s the danger we point out. ACAT’s speakers have a very powerful message: You Americans better wake up. We’ve been down the socialist road before and we know what’s at the end of it. We have seen the future and it goes kaput after 75 years.
And that’s why we are anticommunist.
And that’s why we are anticommunist.
Revolutionary Communists Capturing Hearts and Minds Inside Prison and Out
May 2018
PERMALINK
The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (‘Revcom’) is mounting influence operations in U.S. prisons with the goal of recruiting as many prisoners as possible for its revolution. Revcom, whose professionally-made signs have frequently turned up at Ferguson and other protests, is quite open about these operations, describing them in detail in its Revolution newspaper.
Revcom is closely allied with the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund (PRLF). PRLF works to get The New Communism, a book by Revcom chairman Bob Avakian, into prisons. PRLF also fills requests from prisoners for revolutionary literature, the main requests being for Revcom’s Revolution newspaper in Spanish and English and for items cited therein.
Letters from prisoners on Revcom’s website indicate that a variety of Revcom-related materials have found their way inside prison walls:
Undeniably, Revcom’s literature is having an impact. In letters to Revcom, prisoners have stated:
Make no mistake, the communists are building an army, ardent anticommunist Jimmy from Brooklyn says. Jimmy developed his knowledge of how U.S. communists work from many years of infiltrating their meetings.
The communists recruit hard-core violent people into their revolution, Jimmy says. “Politicize, radicalize, militarize,” is the operating principle. Revcom’s exploitation of criminal psychology is “brilliant but demonic,” Jimmy says. Revcom tells criminals ‘it’s not your fault – you’re a victim of the racist capitalist system.’ Criminals feel relieved when told it’s not their fault and then direct their ensuing anger at the system. The communists don’t want criminals to stop killing; the communists just want criminals to kill the ‘right’ people – ‘class enemies’, ‘reactionaries’, etc.
While Revcom’s prison literature project may sound small potatoes now, don’t make the mistake of thinking it can’t grow. Actually, the communists are quite methodical in pursuing growth. They find a few who teach a few, and build up the revolution from there, Jimmy says.
May 2018
PERMALINK
The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (‘Revcom’) is mounting influence operations in U.S. prisons with the goal of recruiting as many prisoners as possible for its revolution. Revcom, whose professionally-made signs have frequently turned up at Ferguson and other protests, is quite open about these operations, describing them in detail in its Revolution newspaper.
Revcom is closely allied with the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund (PRLF). PRLF works to get The New Communism, a book by Revcom chairman Bob Avakian, into prisons. PRLF also fills requests from prisoners for revolutionary literature, the main requests being for Revcom’s Revolution newspaper in Spanish and English and for items cited therein.
Letters from prisoners on Revcom’s website indicate that a variety of Revcom-related materials have found their way inside prison walls:
- books listed on Revcom.US including: BAsics, Away With All Gods!, The Science of Evolution, Science and Revolution, and Constitution for the New Socialist Republic
- Avakian's book From Ike to Mao and Beyond
- material on Revcom.US about street protests, and
- a questionnaire
Undeniably, Revcom’s literature is having an impact. In letters to Revcom, prisoners have stated:
- I read the whole newspaper. Every article attentively hoping not to miss anything. By the time i was through i was hooked.... I would spend the next eight years studying and researching the things P.R.L.F. sent.
- The leadership of Bob Avakian is what we need.... Stand up for humanity and get down with BA and this New Wave of Revolutionary Communism.
- I read The BAsics...It's time for us to focus that fearlessness towards a BETTER WORLD.
- I passed on your knowledge to other prisoners.
- Every prisoner or former prisoner who has been caught up in the gang life themselves, and has any sense that our youth are capable of so much more than running around killing each other, has an obligation to speak to these youth. Get at your young homies in the streets, tell them that there are revolutionaries out there that they have to get with.... reach out to every one who needs to know that their life could have real meaning and purpose by fighting and dying for a whole new world.
Make no mistake, the communists are building an army, ardent anticommunist Jimmy from Brooklyn says. Jimmy developed his knowledge of how U.S. communists work from many years of infiltrating their meetings.
The communists recruit hard-core violent people into their revolution, Jimmy says. “Politicize, radicalize, militarize,” is the operating principle. Revcom’s exploitation of criminal psychology is “brilliant but demonic,” Jimmy says. Revcom tells criminals ‘it’s not your fault – you’re a victim of the racist capitalist system.’ Criminals feel relieved when told it’s not their fault and then direct their ensuing anger at the system. The communists don’t want criminals to stop killing; the communists just want criminals to kill the ‘right’ people – ‘class enemies’, ‘reactionaries’, etc.
While Revcom’s prison literature project may sound small potatoes now, don’t make the mistake of thinking it can’t grow. Actually, the communists are quite methodical in pursuing growth. They find a few who teach a few, and build up the revolution from there, Jimmy says.
Buddhist Letter Implores New U.S. Ambassador to Support Religious Freedom in Vietnam
by the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee (OSHHAC)
May 2018
PERMALINK
May 5, 2018
Honorable Daniel Kritenbrink
U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam
Subject: Persecution of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Congregation by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
(Respectfully submitted to Honorable Daniel Kritenbrink on his acceptance of his new post as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam).
Dear Ambassador Kritenbrink:
I, Nguyen Van Tao (Tao V. Nguyen), on behalf of the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee (OSHHAC) in the U.S., heartily congratulate you on your recent appointment as Ambassador to Vietnam. I would also like to take this opportunity to solicit your assistance in supporting religious freedom in Vietnam until it is on a par with the protection of religious freedom which exists under law in democratic countries. I fervently ask you to help secure the release of incarcerated Hoa Hao believers (listed below) whose only " crime" is their perseverance in practicing their faith and fighting for their Religious Freedom.
As you may already know, Hoa Hao is one of the four major religions in Vietnam (Buddhism, Christianity, Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism) which has been in existence for a long time. It was estimated that there were three million Hoa Hao believers out of 25 million South Vietnamese under the Republic of Vietnam and before the fateful day of April 30th, 1975, when the Hoa Hao Church was abruptly and totally dissolved . All dignitaries of the Church were sent to hard labor camps (which were falsely called re-education camps) All Church property was confiscated, including land holdings, school buildings, worship halls and all other possessions . The population in Vietnam has more than tripled since then. The number of Hoa Hao believers has expanded to around six million. After 24 years of unsuccessfully trying to eliminate the Hoa Hao Church entirely, international pressure and resistance from believers prompted the Viet Cong government to form a supervisory "Representative Committee" on May 25th 1999. This Representative Committee is but a puppet organization, consisting of eleven Communist Party Members who dictate all policies and exert absolute control over the believers' activities with harsh measures. The believers are forbidden from:
-Displaying the Church's colors at home
-Commemorating the "death anniversary" of His Holiness Huynh, who was murdered by the Communists on April 16th,1947
-Using the correct name of the place where His Holiness was born. The Viet Cong changed the name "Ancestral Home" to "Worship Place." (Thanks to the followers persistent objections the original name was restored).
The communist government also:
-Truncated the "Book of Oracles", which is the Bible of the Hoa Hao believers. Furthermore, the Viet Cong only allow half of the contents of the Book of Oracles to be circulated.
-Refused to return most of the temples they had confiscated since April 30th, 1975.
-Utterly limited the Hoa Hao's activities and refused to grant us the legal status similar to that of prior to 1975.
-Changed the historical name of "Hoa Hao" town into "Phu My" town of Phu Tan district.
Over the last 43 years the Viet Cong government appeared to have somewhat loosened its very tight grip on Human Rights and Religious Freedom in order to dupe the public. In reality, a totalitarian regime is imposed on the people. Activists for equality and freedom are monitored, arrested, imprisoned or are brutally murdered.
We would like to ask for your intervention to help secure the release the following "prisoners of conscience."
1. Nguyen Tan (born in 1992, An Giang) 5-year prison term
2. Huynh thi Kim Quyen (born in 1979, An Giang) 4-year prison term
3. Nguyen Ngoc Quy (born in 1992, An giang) 3-year prison term
4. Pham Van Trong (born in 1994, An Giang) 3-year prison term
5. Nguyen Thanh Binh (born in 1994, An Giang) 3-year prison term
6. Nguyen Bac Truyen (born in 1968, Saigon) 11-year prison term
7. Bui Van Trung (born in 1962, An Giang) 6-yr prison term
8, Bui Van Tham (born in 1986, An Giang) 6-year prison term
9. Vuong Van Tha (born 1969, an Giang 12-year prison term
10 Vuong Van Thuan (born in 1990, An Giang) 7-year prison term
11. Nguyen Nhut Truong (born in 1985, Can Tho) 6-year prison term
12 Nguyen Nhut Thuong (born in 1985, Can Tho) 6-year prison term
13, Nguyen Hoang Nam (born in 1982, An Giang) 4-year prison term
14 Le Hong Hanh (born in 1979, An Giang) 3-year prison term
15. Bui thi Bich Tuyen, 3-yearr prison term
The most barbaric case was that of Mr. Nguyen Huu Tan, who was arrested and killed on May 2, 2017. His throat was slit from ear to ear during an interrogation at the police station in Thanh Duc, town of Binh Minh, Vinh Long province.
Mr. Ambassador:
The U.S. is the greatest nation on earth for Human Rights and Religious Freedom. We implore you to help us in earnest bring justice to the above-mentioned victims We as Vietnamese Americans respect and admire you, and would be forever grateful to you for any help in righting this wrong.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
May God Bless You Abundantly,
Sincerely yours,
Nguyen Van Tao
Chairman of the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee, U.S.A.
by the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee (OSHHAC)
May 2018
PERMALINK
May 5, 2018
Honorable Daniel Kritenbrink
U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam
Subject: Persecution of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Congregation by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
(Respectfully submitted to Honorable Daniel Kritenbrink on his acceptance of his new post as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam).
Dear Ambassador Kritenbrink:
I, Nguyen Van Tao (Tao V. Nguyen), on behalf of the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee (OSHHAC) in the U.S., heartily congratulate you on your recent appointment as Ambassador to Vietnam. I would also like to take this opportunity to solicit your assistance in supporting religious freedom in Vietnam until it is on a par with the protection of religious freedom which exists under law in democratic countries. I fervently ask you to help secure the release of incarcerated Hoa Hao believers (listed below) whose only " crime" is their perseverance in practicing their faith and fighting for their Religious Freedom.
As you may already know, Hoa Hao is one of the four major religions in Vietnam (Buddhism, Christianity, Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism) which has been in existence for a long time. It was estimated that there were three million Hoa Hao believers out of 25 million South Vietnamese under the Republic of Vietnam and before the fateful day of April 30th, 1975, when the Hoa Hao Church was abruptly and totally dissolved . All dignitaries of the Church were sent to hard labor camps (which were falsely called re-education camps) All Church property was confiscated, including land holdings, school buildings, worship halls and all other possessions . The population in Vietnam has more than tripled since then. The number of Hoa Hao believers has expanded to around six million. After 24 years of unsuccessfully trying to eliminate the Hoa Hao Church entirely, international pressure and resistance from believers prompted the Viet Cong government to form a supervisory "Representative Committee" on May 25th 1999. This Representative Committee is but a puppet organization, consisting of eleven Communist Party Members who dictate all policies and exert absolute control over the believers' activities with harsh measures. The believers are forbidden from:
-Displaying the Church's colors at home
-Commemorating the "death anniversary" of His Holiness Huynh, who was murdered by the Communists on April 16th,1947
-Using the correct name of the place where His Holiness was born. The Viet Cong changed the name "Ancestral Home" to "Worship Place." (Thanks to the followers persistent objections the original name was restored).
The communist government also:
-Truncated the "Book of Oracles", which is the Bible of the Hoa Hao believers. Furthermore, the Viet Cong only allow half of the contents of the Book of Oracles to be circulated.
-Refused to return most of the temples they had confiscated since April 30th, 1975.
-Utterly limited the Hoa Hao's activities and refused to grant us the legal status similar to that of prior to 1975.
-Changed the historical name of "Hoa Hao" town into "Phu My" town of Phu Tan district.
Over the last 43 years the Viet Cong government appeared to have somewhat loosened its very tight grip on Human Rights and Religious Freedom in order to dupe the public. In reality, a totalitarian regime is imposed on the people. Activists for equality and freedom are monitored, arrested, imprisoned or are brutally murdered.
We would like to ask for your intervention to help secure the release the following "prisoners of conscience."
1. Nguyen Tan (born in 1992, An Giang) 5-year prison term
2. Huynh thi Kim Quyen (born in 1979, An Giang) 4-year prison term
3. Nguyen Ngoc Quy (born in 1992, An giang) 3-year prison term
4. Pham Van Trong (born in 1994, An Giang) 3-year prison term
5. Nguyen Thanh Binh (born in 1994, An Giang) 3-year prison term
6. Nguyen Bac Truyen (born in 1968, Saigon) 11-year prison term
7. Bui Van Trung (born in 1962, An Giang) 6-yr prison term
8, Bui Van Tham (born in 1986, An Giang) 6-year prison term
9. Vuong Van Tha (born 1969, an Giang 12-year prison term
10 Vuong Van Thuan (born in 1990, An Giang) 7-year prison term
11. Nguyen Nhut Truong (born in 1985, Can Tho) 6-year prison term
12 Nguyen Nhut Thuong (born in 1985, Can Tho) 6-year prison term
13, Nguyen Hoang Nam (born in 1982, An Giang) 4-year prison term
14 Le Hong Hanh (born in 1979, An Giang) 3-year prison term
15. Bui thi Bich Tuyen, 3-yearr prison term
The most barbaric case was that of Mr. Nguyen Huu Tan, who was arrested and killed on May 2, 2017. His throat was slit from ear to ear during an interrogation at the police station in Thanh Duc, town of Binh Minh, Vinh Long province.
Mr. Ambassador:
The U.S. is the greatest nation on earth for Human Rights and Religious Freedom. We implore you to help us in earnest bring justice to the above-mentioned victims We as Vietnamese Americans respect and admire you, and would be forever grateful to you for any help in righting this wrong.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
May God Bless You Abundantly,
Sincerely yours,
Nguyen Van Tao
Chairman of the Overseas Hoa Hao Administrative Committee, U.S.A.