Việt Tân

The Vietnam Reform Revolutionary Party or the Việt Tân (Việt Nam Canh tân Cách mạng Đảng) is an organisation that aims to establish liberal democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means.

The organization was founded on September 10, 1982, with Vice-admiral Hoàng Cơ Minh elected as chairman, which operated underground for two decades. On September 19, 2004, then-chairman Nguyễn Kim introduced Việt Tân as a public organization. Việt Tân's activities are rooted in the promotion of non-violent political change in Vietnam.

The organization is outlawed in Vietnam and the government of Vietnam considers it "a terrorist force". The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described Việt Tân as "a peaceful organization advocating for democratic reform". The U.S. government has stated that there is 'no evidence' that it is a terrorist organization.

The current executive director is Hoang Tu Duy.

Objectives
The Việt Tân aims to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful means, focusing on empowering the Vietnamese people, supporting the development of civil society, and promoting pluralism in Vietnam. Việt Tân sees the strength and resources of the Vietnamese people as the impetus for achieving political change and restoring civil rights.

Non-violent struggle
Việt Tân embraces the non-violent struggle approach to reform. The organization believes that change has to come from within Vietnam and come from the bottom up. Human Rights Watch have repeatedly stated that the organization "has worked for peaceful political reform, democracy, and human rights in Vietnam".

The organization has outlined the following steps to democratizing Vietnam:


 * Improving Social Welfare & Restoring Civil Rights
 * Promoting Pluralism
 * Building Collective Strength
 * Expanding the Knowledge Base
 * Investing in the Future Generation
 * Lobbying International Support
 * Strengthening the Overseas Vietnamese Community
 * Building the Foundation to Reform Vietnam
 * Protecting National Interests and Territorial Integrity
 * Restoring Truth to Recent History

In a statement released in 2013 following the conviction of Vietnamese dissidents accused of being members of Việt Tân, the organization states that it "believes that gaining an understanding of nonviolent civil resistance, digital security and leadership skills are both empowering and the right of every free individual."

Reactions
The Vietnamese government has never found Việt Tân members carrying weapons. The U.S. government, most notably former U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak, has stated that there is 'no evidence' that it is a terrorist organization.

Membership
While membership is by-invitation-only, Việt Tân does send out mass emails to people in Vietnam to recruit potential members.

Going public in 2004


On September 19, 2004, in a highly publicized event in Berlin, Germany, the organization stepped out as a public organization, announcing the dissolution of the NUFRONLIV, and a recommitment to establish democracy in Vietnam through peaceful means.

On May 29, 2007, chairman Đỗ Hoàng Điềm was invited by US president George W. Bush together with three other Vietnamese-American activists to the White House on a meeting about Vietnam's increasingly harsh treatment of anti-government activists and an upcoming visit by Vietnam's president Nguyen Minh Triet to the United States.

2007 arrests
On November 17, 2007, three Việt Tân members, US citizens Nguyen Quoc Quan, a mathematics researcher, and Truong Van Ba, a Hawaiian restaurant owner, and Frenchwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, a contributor to Việt Tân's Radio Chan Troi Moi radio show, were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City. when 20 security officers raided the house. In addition, Thai citizen Somsak Khunmi and two Vietnamese nationals, Nguyen The Vu, a trader, and his brother Nguyen Trong Khiem were also arrested. Three days later, on November 20, 2007, Vietnamese security police arrested Nguyen Viet Trung, a Vietnamese citizen, in Phan Thiết. Born 1979, Nguyen Viet Trung is a businessman and younger brother of Nguyen The Vu.

On November 24, 2007, Vietnamese security police released university student Nguyen Trong Khiem after detaining him for a week without cause. On December 12, 2007, after weeks of protests and appeals by U.S. lawmakers and international pro-democracy movements, Vietnam released American citizen Truong Van Ba shortly after the U.S. ambassador Michael Michalak demanded to see evidence of terrorism or other charges to justify their detention. Nguyen Quoc Quan remained detained in Vietnam, with the U.S. Consulate allowed to visit him once per month. However, family visits were not allowed. His wife was granted a visa to visit him in January 2008, though the Vietnamese consulate revoked the visa one week prior her scheduled trip. On March 12, 2008, chairman of Việt Tân, Đỗ Hoàng Điềm, appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs along with Nguyen Quoc Quan's wife to appeal to lawmakers to confront the issue.

Nguyen Quoc Quan was sentenced to 6 months in prison, but since he had already served that time, was released on May 17, 2008 and deported back to the United States. Nguyen The Vu was released immediately, and Somsak Kunmi will serve another three months before he will be released. Other than the sentences, the presiding judge would not release any further detail of the trial.

2008 arrests
Following the 2007 arrests, three additional Việt Tân members, Nguyen Thi Xuan Trang, a medical doctor from Switzerland, Mai Huu Bao, an electrical engineer from the United States and past Executive Board Member of the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California as well as Nguyen Tan Anh, a manager of a health-care non-profit from Australia, attempted a visit of Nguyen Quoc Quan in Ho Chi Minh City. On April 4, 2008, the three Việt Tân members visited the Ministry of Public Security detention center in Ho Chi Minh City, but were detained by security police.

2010 arrests
In July and August 2010, a new series of arrests by the Vietnamese government was made. The arrests included Pham Minh Hoang, a 55-year-old French-educated lecturer in applied mathematics at the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Technology.

After the Australian consulate in Vietnam intervened in the case, Hong Vo was released from prison on October 21, 2010, and immediately expelled from the country without the possibility for her to ever return.

2011 arrests
In May 2011, three Việt Tân members along with four other land activists were tried during a one-day, closed trial and sentenced to prison for two to seven years. During the trial, the defendants were denied access to a lawyer, and members of the US Congress, led by Representative Ed Royce, wrote a letter asking for their release.

2012 arrests
On April 17, 2012, Nguyen Quoc Quan was arrested again at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Government officials did not confirm his arrest until five days later. He is detained on charges of terrorism and for planning to "instigate a demonstration" during the anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. He is being detained for at least four months. According to his wife, he was planning to visit his younger sister and "talk about democracy and the rule of law". Six members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and urged the State Department to call for Dr. Quan's immediate release on grounds that the Vietnamese government is "abusing its vague national security provisions as the pretext to arrest and detain individuals who peacefully advocate for religious and political freedom." Following intense US pressure, he was then deported on January 30, 2013, after spending nine months in prison.

2013 convictions
14 activists, many associated with the Roman Catholic Redemptionist movement, arrested in 2011 after attending Việt Tân training in Thailand, were convicted of subversion after a two-day trial in Vinh, in Nghệ An Province, and sentenced in January 2013 for periods ranging from 3 to 13 years. Defendants included Dang Xuan Dieu, Dang Ngoc Minh, Ho Duc Hoa, Ho Van Oanh, Paulus Lê Sơn, Nguyen Dang Minh Man, Nguyen Dang Vinh Phuc, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Nguyen Van Duyet, Nguyen Van Oai, Nguyen Xuan Oanh, Nong Hung Anh, Thai Van Dung, and Tran Minh Nhat.

Internet Freedom Campaign
In response to Vietnam's appeal to Internet companies Microsoft, Google and Yahoo to work with the Vietnamese government to restrict blogging about dissident material and hand over information that could lead to arrests, Việt Tân launched the "Internet Freedom Campaign".

In April 2012, the organization obtained a decree entitled Decree on the Management, Provision, Use of Internet Services and Information Content Online that was drafted by the Vietnamese government that would ask internet companies to censor blogs, release blogger information and possibly house data centers in Vietnam for the purpose of censorship and regulation of social media. Việt Tân published an editorial describing the draft policy and called for US companies to resist it. Reporters Without Borders later confirmed that the decree exists and that it was meant to be enacted in June 2012.

Friends of Việt Tân
Việt Tân started a social networking outreach program through the Friends of Việt Tân community that allows like-minded activists to follow news and activities about Vietnam and Việt Tân and also participate in the discussion. The program was first launched as a Facebook application that allowed other users to suggest their own newsworthy articles and references to a main feed that was replicated to many other websites. The application also syndicated Radio Chân Trời Mới as a podcast, and in 2009 also introduced a vodcast.

Digital activism seminars
On November 14–15, 2009, Việt Tân organized a seminar on "Digital Activism: A Tool for Change in Vietnam" held at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. Incidentally, in the same week, the Vietnamese government decided to block Facebook through its internet firewall. In response, seminar attendees produced viral videos and documentation on how to circumvent Vietnam's firewall to access Facebook.

The same seminar was repeated February 27–28, 2010, at Chapman University in Orange, California, which was co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific Law Student Association and the Vietnamese American Law Student Association.

The seminar also took place at Harvard University from October 16–17, 2010.

On March 9, 2010, then-Việt Tân Spokesman Hoang Tu Duy presented on "Digital Activism in Vietnam" at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy and was one of the panelist to discuss 'Next Generation: Young Rights Defenders and the Blogosphere'.