Vietnam

Fire of Liberty


This is Nguyen Dan Que, who's a dissident doctor within Vietnam, who is standing up for the rights of liberty that have been deprived from the people by its vile Communist masters since 1975 when the last US helicopter left the embassy in Siagon. In the same manner that countless other individuals have been tormented by their oppressors, Dr. Que has spent decades within Vietnam's prisons enduring countless inhumane conditions and acts at the hand of his tormentors. The only demand that Mr. Que asks is that the regime set a clear-cut timetable for free and fair elections for the people of Vietnam. Such a small wish has brought years of countless hells for Dr. Que.

While I provide just a brief commentary on Dr. Que, I'd like to give you a small peek into a wonderful piece on the good doctor by Claudia Rosett @ The Wall Street Journal Europe. This particular piece was written shortly after Rosett talked to Dr. Que via phone, which he could answer but not freely call from. I'd have to say Mrs. Rosett has a great way of putting things. See for yourself:

It is important for the world to understand that in saying such things, Dr., Que knows all too well the risk he is taking. Back in 1975, as Saigon fell, he had a chance to leave--and turned it down. Even today, he says, "For me, exile is not freedom." Instead, for more than 30 years he has seized every chance to speak out and demand liberty for his country. For that, under Vietnam's communist regime, he has paid dearly--spending more than 20 years in labor camps and prisons. Released on two previous occasions, due to international pressure, Dr. Que seized the chance each time to again demand freedom for Vietnam's people. Twice, the regime jailed him again, most recently in March 2003--an outrage that was swamped at the time by the flood of news from Iraq, as the U.S.-led coalition went in to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

And though it is cause for immediate rejoicing that Dr. Que has been released, it is not yet a sign that Vietnam's brutal regime is easing up. "It's likely that I was just transferred from a smaller prison to a bigger one," he says. His release looks more like a matter of hostage politics, as Hanoi's regime haggles with Washington over Vietnam's recent designation by the U.S. as a "country of particular concern" for being what Human Rights Watch calls "one of the worst violators of religious rights in the word." Vietnam also makes Freedom House's short list of the world's most repressive regimes. The prisons of Vietnam are infamous for torture, beatings and filthy conditions. Dr. Que notes that after his latest bout in which he was imprisoned incommunicado for two years, he is "tired out."

While Rosett might have a mightier pen than me, we both can keep Dr. Que's in the forefront of the web thus thumbing our nose to the Communist masters in Hanoi. Hopefully this post on this great soul will provide one more voice in the many that seek liberty and freedom for the people who toll daily under the oppressive jackboot of tyranny.