Letter to The Honorable António Guiterres,
Secretary-General of The United Nations
Hà Nội, ngày 1 tháng 1 năm 2019
Kính gửi Ngài António Guiterres
Tổng thư ký Liên Hiệp Quốc
405 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
Thưa Ngài,
Nhân kỷ niệm 100 năm bản Yêu sách của
người dân Annam (tháng 6/1919) – tài liệu được soạn bởi một nhóm người Việt Nam
yêu nước, ký tên Nguyễn Ái Quấc và gửi tới Hội nghị Versailles của những nước
thắng trận trong Thế chiến Thứ Nhất, họp ở Paris nước Pháp – chúng tôi chân
thành đề nghị Ngài giúp cho Yêu sách 2019 đính kèm của chúng tôi được sự chú ý
của các thành viên Đại hội đồng Liên Hiệp Quốc.
Thưa Ngài,
Ngài có thể hỏi vì sao người Việt Nam,
sau khi đã giành được độc lập và thống nhất hoàn toàn vào năm 1975, giờ đây lại
yêu cầu thế giới biết đến kiến nghị và khát vọng từ 100 năm trước của mình? Một
kiến nghị có thể bị lu mờ vì Bản Yêu sách chưa bao giờ có cơ may được đưa đến
tay Tổng thống Woodrow Wilson.
Câu trả lời là Bản Yêu sách 8 điểm
chưa bao giờ được thực thi dưới chế độ Cộng hoà Xã hội Chủ nghĩa Việt Nam với
danh nghĩa độc lập và thống nhất, một chế độ tìm cách dập tắt tiếng nói của mọi
người bất đồng, nhiều người trong số đó đã bị biến thành tù nhân lương tâm. Vì
thế, chúng tôi đề nghị Ngài hướng dẫn và giúp đỡ công bố rộng rãi bản Yêu sách
này – tiếng kêu xé lòng của người dân Việt Nam. (Cho đến hôm nay, ngày 1 tháng
1 năm 2019, bản Yêu sách đã được 22 tổ chức và hơn 1600 cá nhân ký tên hưởng ứng).
Trong khi trông đợi vào hảo tâm và sự
đáp ứng công chính của Ngài, chúng tôi xin Ngài nhận ở đây lòng biết ơn và cảm
kích sâu xa, chân thành nhất.
Kính thư,
Nguyễn Quang A
Thay mặt một số tổ chức và cá nhân đại
diện cho những người khởi xướng và hưởng ứng bản Yêu sách:
1. TS Tin học Nguyễn Quang A, nguyên Chủ tịch Hội
Tin học Việt Nam, đại diện Diễn đàn Xã hội Dân sự Việt Nam
2. Nhà văn Nguyên Ngọc, đại diện Ban Vận động Văn
đoàn Độc lập Việt Nam
3. Nhà báo Phạm Chí Dũng, đại diện Hội Nhà báo Độc
lập Việt Nam
4. GS Phạm Xuân Yêm, đại diện Nhóm Bauxite Việt
Nam
5. Nhà hoạt động xã hội Lê Thân, đại diện Câu lạc
bộ Lê Hiếu Đằng Việt Nam
6. Luật
sư Nguyễn Văn Đài, đại diện Hội Anh Em Dân Chủ
7. Thạc
sỹ Vũ Quốc Ngữ, đại diện Nhóm Người
Bảo vệ Nhân quyền (Defend the Defenders)
8. Nhà
văn Võ Văn Ái, đại diện Uỷ ban Bảo vệ Quyền Làm Người Việt Nam
9. Nhà nghiên cứu văn hoá Nguyễn Khắc Mai, Việt
Nam
10. TS Kinh tế Nguyễn Kiều Dung, Việt Nam
11. Nhà thơ Hoàng Hưng, Việt Nam
12. GS Nguyễn Huệ Chi, nguyên Chủ tịch Hội đồng Khoa
học Viện Văn học, Việt Nam
13. Nhà
báo Võ Văn Tạo, Việt Nam
14. Bác sĩ Nguyễn Đan Quế, đồng Chủ tịch Hội Cựu
Tù nhân Lương tâm Việt Nam
15. Luật gia Lê Công Định, Việt Nam
16. Nhạc
sĩ Tuấn Khanh, Việt Nam
17. TS
Luật Cù Huy Hà Vũ, lưu trú tại Hoa Kỳ
18. GS Lê Xuân Khoa, nguyên GS thỉnh giảng Đại học
Johns Hopkins, Hoa Kỳ
19. Thái Văn Cầu, Chuyên gia khoa học không gian,
Hoa Kỳ
20. GS Ngô Vĩnh Long, Đại học bang Maine, Hoa Kỳ
21. TS Kinh tế Phạm Đỗ Chí, Florida, Hoa Kỳ
22. TS
Kinh tế Đinh Xuân Quân, California, USA
23. TS Đỗ
Đăng Giu, Giám đốc nghiên cứu CNRS, CH Pháp
24. Nguyễn Ngọc Giao, Nhà giáo, Pháp
25. Hà Dương Tường, Nhà giáo về hưu, Pháp
26. Nhà
văn Vũ Thư Hiên, Pháp
27. Dr.
Trương Thanh-Đạm (hưu trí), International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus
University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
28. GS Nguyễn Đăng Hưng, GS Danh dự Đại học Liège,
Bỉ
29. TS Toán Nguyễn Sĩ Phương, CHLB Đức
30. TS Y khoa Nguyễn Đình Nguyên, Australia
Hanoi, January 1, 2019
The
Honorable António Guiterres
Secretary-General
The
United Nations
405 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
Your Excellency,
On the occasion of
the 100th anniversary of the Appeal of the Annamese People (Revendications du
Peuple Annamite) of June 1919 – a document that was prepared by a group of
Vietnamese patriots, signed under the pseudonym of Nguyễn Ái Quấc and sent to
the Versailles Conference being held in Paris, France, by the victorious
nations in the aftermath of the First World War – we would earnestly and
sincerely beseech your intercession in bringing our Appeal to the attention of
the international members of the General Assembly.
Your Excellency,
you may ask why the Vietnamese, after having gained full independence and
unification in 1975. would now ask to fully make known to the world their
hundred-year-old plea and aspiration? A plea that may be obscured by the fact
that the Appeal never got a chance to be presented to President Woodrow Wilson.
The answer is the
8-point Appeal, under the name of independence and unification, has never been
carried out under the reign of The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who seeks to
silence the voice of all dissenters many of whom have been relegated to being
prisoners of conscience. Therefore, we would like to ask for your guidance and
support in publicizing this Appeal – this Vietnamese people’s cri-de-coeur –
far and wide. (As of today, January 1, 2019, the Appeal has been signed by 22
organizations and more than 1600 individual supporters).
In anticipation of
your kindness and just response, please accept here our deepest and most
sincere thanks and appreciation.
Respectfully yours,
Nguyen Quang A,
On behalf of the following
organizations and individuals:
1. Nguyễn Quang
A, Ph.D. (computer science), former Chairman of the Vietnam IT Association, representative
of Vietnam Civil Society Forum, Vietnam
2. Writer Nguyên
Ngọc, representative of the Vietnam Independent Writers Association, Vietnam
3. Journalist Phạm
Chí Dũng, Ph.D. (economics), representative of the Vietnam Independent
Journalists Association, Vietnam
4. Social activist Lê Thân, representative of the
Vietnam Lê Hiếu Đằng Club, Vietnam
5. Professor Phạm Xuân Yêm, former Director of
Research CNRS, France, representative of the Vietnam Bauxite Group
6. Attorney Nguyễn
Văn Đài, representative of the Brotherhood of Democracy, presently exiled in
Germany
7. Social
activist Vũ Quốc Ngữ, representative of the Defend the Defenders Group
8. Writer Võ Văn
Ái, representative of the Committee to Defend Vietnam Human Rights
9. Nguyễn Khắc
Mai, Director of the VietNam Culture Institute, Vietnam
10. Nguyễn Kiều Dung, Ph.D. (economics), Vietnam
11. Poet Hoàng Hưng, Vietnam
12. Professor Nguyễn Huệ Chi, former Chairman of
Scientific Council, Literature Institute, Vietnam
13. Journalist Võ
Văn Tạo, Vietnam
14. Nguyễn Đan Quế, M.D., co-president of Vietnam
Prisoners of Conscience Association, Vietnam
15. Legal scholar
Lê Công Định, Vietnam
16. Composer Tuấn Khanh, Vietnam
17. Cù Huy Hà Vũ,
Dr. of Jurisprudence, presently exiled in the U.S.
18. Professor Lê
Xuân Khoa, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, USA (retired)
19. Space
Scientist Thái Văn Cầu, USA
20. Professor Ngô
Vĩnh Long, University of Maine, USA
21. Economist Phạm
Đỗ Chí, Ph.D., Florida, USA
22. Economist
Đinh Xuân Quân, Ph.D., California, USA
23. Dr. Đỗ Đăng
Giu, Director of Research CNRS, France
24. Nguyễn Ngọc
Giao, Educator, France
25. Hà Dương Tường,
retired educator, France
26. Writer Vũ Thư
Hiên, France
27. Dr. Trương
Thanh-Đạm (retired), International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus
University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
28.
Professor Nguyễn Đăng Hưng, professor emeritus, Université de Liège,
Belgium
29. Nguyễn Sĩ
Phương, Ph.D. (Mathematics), Federal Republic of Germany
30. Nguyễn Đình
Nguyên, Ph.D. of Medical Sciences, Australia
The Eight-point
Appeal of the Vietnamese People
This appeal is
addressed to:
§
The President, the Chairwoman
of Congress, the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
§
All Vietnamese living in
Vietnam and abroad.
§
The Secretary General of the
United Nations.
§
The International Diplomatic
Organizations in Vietnam.
Your
Excellency/Honorable:
100 years ago, a
document called Appeal of the Annamese People was prepared by a group of
patriots, signed under the pseudonym of Nguyễn Ái Quấc, and subsequently sent
to the Versailles Conference being held in Paris, France, by the victorious
nations in the aftermath of the First World War.
The Appeal
consisted of eight points, urging the French colonial government at that time
to immediately carry out, goes as follows:
1.
Release all Annamese political
prisoners.
2.
Initiate extensive legislative
reforms throughout Indochina, to accord the indigenous people the same
protection as provided to the European; demand the abolishment of all special
legal institutions used by the colonial government as instruments to terrorize
and oppress the most righteous section of the Annamese population.
3.
Freedom of press and freedom of
speech.
4.
Freedom to form associations
and freedom to meet in public.
5.
Freedom to live abroad and
freedom to travel overseas.
6.
Freedom to study any suitable
subjects by individuals, government to initiate and establish technical and
vocational schools at the province level for all indigenous people who are
interested.
7.
Laws are passed by a
legislative body in lieu of decrees.
8.
A group of representatives,
elected by the indigenous people, permanently present at the French Parliament
to help emphasizing all aspirations of the Annamese people.
In the course of the last 100 years,
millions of Vietnam’s best sons and daughters have perished for those same
basic rights demanded in that 1919 Appeal.
The Vietnamese
Communist Party, the only political party with total power in Vietnam today,
has re-affirmed multiple times that Ho Chi Minh, its foremost leader, is indeed
Nguyễn Ái Quấc, the one who signed the 1919 Appeal. But, after 100 years, under
the Communist totalitarian regime, the majority of the points mentioned in the
1919 Appeal in reality are not respected, nor carried out, although they were
officially incorporated in the Constitution of a country that had been declared
independent. They have been solemnly committed in all international treaties,
pacts, agreements, pledges that the Vietnamese government has participated in
the name of the country and her people, but in reality they have never been
carried out to their full extents. In fact, they are overwhelmingly limited,
manipulated, even distorted to the point where the end results are opposite.
That is why, on the
commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the 1919 Eight-point Appeal of the
Annamese people, we, all Vietnamese living in Vietnam and abroad, who love
Freedom, Democracy and Justice, proclaim the 2019 Appeal, asking the Vietnamese
government to:
1.
Unconditionally release all
political prisoners, all prisoners of conscience, those who merely express
their views and who are jailed by the Communist authority on false charges such
as “public disturbances,” “anti-government propaganda,” and “activities aimed
to overthrow the People’s government.”
2.
Enact extensive legislative
reforms, so as all people are protected by laws; demand the government to
abolish all specialized legal institutions used as lnstruments of the Party to
terrorize and oppress the most righteous segments of the population, i.e. those
who participate in non-violent demonstrations to seek redress to issues such as
environmental protection, national sovereignty; those who criticize and rebuke
official policies; and those who dissent politically.
3.
Honestly and sincerely respect
the Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech; allow private sectors to publish
newspapers and produce multi-media products including books; must stop the
policy of censorship in any form (including the statutes and ordinances with
the aim to restrict information flow on the Internet.)
4.
Pass and seriously implement
laws with the purpose to guarantee the Freedom to form associations and the
Freedom to assemble in public.
5.
Guarantee the Freedom to travel
and settle anywhere within the country, Freedom to migrate and return from
overseas.
6.
Guarantee the Freedom to study
any subject of choice by individuals, guarantee the autonomy of universities
and colleges, and remove all traces of politicization at every level of
educational institution.
7.
All statutes passed by Congress
or any legislative body must be genuinely faithful to the Constitution which is
drafted and approved by the majority of the people. Once passed, all laws must
be respected by the authority. Public referendums must be held on any issue
that greatly affects the living conditions of the population or the security of
the country. Replace the system of directives dictated by the Communist Party
with legislations that are based on the-consent-of-the-governed to proceed
eventually to the check-and-balance system of three independent branches of
government: Legislative, Executive and Judicial.
8.
Free elections to be held,
including the right to self-nominate, in free, fair and transparent protocols.
Completely erase the slogan “Nominated by the Party, Elected by the People.”
We resolutely
believe that the only path to free Vietnam from its economic lagging, political
and social corruption, and the imminent threat of losing national sovereignty
to foreign powers is one which the Vietnamese leadership must undertake by
fully implementing the eight points as outlined in the Appeal. To do that is to
lead Vietnam step-by-step in the development toward the goal of prosperity and
national strength, to achieve a democratic and civil society, and to guarantee
justice for all.
We urge all
Vietnamese citizens to exercise his/her constitutional rights and not to wait for
approval from any authority, to step up the pressure and demand the government
to enact and implement legislations and regulations with the expressed purpose
of protecting those constitutional rights, and to prosecute to the full extent
of the laws any individual or organization that impedes the citizen from
exercising those sacred rights.
We solemnly and
urgently call upon the United Nations and all nations that have established
diplomatic relationship with Vietnam to pay attention to the aspiration and
will of the Vietnamese people. With your strong and necessary support, we
firmly believe that it will facilitate favorable responses from the government
to the demands stipulated in the Appeal.
Hanoi, Vietnam,
December 19, 2018
Signed originally
by 100 organizations and individuals
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