Upon the 8th Anniversary
of Charter 2000:
Archbishop Ngo Quang
Kiet has created a
"people's tide" to
exercise the human
rights and freedoms
following his statement
on Sept. 20, 2008 at the
People's Committee,
Hanoi
Dr. LONG BA NGUYEN
Charter 2000
Spokesperson
Upon the 8th Anniversary
of Charter 2000 this
November, the Charter
2000 Movement launches a
campaign to stir up a
people's tide to
exercise the human
rights which was created
by Archbishop Ngo Quang
Kiet in his statement to
apply the articles of
human rights stated in
the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights and in the U.S.
Declaration of
Independence. Archbishop
Ngo Quang Kiet applied
Article 18 of the
Universal Declaration
and the Declaration of
Independence which
stated that:
"Freedom and liberty
are the inalienable
birthrights of all
humankind"
to
respond to the haughty
lecture of the leader of
the People's Committee
of the City of Hanoi, as
follows:
"At first, Mr.
chairman said that: the
People's Committee has
created a lot of
conditions for the
Catholic Church in the
past years, especially
in Christmas times...;
we have to recognize
that in recent years we
got plenty of
conditions, however,
when
(the state) created
such conditions, the
Church was still bearing
the psychology of
"Begging - Giving",
i.e., this is a favour
that I grant to you.
But, freedom of religion
is one of the
birthrights. And the
state "of the people,
for the people" has the
responsibility to create
such conditions for the
people
(to exercise
their rights). This is
not a favour we beg. NO!
Freedom of Religion is a
RIGHT, not a favour we
beg and you give."
(Archbishop Ngo Quang
Kiet's statement on
Sept. 20, 2008 at the
meeting with leaders of
the People's Committee,
City of Hanoi).
This statement is the
first one to strongly
demand the application
of the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights to religion in
VN. Never before had any
priest dared to speak
like that in front of
the authorities of the
Hanoi regime. Archbishop
Ngo Quang Kiet was so
courageous!
The Ngo Quang Kiet tide
is that from now on
every democracy
activist, every citizen,
every organization,
every priest and church,
every injustice victim
etc can frankly say face
to face with Vietnamese
communist police,
authorities, leaders
that such rights and
freedoms as freedom of
speech, freedom of
expression, freedom of
religion, freedom of
movement, freedom of
association etc as
stated in the Universal
Declaration are
birthrights, the state
has the responsibility
to create the conditions
and mechanisms to
facilitate the people's
exercise of those
rights, it cannot impede
or violate those rights,
as Archbishop Ngo Quang
Kiet frankly presented
his (quoted)
views
before the leaders of
the People's Committee
of the City of Hanoi on
September 20, 2008.
What will we do if the
communist police and
authorities disregard
the claims and requests
for human rights by the
people and continue to
violate the people's
rights and oppress them
as they did until
recently? For every
case, after the victims
publicly say that the
police or authorities
violate their
(birth)rights, the case
should be announced and
reported to the overseas
Vietnamese and the
international community
via the internet: 5, 10,
20, 50, 100, 1000, then
10000 .. cases; the
world community will see
that a clique of "SAVAGE
ELEMENTS" are ruling in
VN now; and they will
have to act against a
savage regime which
denies the fundamental
rights of the people for
their benefits and
holding on to power
forever. This cannot be
tolerated as the cases
have been compiled with
documents as a mountain
(everybody who suffers
should say and report
his/her case!).
By that way, the Ngo
Quang Kiet tide, which
was created on September
20, 2008 from Hanoi by
Ngo Quang Kiet's
"example", will be
spread everywhere in VN
with a new approach of
preaching: frankly
speaking before the
police/authorities of
their responsibility to
guarantee the people's
exercise of their
(birth)rights,
as stated in the
Universal Declaration
and the U.S. Declaration
of Independence.
Archbishop Ngo Quang
Kiet is the first person
who stated before the
communist authorities
that the state has the
responsibility to
provide facilities and
create conditions to
guarantee the exercise
of the people's freedom
of religion, because it
is a birthright. It is
not a favour of the
state
(or a kind of
"begging - giving").
Anybody in VN from now
on can say the same,
which is accurately
correct to the Universal
Declaration.
How is the case of what
we call
"state-controlled
churches", especially
the Buddhist Church of
Vietnam
(Giao Hoi Phat
Giao Viet Nam)
which is
right now led by such
priests as Thich Tri
Tinh, Thich Minh Chau,
and cooperated by Le
Manh That, Thich Tue Sy,
besides those priests
abroad who disregard the
Supreme Patriarch Orders
and the Regulations/
Memoranda of the
administrative body of
the Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam: Vien
Hoa Dao I & II
(in-country and
overseas). For those
priests who only know
one thing: "BEGGING and
RECEIVING"
(the favours)
from the communist
party, one should
question do they feel
ashamed with a Catholic
priest who dared to
frankly state before the
authorities of the
brutal regime: FREEDOM
OF RELION IS A
(BIRTH)RIGHT,
NOT A FAVOUR OF THE
STATE
(or a kind of
"BEGGING - GIVING".
No
begging for FREEDOM OF
RELIGION at all! It is
the responsibility of
the state to respect and
create the conditions
for the people's
exercise of that right!
Period!