From: vinsight@netcom.com (Chan T. Vninsight)
Subject: Vietnam National Day
Originator: daemon@media.mit.edu
Reply-To: vinsight@netcom.com
Organization: N/A
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 06:46:47 GMT


VIETNAM NATIONAL DAY

The Vietnamese nation was founded by king Hung Vuong nearly 50 centuries
ago. The dynasty, with 18 kings, lasted for some 3000 years and had led
Vietnam to development and progress in peace. To honor the Founding
Fathers, the people built a Hung Vuong temple by the 250 B.C. in Phu Tho
(north Vietnam), which has stood as one of the most popular places --
Each year, tens of thousands of Vietnamese flocked over to commemorate
their ancestors on the lunar tenth of March -- except during times when
the country was under foreign domination (or is presently under
communism), when freedom of expression and public gatherings have been
restricted.

Vietnam's history after that peaceful epoch, however, had turned to a
chapter of turbulence, beginning in 111 B.C. with China's invasion. It
took the Vietnamese people more than 1000 years to fight off this giant
enemy to completely regain their sovereignty in 939. Although threatened
many times by China's continuing dream of subjugating Vietnam (including
a brief Chinese occupation in 1407), the country's independence lasted
until 1858 when French colonization began. As the people successfully
defeated French colonization in 1945, another enemy began to surface:
communist totalitarianism, which continues to bring misery to the nation
till this day.

The current communist regime, since deceitfully and forcefully taking
power from a legitimate nationalist government on September 2, 1945,
has imposed the date as Vietnam's National Day. In defiance and as a way
to denounce the regime's legitimacy and its rule, Vietnamese opposition
forces have chosen the Founding Fathers Commemoration Day, the tenth of
March in the lunar calendar, to be Vietnam's National Day. The historical
meaning of this day also unites the people, who had been forced to be
in opposite political fronts, in the struggle against their common enemy
of oppression.

Unable to outright celebrate the event at home, the Vietnamese people
worldwide have joined their brothers and sisters in spirit to observe
Vietnam's National Day in commemoration of their ancestors. This day of
observance also promotes the restoration of Vietnam's traditional
values, which have been forgone by the Vietnamese Communists in their
pursuit of monopolistic power and international Marxism.

Vietnam continues to exist despite a thousand years of Chinese
domination and a hundred years of French colonization. Its history has
proven that the people's resiliency against destructive forces is
indestructible. More than anyone else, the Vietnamese communists are
aware and fearful of this power; And in years passed, have adroitly
manipulated this strength to their advantage. In the Vietnam War, Hanoi
aroused the people by labeling its war of aggression against a free
South Vietnam as the war of liberation against the United States
imperialists.

Despite the fact that communism has been proven regressive and obsolete,
Hanoi continues to defends its rule by citing historical reason. The
regime conveniently forgot that the Vietnamese people have always been
successful in closing a bad chapter of history, however long and
difficult. The nation has been traveling on a very long and rough
road to freedom and happiness. The communist obstacle of thirty eight
years, though incredibly long for the people's sufferings, only amounts
to a tiny stone on the nation's path and will soon be swept aside.

In celebrating this lunar March tenth, the Vietnamese people would like
to invite the world to join us in our democratic endeavor to bring
freedom to our nation. Millions in aid will not help heal the people's
wound and end the misery in Vietnam now if totalitarian rule remains.
Only in freedom can our potentials blossoms to lead the nation out of
poverty.

-- 
Vietnam Insight (vinsight@netcom.com)
Chan Tran, editor