What happened in January 2016: socio-cultural, literary, and political news and events relating to Vietnam and to the Vietnamese diaspora. [Note: Comments (in brackets “[ ]”) are the opinion of the poster and does not reflect the view of diaCRITICS]
Have you subscribed to diaCRITICS yet? Subscribe and win prizes! Read more details.
Announcement
Dao Strom announces, “I’ve just received the very fortunate news that I’ve been awarded a 2016 Creative Capital Award in Literature.”
Viet Kieu in the news
• Andrew Lam talks with Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning composer Vân-Ánh Võ about her new work, The Odyssey–From Vietnam to America.
• Medical students volunteer at the free An Lanh Clinic to serve the uninsured in Garden Grove.
• A Vietnamese American was arrested for allegedly raping, assaulting, and tormenting his ex-girlfriends for nearly two decades.
• FBI documents reveal the Front was also responsible for violence on refugees in Australia.
News about Viet Nam
• Vietnamese authorities break up a demonstration and arrest petitioners for protesting against government seizure of family farms.
• A “black liquid” disguised as concentrated coffee is actually a poisonous chemical substance made in China. [This is probably another one of China’s many ploys to destroy Vietnam and its people.]
• Compared to 2014, in 2015 Vietnam’s beer consumption increased by 10% to 3.4 billion liters. [Another sad statistic.]
• The new population law will be “regressive [and] unfair” to the poor.
• With “an old-style ideologue” coming to power, the disconnect between the government and the people continues to widen.
• The death of a sacred turtle is seen by many Vietnamese as a bad omen for the ruling party and the country.
• As a means of tackling the illegal casual sport betting, a draft decree is proposed to allow betting on some sports.
• Hanoi’s gated communities reflect the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor.
Other News
• In agreement with the Vietnamese government, the Catholic Church will officially open a Catholic university in 2016.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it will create a new mission in Hanoi, Vietnam.
• A growing number of Asian-Americans are becoming politically engaged, but “Asian-American voters are not getting as much attention from either party.”
• A U.S. veteran finds the Vietnamese girlfriend he abandoned in 1970.
Special thanks to Viet Thanh Nguyen and Nina Lamaria for providing many of the news items.
RP