July 2013 news and events relating to Vietnamese at home and in the diaspora.
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Viet Kieu in the news
• After two and a half years of construction, the Vietnamese Community Center of Sacramento is opened to the public. [Photo: Renée C. Byer]
• An unedited version of Vietnamese American director Charlie Nguyen’s banned film, “Bui doi Cho Lon” briefly, and illegally, went online.
• The Vietnamese American Community Council of Oklahoma City held a a special musical performance and dance program to raise funds for the recent tornado victims.
News about Vietnam
• A photographer presents his photo exposition on the harsh daily life of circus artists in two Vietnamese circuses. [Photo: Christian Rodriguez]
• The White House announced that President Obama will meet with Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang. [Photo: AP]
• Patients in Vietnam must resort to bribery to obtain “faster or better” medical service.
• A Chinese patrol boat attacked two Vietnamese fishing boats.
• Vietnamese authorities violently broke into a Cao Dai temple in Tien Giang province and detained their leader and several members of the sect.
• Dozens of inmates–some political prisoners–seized a prison for several hours to protest abuses committed by prison guards.
• Vietnamese authorities postponed the trial of prominent dissident lawyer Le Quoc Quan as a strategy to avoid negative publicity and international attention. [Photo: AFP]
• Vietnam is considering a resolution to impose fines for various domestic psychological abuse.
• The coffee harvest in Vietnam will probably be the second largest on record.
Other News
• The director of the film The Fog of War discusses “re-enactment as a form of historical reckoning” and “the insidious circularity of the Indonesia/Vietnam dynamic.”
• Nearly two million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders still live in poverty.
• A nominee to become the top U.S. diplomat in East Asia voiced that he opposes China’s bullying strategy in the territorial disputes in the Pacific.
Special thanks to Viet Thanh Nguyen for providing many of the news items.
Peace!
RP