Sparked by a small but provocative incident in late January this year - the hanging of the Vietnamese communist flag and the photo of the communist leader Ho Chi Minh in Little Saigon, California, USA by a supporter of the Hanoi government, Vietnamese overseas has transformed their relentless protest of the Vietnamese Communist dictatorship in the past 24 years into the largest ever worldwide movement for Freedom and Democracy in Vietnam.
Yet, the most powerful transformation resides not only in the size of the rallies across the world in the last three months; but also in the enthusiastic involvement of Vietnamese youth - many of whom left Vietnam at early ages or born outside the country.
The participation of Vietnamese youth has galvanized local communities. They also rejuvenated and energized the entire Vietnamese democratic movement. In return, Vietnamese youth have received tremendous support from Vietnamese of other generations and from all walks of life. Their energy, pragmatism, and communication skills have effectively conveyed the Vietnamese freedom and human rights cause to the international community, the Media, and, most of all, their counterparts inside Vietnam.
Beginning on February 26, 1999, Vietnamese youth in Southern California organized the biggest rally of Vietnamese ever outside Vietnam. Press reports estimated about 40,000 people joined the rally. Vietnamese youth in Northern California then helped passing the torch of Freedom for Vietnam to other Vietnamese communities by setting in motion the Light Up Our Faith Movement.
Since then, the fire has spread to Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego of California; Houston and Dallas of Texas; Portland, Oregon; Seatle, Washington; Hawaii; Washington, D.C.; Denver, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Paris, France; Switzerland; Belgium; Oslo, Norway; Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth of Australia; Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver of Canada; and other Vietnamese communities.
At each of these places, the rallies were the biggest and most moving events ever in their respective communities. People celebrated their Vietnamese heritage along with the newly found values in their new home countries. They vowed to unit their efforts to restore human dignity and happiness in Vietnam.
At these rallies, Vietnamese young and old joined together in honoring those who had sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom. Various modern technologies were used, including computerized slide shows, to retell the stories of Vietnamese ancestors' and older generations' endeavor to defend Vietnam's freedom and independence, to expose the communist crimes against the Vietnamese people, to portray people's misery under the communist rule, and to review efforts of Vietnamese around the world to actualize their hope for a peaceful, prosperous, and free Vietnam.
Vietnamese youth in many places, for the first time in 24 years, served as the principal organizers of the April 30 Remembrance Day, the day the entire nation of Vietnam fell under communist control in 1975.
One appealing characteristic of the Vietnamese youth movement is their effective usage of modern technologies to convey their messages, especially over the Internet and other computer-based methods. To date, they have formed a worldwide cyber network to campaign for the peaceful democratization of Vietnam and to discuss the rebuilding process for the future of the country.
As their movement spreads quickly overseas, Vietnamese youth are also trying to reach out to their inland counterparts who make up the majority of the Vietnamese population. Today, 53 million citizens are under the age of 25. Within minutes over the Internet, messages of the overseas Vietnamese youth and news of their movement reached more than 15,000 email addresses in Vietnam. This is what the Hanoi government fears the most and has set up several firewalls in the attempt to block such communication.
The Vietnamese youth movement also embraces a host of wide-ranging activities in historical researches, public services, cultural events, charity drives, and educational programs. These interesting yet meaningful activities are to benefit the general public, the local Vietnamese community and people in Vietnam.
From all early indications, Vietnamese youth are taking pride in learning, living and making the history of Vietnam.