International Vietnamese Youth Conference
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Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network organises a multi-day International Vietnamese Youth Conference every 2 years, drawing Vietnamese youths from all over the world to gather and discuss topics relating to Vietnamese youths and to network with each other. These conferences draw anywhere from 400 to 600 attendees from more than 15 countries (although the 2007 conference in Malaysia is targeting a smaller number [1]). The Vietnamese spelling of the conference is "Đại Hội Thanh Niên Sinh Viên Việt Nam Thế Giới," (World Vietnamese Student Youth Conference) and is also abbreviated and nicknamed "DH" (conf.), followed by the conference number, such as "DH1" for the first conference, "DH2" for the second, and so on.
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[edit] Politics
At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, North Vietnam took over South Vietnam (a state which was supported by the French and US) and unified the country. A massive exodus of Vietnamese refugees seeded a number of countries with populations of overseas Vietnamese. Groups within these communities engaged in anti-communist diaspora politics (e.g. Ly Tong) where the issue of concern was the sole Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) holding authoritarian power over the entire country. These political groups justify their actions by claiming that human rights abuses in Vietnam are caused by the CPV[citation needed].
Len Duong, among other groups, has organised campaigns speaking out against the detention of dissidents who call for additional political freedoms and multi-party elections (see Bloc 8406)[2]. The formation of political parties in Vietnam are prohibited by law[3]. These kinds of critical statements against the CPV is the reason why the website is banned in Vietnam[4], which the government considers defaming.
Like most overseas Vietnamese political groups, Len Duong does not use the official flag of Vietnam and instead endorses the flag of South Vietnam[citation needed], which is banned in Vietnam. This suggests that members of Len Duong are loyal to the former state and that their agenda is to reinstate this flag within Vietnam, which could only be possible through a dissolution or weakening of the CPV[citation needed].
The initial formation of the Conference can be substantially attributed to these political activities[citation needed]. But while some of the conference activities are based around these political policies, others are based around the organisation's purpose to provide a platform to address issues concerning Vietnamese youth living in Vietnam and abroad, as well as to create a global social network[5] among attendees through social mixers. Recent conferences have moved more to the left towards reconciliation, and have been attended by international students from Vietnam studying overseas.
[edit] History
[edit] Melbourne in 1999
The first conference was organised by Federal Vietnamese Students Association of Australia in January, 1999 in Melbourne, Australia. It is primarily through this conference that the idea of an international network and a recurring conference (every 2 years) was formally introduced and later transformed into the Lenduong organisation as it is today.[6]
[edit] Paris in 2001
The second conference was held in Paris, France in the summer of 2001.
[edit] San Diego in 2003
The Third International Vietnamese Youth Conference was held in San Diego, USA.[7] It was co-hosted by the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California as well as the Phan Boi Chau Youth Network. The event started with an Opening Ceremony in Westminster, California on July 11, 2003, was followed by the conference workshops and tracks at the University of San Diego from July 12th - 13th, followed by a three day camp at William Heise Park near San Diego and concluded with a press conference in Westminster, California on July 16. With almost 600 attendees from 16 different countries, DH3 continues to hold the record for being the largest conference in this series.
[edit] Sydney in 2005
With DH4, the fourth conference returned to its original country Australia, and about 450 youths gathered for five days at the Bankstown Town Hall in the suburbs of Sydney from December 27, 2005 to January 1, 2006.[8] This conference marked the first conference without a camp, although it included a one-day Amazing Race style activity around Sydney as a break from conference workshops.
The theme of this conference was "Vietnamese Youths: Eliminating Barriers, Overcoming Challenges" [9] ("Tuổi Trẻ Việt Nam: Xoá Ngăn Cách - Vượt Thử Thách"[10] in Vietnamese). In this spirit, it included some unusually reconciliatory activities, such as a debate, in the form of a fictional legal trial, concerning what punishment should be given to a communist official who accidentally killed a protester supporting the old South Vietnamese regime.
[edit] Kuala Lumpur in 2008
The Fifth International Vietnamese Youth Conference will took place from January 4, 2008 to January 6, 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
At the end of the 4th conference in Sydney it was announced, to everyone's surprise, that the 5th conference would be somewhere unspecified in South East Asia in June, 2007. This led to much speculation about the conference location, and the incorrect rumour that it would be in Thailand. It could not be organised in time for June, and the conference venue and location were not announced until the end of March, 2007.
