Vietnam protests to Canada over 'boat
people' commemoration
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's
government rebuked Canada on Friday after the Canadian Senate passed a bill to
commemorate the acceptance of 60,000 "boat people" who sought refuge
in the wake of the communist takeover of South Vietnam 40 years ago.
Vietnam's foreign ministry
said it had summoned Canada's ambassador to denounce the move by the Senate to
officially mark April 30 as "Journey to Freedom Day".
North Vietnamese forces
captured the South Vietnamese capital Saigon on April 30, 1975, marking the end
of a long war and prompting more than a million people to flee, many by boat.
Vietnam refers to the event
as the date of its reunification.
The Canadian bill, proposed
by a senator of Vietnamese descent, officially came into force on Thursday and
is purely symbolic. The Senate is Canada's upper house of parliament….
Hugh Murray 7 hours ago
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In many ways, the
Vietnam war was a civil war. The Communists won, and many on the losing side
believed, often rightly, that they would suffer if they stayed. The boat people
risked all, and many died attempting to flee. Some were granted sanctuary in
Canada, and other lands too.
One might recall that following the defeat of the Royal forces in the American Revolution, many Tories also fled - and many of them to Canada. Some American slaves who fled, eventually were provided a new land of their own in West Africa by the British.
After the American Civil War, some Confederates fled to South America rather than remain in the harsh United States run by Republicans. And if the Communist govt. of VN is intolerant of the anti-Communists some 40 years after war's end, just think how intolerant many Americans are when they see a Confederate flag waying - and this is 150 years after the end of our Civil War.
In Civil Wars, people fought on both sides, often with great courage and determination. One side lost. The sooner ponder Lincoln's words in his 2nd inaugural, with malice toward none and charity toward all, perhaps we can then improve relations between all those in a nation, and between nations.
One might recall that following the defeat of the Royal forces in the American Revolution, many Tories also fled - and many of them to Canada. Some American slaves who fled, eventually were provided a new land of their own in West Africa by the British.
After the American Civil War, some Confederates fled to South America rather than remain in the harsh United States run by Republicans. And if the Communist govt. of VN is intolerant of the anti-Communists some 40 years after war's end, just think how intolerant many Americans are when they see a Confederate flag waying - and this is 150 years after the end of our Civil War.
In Civil Wars, people fought on both sides, often with great courage and determination. One side lost. The sooner ponder Lincoln's words in his 2nd inaugural, with malice toward none and charity toward all, perhaps we can then improve relations between all those in a nation, and between nations.
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The VN Government of 2015 clearly refused to acknowledge
why those who fled in 1975 might have grievances. And the comment section of this article
revealed how much many of the exiles still hated the Communist government in
Vietnam, even in 2015. On this
anniversary of the defeat of the South Vietnamese government, and the victory
for reunification under the Communists, I think it appropriate to quote from
a speech delivered at the conclusion of another civil war. The following is from Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s
2nd inaugural address, delivered 4 March 1865. One hopes in time we may all learn from
Lincoln’s spirit.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him
who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and
with all nations.”
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