Bullying is working (Vietnamese flag issue)

.....(See Not Really a Banner Day at Irvine Valley College in this morning's Orange County Register.)
.....In this afternoon's OC Reg:
Little Saigon protests raise questions about freedoms

.....Tien Van stands on the sidewalk outside Nguoi Viet Daily News holding a loud speaker in one hand and the South Vietnamese red-and-yellow flag in the other.
.....Behind her is a shrine that has been erected to a much larger version of the flag with a fruit offering and incense burning on a table below it. She and a dozen others are protesting the newspaper's publication of a photo that showed a foot spa bearing the flag colors. Van says the photo broke her heart.
....."Our flag is sacred," she said. "People sacrificed their lives for it. My father and brother died for this flag."
.....Anti-communist protests and demonstrations have come to be a way of life in Little Saigon, whose residents are mostly refugees who fled the communist regime after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. This area is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam.
.....But the recent wave of protests against Vietnamese publications such as the eight-month protest outside Viet Weekly in Garden Grove and the weeks-long demonstration outside Nguoi Viet Daily News in Little Saigon—as well as the threat of protests against Irvine Valley College over a campus flag exhibit that included the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam—has led to debates about a clash of freedoms.
.....The protests, which have been peaceful in recent years, are escalating in seriousness. Nguoi Viet's leadership has reported threats and intimidation. Merchants on Main Street in Garden Grove say they are being bullied and business is being disrupted. Nguoi Viet has fired two top editors.
.....Scott Weimer, president of the Downtown Garden Grove Business Association and owner of the Viet Weekly building, said he is worried the protesters won't stop until the newspaper shuts down.
....."If the newspaper buckles down, it means that this type of mob bullying works," he said. "I understand their feelings about communism, but it doesn't justify the use of these fear tactics—the kind the communists probably use themselves."
.....Protesters accuse Viet Weekly of taking a pro-communist stance by profiling communist leaders, publishing their interviews as well as opinion pieces that favor communists.
.....Nguoi Viet, the largest Vietnamese daily published outside Vietnam, fired two of its top editors after the controversy over the foot spa photo, which was published in the newspaper's Lunar New Year special edition. The paper's editor issued a public apology after an internal investigation, admitting the photo was an error that should not have occurred.
.....The article was about an art exhibit at UC Berkeley of a foot spa created by a UC Davis student in honor of her mother-in-law who worked in nail salons to put her through college.
.....But the protests continue even after the apology and the firings. Protesters now say that they want a public hearing. The newspaper has not responded to that request and protesters say they won't stop until that happens. In recent weeks Nguoi Viet filed a lawsuit and asked for a restraining order against the protesters, alleging that they are threatening and harassing the newspaper's employees and customers.
.....The paper's attorney, Luan Tran, declined comment.
.....Trong Doan and Ky Ngo, who are heading the protest, deny those allegations.
....."We're not trouble makers," says Ngo. "We're here because we love our flag and don't want to see anyone disrespect it."
.....Hai Phan, an editor at Viet Bao Daily News, said the issue has been tough on the Little Saigon media.
....."My friends are on both sides and I feel like I'm stuck in between," he said. "I'm thinking about a lot of different issues right now, but I can't talk about them."
.....Protesters have the constitutional right to assemble and express their dissent peacefully, but when a newspaper buckles under the pressure, it makes a dent in the First Amendment, said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition.
....."It's easy to understand why these are sensitive issues in the Vietnamese American community," he said. "But the newspaper has the right to exercise its First Amendment rights too and when the media's voice is silenced by protesters, it's a loss for all of us."
.....The constitution protects the minority point of view and the unpopular opinion as well, Scheer said.
.....The Westminster Police Department is "caught in between" in trying to protect the rights of property owners and businesses in Little Saigon and making sure that protesters follow the law, said Sgt. Dan Schoonmaker.
.....Schoonmaker says the Nguoi Viet demonstration has been different from previous protests in Little Saigon. Officers are investigating reported threats against employees' lives and at least one reported bomb threat at the newspaper, he said.
.....Detectives are trying to determine who is responsible and what connection, if any, exists between these threats of violence and the demonstration, Schoonmaker said. Police continue to respond to disturbances outside the paper several times a week aside from regular patrol checks, he said.
....."It's unusual to have such disturbances, code enforcement violations and criminal threats associated with a protest in Little Saigon," Schoonmaker said.
.....Ron Bauer [sic], professor of philosophy at Irvine Valley College, said he believes his college was "bullied" by members of the Vietnamese American community into taking down the colorful flag exhibit.
....."It's one thing to raise a concern," he said. "But it's another thing to come in with the threat of bringing in protesters. Such bullying tactics are, I hate to say it, very un-American."
.....But Westminster Councilman Andy Quach and Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen, who spoke with college officials on behalf of the community, said it was not a threat.
....."In Bolsa (Avenue), protests are a way of life," Quach says. "Our people love freedom because they lived without it. Protests should be done legally and peacefully, but they should certainly not be viewed as threats or bullying."
.....Nguyen said protests are a legitimate way for community members to disagree with an opposing point of view.
....."The press is a bigger machine," she said. "But these are ordinary people and it takes a lot for them to get organized and express themselves."

I head home, take pics, in the golden light

Not a banner day (Red Emma/AT)

In this morning’s OC Register: Not really a banner day at IVC:
College removes flag display over threat of protests about including Vietnam's

By RED EMMA/ANDREW TONKOVICH
UC Irvine lecturer who taught many years at Irvine Valley College.

.....Wait till they find out that evolution is taught at Irvine Valley College. The creationists, too, will threaten to put a headlock on the community college president, taking a page from the playbook of angry citizens who browbeat him last month. The school's chief administrator acquiesced to threats of disruption, protests, who knows, what—flag waving?—by local activists who didn't like the school's display of the state banner of communist Vietnam.
.....Responding like some confused King Solomon, the chief administrator instructed staff to not only remove the objectionable standard of the evil regime but all 144 of the colorful flags of the world which for 10 years had hung cheerfully enough from the second-floor atrium of the Student Services Center. This in Irvine, Orange County, California, USA. So, under cover of darkness, absent announcement, maintenance crews removed the entire "It's a Small World"-style display of banners and set the stage for more of, well, less.
.....Soon enough the campus could expect to be targeted by Darwin-hating religious fundamentalists, and might now expect the brave president, a one-time geology teacher, to again "consult" with members of the college's Academic Senate, as he claims he did in the case of the flags, and decide, in order to play it safe, to eliminate not only discussion of evolution, but all science classes: botany, biology, anatomy, astronomy, physiology.
.....Which will no doubt encourage other groups to demand that history teachers using textbooks with actual photographs (of Vietnam, say, Ho Chi Minh or perhaps even, yes, the Vietnamese flag) replace these with, well, nothing at all.
.....Or, responding to pro-war types who object to political-science teachers using the Los Angeles Time's "Other Military Deaths" column, he might reasonably be expected to remove newspapers and news racks from campus.
.....Stay with me. That action could, of course, cause anti-choice activists to demand that the school nurse cease handing out family planning literature, condoms and birth control, which means good-bye to aspirin. Finally, some group might discover that the school library contains bibles and "Fahrenheit 451" and works by Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, prompting librarians to remove not only those particular books, but, in a sublimely proactive Fahrenheit 451-esque move, get rid of all texts.
.....Slippery slope? Reductio ad absurdum? Maybe. But recall that this little public college in affluent, educated South Orange County once famously warned instructors not to talk about the Iraq war in class. At the time, its chancellor offered no restrictions on discussing the Civil War, Spanish-American War or War of 1812. Go figure.
.....Still, there's clear precedent at Irvine Valley College for just removing whole topics, discussions, whole cloth. Which makes good sense.
.....After all, not flying the Nazi or Confederate flags has certainly stopped racism and anti-Semitism. Not teaching about human sexual reproduction has certainly reduced teen pregnancy. Not acknowledging slave labor in China or Haiti or, yes, Vietnam, has improved labor conditions with these U.S. trading partners. And burning American flags has stopped imperialism and spread international goodwill, right?
.....Let's give flag-haters the benefit of the doubt and call them human-rights activists. They correctly abhor the policies of Vietnam, of which the flag is a symbol. But if removing a symbol would help anybody in Vietnam, or anywhere, then we should, indeed, remove it and all flags including, yes, our own. I'm with the IVC president there, though I'll bet for different reasons.
.....Instead of flags, we might hang up the U.S. Constitution (while we still have it). Or display a roster of those proud U.S. corporations doing business with oppressive regimes worldwide, including Vietnam. Or go the other route, my own preference, and hang 'em all: the old South Vietnam flag, right next to that of the nasty current regime. And the flags of the former USSR and Rhodesia and the Duchy of Prussia, too, alongside the Cross of Spain and the Upper Voltan tricolor and the flag of the Ottoman Caliphate, a pageant of color and history, benevolence and brutality. More flags, not fewer.
.....We might consider these banners toward educating ourselves about our rich, difficult history. In learning, after all, less is not more. -RE

Andrew Tonkovich